3rd
Can-O-Rama Challenge #1
At the beginning of September, Linsey posted the first challenge in a series for those of us who took the Canning Across America class with her at the end of August. The goal of this challenge was to put summer in a jar (or bottle). Rules were simple, no fall-ish fruits and source as close to home as possible. We were working on the basic principles that we had discussed during our class: use the freshest fruit possible, get to know your farmers, get to know your food, save your food for winter. (This riffs off of many of the principles of the SOLE - Sustainable, Organic, Local, Ethical - food movement. Here’s a great site to learn more about that and many other aspects of eating consciously.)
We could choose to can a jam or make a liqueur. Thinkpol and I did both, kinda. First off the jam: I made peach jam from a big ol’ box of peaches from Stillman’s. The easiest part was prepping the peaches. I blanched, peeled, and pitted the all of them in under an hour (compared to the 4 hours of prep for the tomatoes we made last month). Next up I macerated the fruit with 2lbs of sugar and 1/4 cup of lemon juice for every 4.5lbs of peach. I let that rest while I prepared the processing supplies.
The trouble started once I the fruit mast went on to boil. I brought it to the boil and then it simmered, and boiled and simmered some morefor almost 3 hours as I tried to bring it up to set point (believe me it was more than simmering for most of this period). I never got it to that magical 218 Fahrenheit where the sweet (and now very caramelized) and syrupy fruit becomes jam. At that point I’d burned some of it so I decided to call it preserves and get on with processing the jars. I ended up w/ 7 pints and 8 half pints of what turned out to be very good if a bit runny jam.
What went wrong? Well, I tried to be AWESOME and not use pectin of any sort, but I guess the peaches them selves didn’t have enough pectin and I should have added a couple apple peels or a packet of the commercial stuff. So now that I know I will certainly add it to the next batch.
Oh, and apologies for no pictures of the peaches. I rarely have the camera out and haven’t gotten in the habit yet. That’s the long way of saying I forgot.
The picture above is of two of Thinkpol’s experiments with putting summer in a bottle (this is the kinda part). He’s infused* vodka with a few different combinations of spices and fruit and these two are the most summery. On the left is cucumber and the right is basil. Both are excellent mixers; we’ve paired the cucumber with peach juice (left over from the jamming day) and the basil with lemonade. Oh so tasty!, I just wish that there had been a couple more HOT days in September where we could have really enjoyed the treat.
I can’t wait to get some pears to make the next challenge. Stay tuned!
*Infusion differs from making a liqueur because you only soak the fruit or spices for a few days, maybe a week. With a liqueur the fruit is mixed with sugar and an alcohol then rests for three months or so. Our infusions are not meant to be drank on their own only as a mixer.
