Jams and Fruit Butter Recipes

Here are the recipes from my last post

Holly Jolly Jam

***DISCLAIMER*** this recipe isn't  approved by NCHFP. I found a few recipes I liked by looking through my various books and and a few internet searches, then modified to work with what I have, so proceed at your own risk.

1.5 c orange juice (no calcium added, with or without pulp is fine)

1/4 c lemon juice

3 c sugar

2 TBS ground cinnamon**

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg**

1/4 tsp ground cloves**

1/8 tsp ground ginger**

1 lb of oranges, peeled, de-seeded, and segmented

2 lbs of peeled, deseeded and shredded or fine diced apples & pears (I used a combination of fruits-Granny smith, Gala (I think), Anjou, Bosc and Bartlett pears

1 lb fresh cranberries (washed and sorted to remove any bad ones)

**A note on the spices--if you want your jam more translucent you can use whole spices (2-3 cinnamon sticks, several cloves, 1/4 nutmeg pod and 1 inch piece of fresh ginger) in a spice ball/ cheesecloth and simmer in the orange/ lemon juice on low for about 30 minutes, then remove the spice bag before adding other ingredients to the batch**

Prepare canning jars, lids and pots as per standard canning conditions. (I wash and sterilize everything--it is just how I roll)

In a non-reactive, heavy bottom pot add orange juice, lemon juice sugar and spices. Begin heating on medium low. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add oranges, apples, pears and cranberries. Simmer on medium low until the cranberries begin to pop (about 20 minutes on my stove), stirring frequently. Once the berries begin to pop, I used my immersion blender and gave a few quick pulses. If you don't have a immersion blender a potato masher will work fine.

Increase heat slightly, until you have a gentle, slow boil. Stir frequently. Once the volume has reduced by 1/4 I began checking the gel stage and skimming foam. Continue cooking until the gel stage has been reached.

Ladle into hot jars (1/4 inch headspace), wipe rims, set lids, tighten rings finger tight. process in rapid boiling water bath (cover jars by 2 inches of water) for 15 minutes (adjust time depending on elevation). Raise basket and let jars stand for 5 minutes before removing. Remove hot jars to sit undisturbed overnight. Check seals, remove rings and refrigerate those which didn't seal. My yield was 10 1/4 pints, 2 and 3/4 of half pints (the 3/4 half pint is my fridge jar)

You can add other fruits or adjust spices based on your preference. Cranberries are pretty high acid so you have a little wiggle room.  My favorite use for this is in oatmeal or in jam bars.

Apple-Pear Butter

5 lbs of apples and pears (mixed) I used a combination of granny smith, honeycrisp, I think Gala's, and yellow delicious apples. The pears were a mix of Bartlett, Anjo and Bosc. All peeled, cored and chunked.

1 & 1/2 c dark brown sugar (after it cooks down you can always add more to your liking)

2 TBS apple cider vinegar

1/3 c apple juice, apple cider or water **I used apple juice

2 TBS gr. cinnamon

1/2 tsp gr. allspice

1/2 tsp gr. clove

1/8 fine grind kosher salt

You can adjust spices to your taste.

Combine all in crockpot. Cook on low 8-10 hrs. I then used an immersion blender. Cook on high about 1-2 hrs lid ajar. The sauce should thicken (reduce by 1/3 to 1/2 or until desired consistency) , stir and watch it doesn't burn. When temp has cooled but still warm add 1 tsp of good vanilla extract. Stir.

This will keep in the fridge 5 days, you can store in the freezer or waterbath for longer storage. If waterbath canning, follow proper canning protocol. Headspace is  1/4 inch and process for 15 minutes, remove canner from heat, raise basket and let jars sit for 5 minutes before moving. Let sit undisturbed overnight. Check seals, remove bands, wipe down jars and label. 

I have to tell you the texture of the Apple-Pear butter was like silk and the flavor AMAZING!  I can't go back to store bought after making this.

Monkey Butter
***DISCLAIMER*** Another warning--this recipe isn't  approved by NCHFP. I found a few recipes I liked in the 2012 Ball book and modified it, so proceed at your own risk.

