Archive for September 8th, 2010

So the strawberries are at last slowing down, the finish of the time of year is in sight & do I sense relief that I will no longer be chained to the kitchen counter, three nights a week, cooking strawberries for jam? Am I ill of the sight of them, turning into one myself, in a word, jaded? Surprisingly enough Im not. Six weeks of making jam & I might convey on longer.

I sneak into the larder to calculate the jarshave I traded too many? Will it be enough for the fellowship for the year & what about Christmas presents? Two weeks agone I was merrily flogging it at the market, secure in the knowledge I might make more. Now mates are ringing up calling for to purchase jam & Im grudgingly parting with it but the Scrooge hoarding instinct is kicking in, a sure omen of the finish of the season.

And I never did master the clotted jam versus runny jam dilemma, the jam resolved for itself what it would become, not me. So I can’t thus far arrogate to be a pro jam maker, not when the jam is in bill of the process. Further experiments will have to await until next year, when at the opening of the new time of year I may afford to be lavish with the strawberries & whenever a batch burns in the try to thicken it wont be a disaster, Ill be capable to use it for baking jam squares, wherever the caramel overtones are a bonus.

Part of the magic of strawberries is their zestful color as well as their scent. Im going to overlook the piles of yield on the table, awaiting to be sorted for selling, in the fridge in punnets, to be delivered in the morning, bowls of seconds for the fellowship to consume & containers of the remain for jam. The youngberries will be begining soon, like blackberries, they have their personal allure & make fine summertime puddings, but they just dont rather have that special anything that strawberries have!

So what will I fill my jars with now? Well the good news is that apricots are just begining to creep into the shops. Unfortunately we only have one tree & this year it has really tiny yield on it, we want to plant many more trees but it will be a couple of years earlier they create properly.

So we control out the yield in the shops. Its a bit like playing the stock market. Were awaiting for the cost to come down, to purchase loads & jam them all, but whenever we await too long & misjudge the timing the cost will shoot up once more or therell be nothing left, its a brief season. So maybe Ill play it safe & purchase a couple of kilos next week & then hope to splurge the week after on 5 kilos as inexpensive as may be, but I cant chance being arrested brief of apricot jam. Were on our last jar of last years & therell be a fellowship uprising whenever I dont get in next years supply.

The apricot jam recipe really alike to the strawberry jam recipe but less temperamental. The worst Ive managed to do has been combust it & even then it was usable in baking, just a delicate caramel added flavour!

1 kg apricots halved & stoned
750g sugar

Pack yield & sugar in a stainless steel or enamel pan & keep in fridge overnight. Heat slowly, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat a bit & boil rapidly (stir occasionally to prevent burning) for about 20-30 mins. Test a dangle on a freezing plate. If, after 2 minutes, when you push your fingernail through it, the skin wrinkles, it is done. If not test each 5 minutes until it does. Pour into sizzling sterilised jam jars & seal immediately.

NB apricots have enough of pectin, so you dont want to enlarge lemon juice to get the set.
For more tips on jam making & the strawberry jam recipe, appear at my report Strawberry Jamming Again.

Copyright 2005 Kit Heathcock
A Flower Gallery

One of the largest unsolved mysteries of the kitchen is the fondue pot. Fondue pots are a favorite bridal registry detail & they are often granted as home warming gifts. But by the time the thank you cards have been sent, the fondue pot has generally disappeared never to be heard from again. They wind up in the back of a wardrobe or in the attic or many are even re-gifted. Why does everybody need a fondue pot but no one ever so gets around to making fondue?

Fondue is bare to make. Sure there are many recipes that call for sauting vegetables or marinating flesh nightlong & many use strange components that you wont find at the supermarket. Those types of recipes taste fine but they are the cause that your fondue pot is gathering junk alternatively of being used.

The key to becoming use out of your fondue pot is to selection really bare recipes that are bare to make such as the recipes listed below. One is a fundamental cheese fondue that substitutes frequent Swiss Cheese for the more costly & harder to find Gruyere cheese. The second recipe is Mocha Fondue, a must attempt recipe for coffee & cocoa lovers. Once once more this is a recipe with fundamental components & bare instructions.

Swiss Fondue
2 cups dry White Wine
1 Garlic Clove
1 lb Swiss Cheese
3 tbsp Flour
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/4 tsp White Pepper
Salt to taste
Nutmeg to taste

Rub the inside of the fondue pot with the garlic clove & enlarge clove to pot
Heat up the White Wine & Lemon Juice on medium low heat – ought be sizzling but do not boil
Mix Flour & Cheese in a bowl
Slowly enlarge cheese mix although stirring
Add remainder of components although stirring
Optional: Add a splash of Kirsch or Blackberry Brandy
To Dip: Italian bread split into cubes, vegetables, flat breads

Mocha Fondue
8 oz Semisweet Chocolate
1/2 cupful Spicy Espresso or Coffee
3 tbsp Granulated Sugar
2 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Chop cocoa into little pieces & set aside
Heat espresso & sugar in fondue pot on low heat
Slowly enlarge cocoa & butter although stirring
Add Vanilla
Optional: Add a splash of Irish Cream
To Dip: Angel Food Cake, Apple Slices, Bananas, Strawberries, Pound Cake, Pretzels, Pineapple Chunks, Marshmallows

Fondue may be bare to make & its unquestionably fun. The key is to use bare recipes so that you may spend your time enjoying fondue & not careing about becoming a complicated recipe right. Isnt it time that your fondue pot became a ageless fixture on your countertop. You may free up many room for it by moving the crock pot into the closet.