Jam-making day

Too damn hot and humid to be outside today, so I'm enjoying the day in the air-conditioned kitchen.  I made some amatriciana sauce yesterday (that's a tomato sauce made with bacon or pancetta and lots of onions; recipe to come), and a summer-fruit pandowdy.  I bought 5 pounds of apricots at Gentile's Produce Market last week, planning to make a pot of jam.  Today was the day.

I always refer to a favorite website when I'm making jam -- The National Center for Home Food Preservation.  The Center is part of the University of Georgia's Extension Service and the US Department of Agriculture.  A resource of remarkable depth.

The recipe I used today was for the fruit jam without added pectin.

Jam-making is not difficult, but it does require a few specialized tools -- a canning funnel, a jar-lifter, and a candy/deep-fat thermometer at the minimum.  You also need a big stockpot in which to do the sterilizing and hot-packing.  I have a pair of long leather barbecue gloves that I find very handy, too, to handle the hot jars. 

One of the pleasures of apricot jam is that the flavor of fresh apricots is made much more prominent when confected into a jam.  Also, apricots do not need to be peeled when being made into a jam; the skins disintegrate upon cooking.  

Barbara from NYC stopped by today to take me out to brunch for my birthday.  She arrived just as I was removing the jars from the hot-pack processing.  She got the first jar of jam to take home with her. 

 Boiling the fruit and sugar. 

 Filling the sterilized jars with the hot jam.  This is where the leather gloves come in handy. 
You can see the wide-bottom canning funnel, designed specifically for this task. 
The bands and discs for the lids are off to the upper right.

The finished jam.  Few things are better.

Strawberry refrigerator jam

I bought a few quarts of strawberries on the way home from the shore last weekend.  I cleaned up one quart for a friend in recovery from surgery, and used another to make a quick batch of strawberry jam.  It's 'refrigerator' jam insofar as it's not processed after cooking for long-term storage at room temperature.  This is jam you make and eat.

1 qt ripe strawberries (And apologies, I didn't weigh them.  This is one quart dry measure.)
2 cups sugar
pinch salt
juice of half a lemon

Hull the berries, and halve or slice them, depending on how large they are, and place in a pot -- at least a 4-qt pot -- you need the extra room.  Add the sugar, salt, and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil over high heat, and stir.  As the water in the fruit begins to boil off, the jam mixture will start to bubble up.  You know you've achieved a high enough temperature when your stirring does not knock down the bubbles.  Be very careful not to let it boil over, removing it from the heat and stirring vigorously as necessary. 

Continue to cook the mixture for about 20 minutes until it thickens, and reaches a temperature of 220°F, at which point it's done.

Pour into a clean jar (I used a clean 1-quart mason jar), cover, and let sit at room temperature until it is cool.  You'll see that it sets up nicely when it comes to room temperature.  Tighten the lid, and pop into the fridge.

I really cannot adequately describe how remarkable the taste of homemade strawberry jam is.  Words fail.

By the way, the best resource for jam- and jelly-making is the National Center for Home Food Preservation, based at the University of Georgia. 

 Ruby red jam.  Springtime in a jar. 

And on a cracker with some butter. 

Facebook fig jam

Chalk this recipe up to Facebook!

I recently friended an old high-school friend, Lisa F., on Facebook.  It's been YEARS since we've seen each other, very possibly since we graduated high school sometime in the last century.  (OK, OK, it was 33 years ago.  Happy now?)

Just last weekend Lisa posted on Facebook that the fig tree in her backyard was producing ripe fruit at an alarming pace, and was there anyone out there who'd like some of it?  I chimed right in -- sure, I'll make fig jam.

I went over that afternoon (she lives nearby), and picked up about 5 pounds of beautifully ripe, sweet, dark figs, picked just that morning off her tree.

Just getting reacquainted after so many years was a delight, and the fruit was a wonderful dividend.  I promised Lisa a couple jars of jam.