I used what I had on hand...
5 c frozen pineapple chunks defrosted and drained
5 frozen bananas
1 c frozen pineapple juice concentrate
4 c moreno sugar
2 oranges juiced and zested
1 lemon juiced and zested
1/4 c lime juice
1/2 c flaked coconut
1/8 c Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV)

Prepare jars ans canner as per normal directions. Combine pineapple, banana, orange, lemon and pineapple juices. Mix really well.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Boil for about 15 minutes.-keep stirring! Reduce heat, add sugar, mix well, keep stirring until sugar is dissolved (mixture should be slow boil). Once sugar is dissolved increase temp to a rapid boil. Boil hard,add coconut and lime juice,  keep stirring. As mixture begins to thicken, use an immersion blender to puree or if you like it chunky use spoon or potato masher. Add the ACV. Keep stirring, as jam begins to thicken check the gel. I cooked mine until the volume had reduced by a good third. I skimmed the foam and when the gel was to my liking I ladled into sterilized hot jars,  1/4 in headspace, wipe rims, finger tight lid/ rings. Process for 15 in a rapid boil water bath. When time is up remove, the lid, turn of heat and let jars stand for 5 minutes. Remove jars to draft free area to cool, undisturbed overnight. Check seals, remove bands, wipe down jars and label.

As I stated in my original post I caramelized the sugars in my batch, with the use of frozen fruit, adding ACV and Moreno sugar (which does not have all the Molasses removed) so my Monkey batter is darker (amber/ orange) in color. The flavors are tropical but not as sharp. I do not like coconut but using the immersion blender, I don't really get the coconut texture but do get a hint of coconut. I added the ACV and additional citrus to drop the pH (for safety) and additional flavor.  Should you choose not to can this you can store this in the fridge for a few weeks. Also using fresh pineapple and white sugar (and not cooking as long) will result in a brighter yellow jam. If you do an internet search, you can find variations with the addition of mango or rum. It can be called Island Ambrosia Jam or Drunken Monkey Butter. All I know is this is FANTASTIC over ice cream or swirled in yogurt. Even better by the spoonful!


©My Cozy Little Farmhouse 2009-current. Unauthorized use and/ or duplication without written permission from blog author/ owner is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided acknowledgement is given to My Cozy Little Farmhouse, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Preserving my harvest

No time to write much. Even though I have about 20 half written posts sitting in my draft folder. I have been buried with cucumbers and zucchinis.

Ignore the weeds. 2 plants each and it was the motherload.

The cucumbers have escaped the garden and are climbing the fence.

The Zucchini are very tall! The fence posts are 48 inches, the zukes are 3/4 their height.

 Pickles

Old Fashioned Bread and Butter Pickles

Pickles

Polish Dill Pickle slices

More pickles

Refrigerator Pickles

Did I mention pickles?

Jardiniere

That was just the cucumbers. Except I am not finished.

Dill Relish

Sweet Relish

5 day Cinnamon Pickles in progress.


Now for the zucchini.

Zesty Zucchini Relish

Garlic Dill Spears and Chunks

Low Sugar Mock Apple Pie

Low Sugar Muesli Zucchini bread

 Mock Pineapple is AMAZING! I made mine lower sugar with Splenda. The texture is spot on crushed pineapple and the flavor matches the no sugar added you can buy.
It fooled the hubbs!

3 more loaves of Zucchini bread have been baked and frozen.

Citrus Ginger Zucchini marmalade is up next.

My humble little  canning pantry makes me happy!

Whatcha y'all working on?

©My Cozy Little Farmhouse 2009-current. Unauthorized use and/ or duplication without written permission from blog author/ owner is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided acknowledgement is given to My Cozy Little Farmhouse, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

New Stuff

I could have sworn I had written a post about this. Apparently I forgot to tell y'all, but I have new appliances. Well, a  new stove and dishwasher. The refrigerator will be soon--not soon enough though! My sister moved into a condo with white appliances and she had a brand new black refrigerator that didn't sell with her house. The builder wouldn't switch the appliances to black, so we bought them from her (mid July).  This is the first time in all the years the hubbs and I have been together, that I have kitchen appliances never used by anyone else. They aren't fancy but I really like how the  white appliances provide an uninterrupted visual line with the  white cabinets in my kitchen.

