Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Summer of Jam

I may have almost bitten off more than I can chew the other day with apricots. I had know idea how much it would yield. I decided to make a big pot of apricot butter. By big, I mean about 100 liters. It took longer than expected to cook. It wasn't finished until 10 pm, so I had to call in Allison for bottling support. We finished up by about 2:30am. I'm glad I ordered so many bottles because we used everything. All that aside, it tasted great.
I've been sourcing great fruit at the farmers markets. I picked up more blueberries today. I'm going to make another batch of citrus-blueberry preserves. I'm also going to give making pickles a shot. I've been getting lots of local fruit from our neighbors in Stratchcona. I received alot of fresh figs and some transparent apples. I ordered in some beautiful candied ginger from Australia. I forgot that candied ginger can actually taste that good. Combine it all together and I made our first batch of Strathcona Fig Chutney. It's a great barter system we've created. We're trading cheese for fresh picked fruit from our community. Both sides benefit. I'm told that coming soon is a bumper crop of Italian prune plums. Maybe some plums in marsala are in order? Should be good with cheese. The best part is that after all these preserves age a bit in bottle, we'll have wonderful accompaniments to serve during the upcoming seasons, until summer rolls along again.
The vinegars are doing fine. They are so intense now, I can only imagine what they will be like after another month of soaking in the flavours.

3 comments:

pat said...

"The vinegars are doing fine" - how strangely poetic.
Do you know why they're called "transparent" apples?

pat said...
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Joe Chaput - les amis du FROMAGE said...

I'm not sure why they are named that. I know alice likes them. She says they make wonderful apple sauce, but they are not long lasting, and a bit delicate.