Got up early this morning and made some fig jam.  Nothing fancy -- figs, sugar, a bit of lemon juice, pinch of salt.  Cook, jars, process, cool.  I rely upon the National Center for Home Food Preservation for my recipes.  I used their Fig Jam without added pectin recipe.  Can't go wrong.  As I've mentioned in previous jammy posts, making jam is not difficult, but it helps to have a couple specialized tools handy, like a jar lifter, a canning funnel, a candy thermometer, and a big steel (not aluminum) stock pot. 

Cut-up figs and sugar, ready to cook.

Staging area, at the ready.

Figs and sugar, boiling hard.

Eight jars of beautiful fig jam. 

Remind me to tell the story of the Italian word for 'fig' some day. 

Tipsy trifle

 

First, you need an excellent, preferably home-made sponge cake, though you could use a store-bought Sara Lee pound cake easily enough.  Slice the cake into 1/4-inch slices. 

Make a quickie berry jam:  

            2 lbs frozen strawberries

            1 lb frozen raspberries

            1/4 cup water

            1 cup sugar

            Pinch salt

            2 tsp unflavored gelatin, hydrated in 2 Tbp water. 

Bring to a simmer, and cook gently until thickened a bit.  Mash the berries to make more homogeneous if necessary.  Add gelatin.  Let cool.  

This will not set up like a “Jello” dessert, but the gelatin will give it a bit more body.  It will not be as sweet as a commercial jarred jam. 

Feel free to use any jarred jam you like, though I am particular to strawberry, raspberry, or apricot for trifles.  I would NOT use Concord grape jam. 

Make a recipe of pastry cream.  (There’s really no good substitute for this.  Cooked pudding comes close, but lacks the richness, as there are no eggs.)

            1 qt milk

8 egg yolks

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 Tbp flour

4 Tbp corn starch

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pinch salt

2 Tbp softened butter

Scald milk gently over moderate heat.  (You can also do this in the microwave.)  Set aside. 

Beat egg yolks with sugar until smooth.  Add flour and corn starch.  Beat until smooth.  Add about a 1/2 cup of the warm milk by dribbles into egg/sugar/flour mixture and beat well until the egg mixture has been warmed up a bit (this is called “tempering”), then pour the egg/milk mixture back into the remaining hot milk. 

Cook over moderate heat, stirring constantly, until thickened like pudding.   Remove from heat.  Add vanilla extract.  Beat in butter. 

Cover surface with plastic wrap so that a skin does not form.  Let cool completely before using. 

Assemble your trifle in a straight-sided trifle bowl.

Layer sliced cake in the bottom.  Generously dribble rum (or other alcohol like brandy).  Spread cake with jam.  Spread some of the pastry cream.  Repeat several times, finishing with pastry cream.  

Trifle being assembled.  

Decorate with whipped cream on top, if desired. 

More summertime specialties -- peach jam and cucumber pickle

A quart of peach jam, and cucumber pickle (with red onion, scallion, and jalapeno).

The quart of jam was from 6 large peaches, peeled and chopped, with 3 cups of sugar, juice of a lemon, and a pinch of salt.  Cooked over high heat, with frequent stirring, until it reached 220°F with an immersion thermometer. 

Two 16-oz jars of peach jam, right out of the boiling water process.  

Six Kirby cukes peeled and sliced, with red onion, scallion, and jalapeno. 
Salt (about a tablespoon), sugar (four tablespoons), and cider vinegar (about a half a cup).
Mix well, then refrigerate for a few hours. 

Facebook fig jam, chapter two

I managed to post all this on Facebook -- appropriate, as that's how it all started -- but didn't put it directly into the blog.  That's now remedied. 

August 26, 2012 -- more figs from my high school friend Lisa F., who has a huge backyard fig tree, with more fruit than she can manage.  I stopped by and picked up about 6 pounds of ripe figs. 

As I did last year, I made a nice batch of fig jam -- this year, twelve 8-oz jars.  Lisa got three of them in return for the figs.

I always follow the recipes and directions of the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia.  

• 2 quarts chopped fresh figs (about 5 pounds)
• ¾ cup water
• 6 cups sugar
• ¼ cup lemon juice

Just look at the colors of those figs -- pink and purple and green and white...