The new stove is a glass top. Aesthetically it is beautiful, all shiny and clean lines. Although the OCD me freaks out at all the smudges, smears and spots. A big reason as to why I don't have stainless steel appliances. Such a big difference from the old (and I do mean old, >20 yrs) coil top electric stove.  I love the oven, because it has convection capability. It has been a slight learning curve using the glass top. I really wanted a gas cooktop but, oh well, that is a someday dream.

One thing I found out about using a glass top is all cookware needs to be smooth bottomed.  My 21 quart waterbath canner has a concave bottom. It is one of those old speckled enamelware pots. We found it tucked in the very back of the kitchen cabinet when we bought our house in 2000. Who knows how long it had been in use prior to that. The previous owners lived here for 55 yrs. So it  was time to retire the old water bath canner.

Our date day this past Saturday was to Rural King (the romance is real). Long story short, I was going to pass on the canner I found because of the price but the hubbs strong armed me into buying it. It was kinda pricey ($79.99) but then I found it normally retails for $100. So now I have a very sturdy, flat bottomed, stainless steel water bath canner. Bonus is the canning rack from the old canner fits the new one. And wow wee does this hold the heat!  My favorite thing with the new canner is the clear lid so I can see what is going on with my jars.

So shiny!

 I already  broke it in canning salsa. I had a really good harvest of tomatoes this weekend. So I put the new waterbath canner to good use. I canned 9 pints of salsa and ended up with 2 & 3/4 quarts of a beautiful red sauce.

8 lbs of nekkid tomatoes, with another 11 lbs to go for sauce

Salsa in progress of cooking down and of course-a taste test

This sauce was AMAZING! I used fresh herbs from my garden-basil, oregano, thyme and rosemary. I seasoned with some salt, pepper, minced garlic and onion. OOOHWEEE, so good!

So far the new water bath canner (and stove) seem to be going well. I have, possibly an irrational fear, I am going to ruin or break my stove. By scratching it or dropping something.

Or break it because of too much weight--which is why I have not yet used the pressure canner on the glass cooktop.

Because we have all seen the pressure canner/ glass cooktop fiasco on Snopes, right?

Yeah, so I am kind of petrified... I mean imagine all the weight of the pressure canner, filled with quart jars...

Does anyone out there use their glass cooktop to pressure can?  I really need advice.

©My Cozy Little Farmhouse 2009-current. Unauthorised use and/ or duplication without written permission from blog author/ owner is prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided acknowledgement is given to My Cozy Little Farmhouse, with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

2016 International Can-It-Forward Day

July 22, 2016 was the 6th annual International Can It Forward Day! 

The Can It Forward tradition began as a way to share the joy of canning. You don't have to be a foodie, a gardener or a canner to participate or enjoy the "fruits" of labor.  

The last few years have seen a resurgence in the art of home canning and food preservation. Everyone has different reasons for wanting to learn. Whether it is to continue a family tradition, to have better control of your food chain or you simply want to learn to make sauce from a bounty of garden tomatoes, there are plenty of resources from which one can use.

In honor of Can It Forward, the following sites posted recipes or hosted videos.

Fresh Preserving

Country Living

Food in Jars

My contribution to Can it Forward was one of my favorite recipes, 2 day Zesty Zucchini relish. This is one of the first 3 recipes I learned to can when I took my canning boot-camp. If you do a search on the "interweb" as the hubbs likes to call it, you will find quite a few variations of zucchini relish. Mine is a 4-2-1 ratio recipe and is somewhat similar to the Ball recipe. But of course I have to tweak it and put my own stamp on the recipe.

Supplies
9-10 half pint jars
rings
lids
water bath canner
funnel
magnetic wand for lids
paper towels
heavy kitchen towels
heavy baking sheet
colander
ladle
non-reactive stock pot
small saucepan or tea kettle of hot water to activate rings
measuring cups/ spoons
sharp knife
1 or 2 gallon Ziploc bags

Ingredients

8 cups cubed zucchini 1/2 inch cubes

2 cups diced onion

1 cup of diced red pepper

6 tablespoons of canning salt

2 & 2/3 cups apple cider vinegar, natural, No caramel coloring added

2 cups of firmly packed brown sugar

1 &1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

2 level teaspoons of dry powdered mustard
3/4 teaspoon turmeric
1 and 1/2 teaspoon pickling spice  (I pick out the cinnamon stick if using store bought)
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon shredded horseradish

DIRECTIONS
DAY 1:Clean, destem and remove bad spots from all vegetables.
Dice all vegetables into 1/2 inch cubes.
Place diced, rinsed vegetables into a large ziploc bag with canning salt.
Cover with enough cool water to cover.
Store in refrigerator overnight.

DAY2: Assemble canning supplies
Wash jars, rings, ladle and funnel.
place jars on a heavy duty tray in a preheated oven (mine is digital so I set it to 215°F)
Fill water bath canner with the correct volume of water, so it will cover the the jars by 1-2 inches. Bring to boil and hold temperature steady.
Drain and rinse vegetables. Press to remove as much water as possible.
In a separate, non-reactive stock pot-Combine Vinegar, brown sugar, spices. Bring to a slow boil.
Add the vegetables to the vinegar solution. Bring to a rapid boil, stir and cook for 7 minutes.
Remove jars from oven

Remove from heat and ladle into the hot jars.
Break up any air pockets and leave 1/2 inch headspace.
Use a paper towel dipped in hot water (remove excess water) to wipe the rim of the jar.
Remove lids from hot water bath, tap off excess water and apply rings finger tight.
Process in the water bath for 10 minutes. (Time begins when water has resumed rapid boil)
I did small batch canning, processing 4 jars at a time. I recently installed a glass cooktop, so I am nervous about the weight of the canner.
At the end of the 10 minutes, removes the jars carefully and place on folded towels in a draft free location.
You will hear the sound of success almost immediately--the metallic ping as the lids pop close.
Leave the jars undisturbed until completely cooled. Check the lid for flex--there shouldn't be any!
If the jars failed to seal, place in the refrigerator immediately and use within 2 weeks.
Otherwise remove the rings, wipe down the jars, label and then enjoy.
This recipe makes 8 full half pint jars and a 3/4  half pint jar which is my "taste jar".  I don't process the taste jar, it goes directly to the refrigerator.
Properly canned, this is shelf stable for a year. Not that it lasts that long!

My favorite use of this relish is in chicken, egg, potato or macaroni salads. Sometimes just a spoonful by itself, too.

**DISCLAIMER** I am not a professional or expert canner. Any recipe and instructions posted on this blog is for informational purposes only and does not serve as a legal liability. Please refer to to your local state extension office for help and always follow proper canning protocol.
When in doubt--Throw it out!

Canbassador Program

Quick question for y'all...

Has any other food bloggers been contacted by SweetPreservation.com to participate in the "Canbassador Program"?

Here is an excerpt of the email I received:

"What is the Canbassador program? It’s easy. We’ll send you a box of the season’s most delectable stone fruit from Washington state and encourage you to preserve with it, post about your experience and use SweetPreservation.com as a resource for canning and preserves recipes, downloadable jar labels, preservation party ideas and much more.

With Washington stone fruits at the peak of season, we hope you will help promote the canning revival! As part of the team, we ask you to help us grow the program and spread the word about “putting up” the season’s freshest, juiciest fruit while exploring your craft and passion for preservation.

We encourage you to check out the website resources and test the recipes; or if you’d like to come up with your own, we would be glad to include it in our recipe content. Please let us know if you’d like to participate and we’ll coordinate with you to send the box of fruit your way. We look forward to appointing you as an official Canbassador."

I am intrigued. Has anyone else participated in this program?

Nesting Weekend

Last weekend, I must have been in a nesting mode. My weekend began with One Pot Chicken Soup on Friday.

Then Saturday I woke early--sleeping in with 2 dogs, so not gonna happen--made a light breakfast of  cheese omelet with toast and jam. And proceeded to over caffeinate myself --really, is there such a thing as over caffeination?--by drinking an entire pot (32 oz) of double strength English Breakfast Tea. Oh yes, I was wired!