The two jars you don't see there were unintended bounty.  I figured I'd get 10 jars, but in fact got 12, so had to quickly clean a couple more, and fill them.  Instead of processing them, I just popped them into the fridge.  They lasted about 3 days -- wiped out by many fig-jam lovers. 

Few things as satisfying as the sound of a big pot of bubbling jam....

Apricot and strawberry jam

I bought a couple quarts of beautiful, local strawberries on my way to the shore the other day.  Earlier in the week I bought a few pounds of apricots at Produce Junction.

Time to make jam!

I'm not going to go into process details here.  Your best bet is to follow the same directions I did, which come from the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia.  It is a great resource and offers recipes for a wide range of food products -- jams, jellies, pickles, and so on.  The link to NCHFP is to the right, in my list of links.


National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia:  www.uga.edu/nchfp/

Apricot:  www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/apricot_jam.html

Strawberry:  www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/strawberry_jam_liquid.html

 

Apricot jam, in pint jars.

 

 Strawberry jam, in pint and half-pint jars.

It's still too hot to test.  Can't wait!

Calzoniti -- special Christmas Eve treat

I know these confections being made only one day of the year, Christmas Eve.  And I know only one person who ever made them, my grandmother, Louise Cordivari. 

Calzoniti (diminutive of calzone) are quite simply, fried ravioli with a sweet, rather than savory, filling.  They are an Abruzzese specialty, and typical of that, contain a peculiar combination of nuts and fruits.  The colloquial pronunciation of calzoniti is something like “cah-joo-NEET.”  I've also seen them called "caociun" in the Abruzzese dialect, and "calzoncelli" in the Salerno dialect.  However you pronounce it, they’re quite delicious.

One difficulty with these treats is that the dough that Granny made, though very tender, did not stick well to itself.   Sealing the calzoniti after they’ve been filled could be difficult.  My cousin Tom could do an entire comedy routine on how our grandmother sounded when she made these every year: “They’re opening up!  What did I do wrong?  The filling’s too cold!  The filling isn’t cold enough!  The oil’s too hot.  The dough’s too tender!  We didn’t seal them properly!”   The problem with doing something (like making calzoniti) only once a year is that by the time you’re finished making them, and have figured out the tricks about doing them right, you’re done for the year.  And by the time the next year rolls around, you’ve forgotten all the tricks, and end up relearning them year after year, and making the same mistakes year after year.

In the interest of sanity and convenience, I ditched the homemade dough altogether, and substituted Chinese dumpling wrappers.  They work great.

 The filling is simple:

1/2 cup nuts (of any variety, really, though I typically use pecans or almonds; you can also use chestnuts -- buy the cooked, peeled ones at the Korean market when you're picking up the dumpling wrappers)
1/2 cup chocolate (I use milk chocolate, ground up with a few pulses in the food processor)
1/2 cup prune butter (which you can usually find in the baking aisle in your supermarket with the pie fillings; alternately, you can get fig butter at Trader Joe's, if you have one near you)
1/2 cup jam (I make my own, so always have apricot jam on hand; any type will work fine)
1/4 cup raisins (black or golden)

Mix well, and set aside.

Beat an egg with a tablespoon of water to use to seal the dumpling wrappers. Take a dumpling wrapper, put a teaspoon of filling in the middle, wet the edges with the egg wash, and fold the wrapper in half, pressing along the edge well to seal.  Set aside.  Continue until you've used up the wrappers.  Two cups of filling and a package of wrappers will give you about four dozen calzoniti.

It's not a bad idea to let the calzoniti sit for half an hour so that the wet seals dry.

Heat vegetable oil in a skillet or small saucepot.  Fry the calzoniti a few at a time until golden brown, turning to brown each side.  The dumpling wrappers brown QUICKLY -- in about 30 seconds -- so keep an eye on them.  Remove to absorbent paper towels, and let cool completely.

 Dust with powdered sugar, or a combination of powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and cinnamon just before serving.