Since I had energy to spare, I made a pan of chocolate chip walnut brownies. This was followed by 3 loaves of Oat bread. I baked 2 traditional pan loaves and used the bread maker for the 3rd loaf. 

You know what goes great with fresh baked bread? Vegetable Beef Goulash-Stew.  According to Taste of Home "Stew most often refers to a main dish that contains meat, vegetables and a thick broth made from the stewing juices. Goulash is a kind of stew, usually a Hungarian stew, made with meat and vegetables and seasoned with paprika."

Traditional Hungarian Goulash (Gulyas--which translates to herd or stockman) is heavily flavored with hot Hungarian paprika--often as much as a 1/2 cup and the use of red chili flakes!  Austrian Goulash incorporates both sweet/ hot paprika and caraway seeds. I kinda made my recipe up as I went  along, haha

Ingredients
3 TBS EVOO
2 slices of onion, 1/2 inch thick, separate rings
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 TBS flour
1 lb of stew beef diced into small cubes (I quartered my cubes)
1 (28 ounce) can of tomato sauce
3 small bay leaves
4 cups of low sodium beef broth
1 lb of baby potatoes, halved or quartered, depending on size
3 ribs of celery, cut into 1/2  inch chunks
1 cup carrots
8 ounces of green beans, halved
1/2 of large green pepper, cut into 1/2 inch chunks
2 TBS paprika
1 & 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp sugar
1 (15 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
1 cup okra (frozen)
1 cup of cabbage shreds

Coat diced beef with flour. Heat oil on med-low heat. Add garlic and onion. Saute for 10 minutes or until aromatic. Add the beef, cook until all sides are browned. Add tomato sauce, bay leaves, cover slightly ajar and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The beef should be very tender and the sauce will have thickened. Add the remaining vegetables EXCEPT the frozen okra and cabbage shreds. Add the paprika, pepper flakes, sugar and beef broth. Increase heat to medium, cover, cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The carrots and potatoes should be fork tender at this point. If not, continue to cook and check every 5 minutes until tender. Add the diced tomatoes, frozen okra and cabbage shreds. Once the temperature resumes the medium boil, cook for an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, skim out bay leaves, cover tightly and let stand about 20 minutes.

The goulash base will have thickened, the cabbage and okra will be translucent and you can actually eat it without it be boiling-lava hot, ha! I added some black pepper and a quick grind of pink Himalayan mineral salt. This kept in the fridge for 2 days and the flavors melded beautifully!

Sunday, I rounded out my nesting by canning a small batch of Cherry Berry Orchard Jam.

This is a blend of cherries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and grated / diced granny smith apples. Add some sugar, some lemon juice  and cook away!

I took some bread and jam to my coworker's and they lost their collective minds, haha. Overall it was a great productive weekend. Cooking, baking and canning are among my favorite hobbies.

How about y'all--anyone else been nesting?

From Crap-tastic to Can-tastic! (Closet Makeover #2)

Y'all...I have too much stuff. Too much stuff to do and far too many things in my house.

 The closet in my dining room was pretty full before we had begun the kitchen remodel. When we did begin the remodel even more stuff was shoved into this closet. I am surprised it didn't implode, tearing a hole in the time space continuum...oh wait--wrong story... Regardless it was a terrible-no-good-horrible secret. Out of sight out of mind. Until the day the dog chased my cat, who jumped in the closet to get away from said dog, and there was an avalanche of stuff. It was bad. REALLY bad. I could no longer ignore the totes, bags, boxes and piles of random stuff. It was time to clean and organize.

There was stuff shoved in canvas shopping bags and plastic totes filled with an assortment of things, from xmas decor, school supplies,pictures, craft supplies, missing tools, and china settings.

There was a pile of just random stuff--house decor, 1 bag of papers and junk mail (from 2012), an assortment of hardware, and dog grooming stuff.

Canning jars

An entire basket of spray paint, a bag of winter scarves/gloves, xmas wrapping paper, the tub of linoleum adhesive, and a basket with the portable heater. Jeez.

I also found (not pictured) an unopened food dehydrator, an extra iced tea maker, an extra blender and my never used set of xmas dishes. What can I say?  It is a good sized closet and I was REALLY good at Tetris, heh.

I am rather embarrassed by this but at least it clean and organized now. I spent 7 hours--HOURS--cleaning, sorting and purging stuff.  There were several sort piles--garbage, recycle, donate and keep. All the xmas items were combined in tote, labelled and the hubbs moved it to the basement/cellar/dungeon. I repacked all of the china, using more plastic to cushion all the pieces, labelled the tote and it too was taken downstairs. I tried to combine like items and returns things to the proper storage. Like, all the tools. Especially the ones I swore to the hubbs I didn't have in my possession. Moving on...

I now have a canning and kitchen overflow storage closet.  Items which only get used a few times a year--like the xmas dishes, my replacement dishes and glasses-- are stored on the top shelf. The bottom 3 shelves are for items used more frequently, such as kitchen overflow (stockpots) and canning supplies.


I am pleased with the results.  My stuff is in close proximity to the kitchen. The semi-opaque totes make it easy to see the contents of each tote, and the totes have wheels! Maybe someday when I am feeling ambitious, I will paint and cover the shelves. However for now it serves its intended purpose.

What do y'all think?

Sweet Heat Georgia Peach Jam

Y'all, remember when I said I found a good deal on peaches? Well my original plan was to make some boozy peaches. Except I kept eating the peaches! And they were oh-so delicious. Since I reduced the amount of peaches considerably -don't judge me- I decided to make a small batch of jam.

It ended up being late in the evening by the time I started my batch, because it took 2 hours for me to locate and clean all my stuff. This was the 1st time I canned since putting the kitchen back together. Then I had a not so quick jaunt to Rural King and Target--with the idea,  I was only get canning lids. Hahahahaha...Um, yeah. Not so much. I ended up with 2 new pots, some additional mason jars, some new tongs, a new pizza cutter, um a few other things, oh and canning lids. Moving on...

And unlike most of my perceived brilliant notions from my fatigue addled brain--this one WAS brilliant. Or delicious. Or brilliantly delicious!

Aren't they lovely?

RECIPE

3 1/2 lbs of just barely ripe peaches

2 cups sugar

1-2 TBS lemon juice

3 TBS bourbon

1 TBS pure vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cayenne

Setting up my supplies and work stations

After washing in hot soapy water and triple rinsing, I placed my inverted 4 oz jelly jars on clean heavy duty baking sheet. I placed in the oven at 275°F for 30 minutes. I then lowered the temperature to 225°F and held the jar at this temperature until I was ready to hot pack.

I rinsed and scored an X on the bottom of each of 3 1/2 pounds of peaches in preparation of blanching. I placed several peaches (don't crowd the pan) in boiling water  for 2 minutes. Remove and immediately place in an ice water bath. Repeat until all peaches are blanched and ice quenched.

While the peaches were cooling in the ice bath, I heated the water in the canner and an extra pan (in case I needed it). I peeled, pitted and sorta broke the peaches up a little as I dropped them in my blender. I also a added a little squirt of lemon juice in each blender batch to keep the peaches from browning.  My blender has a grate function. So I pulsed that for a few seconds. The resulting mixture was chunky, I transferred it to the stock pot, added 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and 2 cups of white granulated sugar.* You may need less or more depending on the sweetness of your peaches. Rule of thumb is  1 tablespoon of acid (vinegar or lemon juice) and 2 cups of sugar per 3 pounds of fruit. Please refer to the USDA Home Preservation guidelines for additional information.  I do NOT add water like some other recipes. The peaches released plenty of liquid. You will need to cook the jam down anyway so why add the water? Adding water only increases the opportunities for microbial growth.

 Once all the peaches were added to the stock pot, I turned it to low-medium. Constantly stirring and scraping, so the sugar didn't burn or caramelize. When the sugar was dissolved I turned the heat to medium  for a rolling boil. Again, constantly stirring. Once the foam began to form (after about 10 minutes) I reduced the heat slightly. Bubbles were still breaking the surface--a gentle boil. I let this cook for until the volume was reduced by slightly more than half (make sure to remove the foam and kinda smoosh the bigger chunks of peaches)

I then pulled the pot from the heat added in a "nip" bottle (50 ml) of white label Jim Beam (this is equal to 3 tablespoons, 1 tablespoon of pure vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper. I put this back on the heat and stirred allowing the added flavors to incorporate. After 15 minutes I checked for gel.

  Some people use a thermometer; other use the gel test to determine set. I use the gel test. I had a finger bowl which I had cooled in the freezer, to which I added a small amount of jam to see how quickly it set. I also taste tested by jam and decided it needed a bit more heat. I added an additional 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/8 cayenne. The jam cooked for an additional 10-15 minutes. 

Once ready, I removed the jam from the heat and pulled the jars from the oven. The lids and rings were placed several at a time in the low boil water. I hot packed the jars, run the wand through the jam to remove air bubbles, leave 1/2 in headspace, and wipe the rim with a paper towel moistened with boiling water. The lids were pulled from the hot water bath, tapped dry on a paper towel, affixed to the jar a ring added and screwed onto finger tight.

I used the 4 oz jelly jars  and processed in a  boiling water bath for 8 minutes. Technically I could have done 5 minutes but I prefer to err on the side of caution. The jars were removed from the bath and placed on a double folded towel, in a draft free location. The jars pinged within 1 minute of being pulled from the bath. I LOVE that little melodic metallic ping! I let the jars set overnight undisturbed before removing the rings and checking for lid flex. They all sealed! 

Look at the little strands of peaches and flecks of spices, mmmm!

I ended up with 9 of the 4 oz jelly jars and 1 8oz (1/2 pint) for the fridge. I always keep a "taste jar" hehe. I must say thought this jam is sooo good. I could not stop eating it. I wanted to climb inside the pan and lick it clean, haha. 

Let me tell you how this tastes... You know the last day of summer? It is really hot, clear blue skies, fluffy clouds, all the vivid colors of nature and the leaves are just beginning to to turn. The evening is dropped temperatures, just enough of a brisk chill you need a sweater and maybe think about having a fire. You step out on the patio in barefeet and can still feel the heat from the day's sun . The air is cool, crisp and carries the perfume of  the grass, trees and flowers. That my friend is how this jam tastes. Sweet, sunshine, warm and spicy.

I plan to make this again, and maybe, just maybe, up the oommpf factor. Maybe reduce the sugar and add some honey. Maybe a little pinch of mace. Maybe a little grated apple to added extra pectin and firm it up just a wee bit. And maybe a few cherries added to the stockpot to  hold the color, because it did darken just a tad. Overall I consider this a WIN my first time making it.  

I think this jam is versatile... on toast, honey butter biscuits, and a glaze for pork or chicken. Don't take my word for it..go on and make y'all some!

Oh deer, a project diss and boozy peaches

Hello all my bloggies! A quick post today.

1) The marauding band of deer returned and finished the remains of my garden. The strawberries are merely green sticks, all the tomato plants stripped bare--every last tomato is gone-- the only thing I am left with are a few fat jalapenos and a couple of habaneros....Sigh... We are expecting temps in the 90's this weekend, which would have been great for my tomatoes--if there were any left! I am considering buying a couple of plants for the patio. Damn deer! What are some of your tips for keeping the wildlife from turning your garden into an all you can eat buffet?

The deer could have at least eaten the weeds in addition to the strawberries. How rude!

2) I am almost finished with my No Dig Zone project. The hubbs kinda dissed my project. Stay tuned for part 3 which shows the completed project, you can read about his unfortunate diss and decide who was right about this project...ummm me!

3) I scored a really good deal on some peaches, so there is some small batch canning going on at the MCLF homestead. Boozy peaches anyone? oh yeah!

 As a side note, I am wondering if my blog is working properly?

Hello...Is this thing on?

I am experiencing a lot of traffic on my site and seeing shares with Google Plus but not one comment in 10 days. I know some other bloggers were experiencing some issues with comments. So if you would take a moment, to leave a comment. If you find there is an issue and you are unable to comment on my post, would someone be so kind as to go to my Facebook page, leave a comment there or private message me?