Pear-athon continues: Ginger-Pear Marmalade.

While the batches of pear preserves from last time were pretty fantastic, I was keen to expand upon the previous success by adding a new twist. This time I stumbled onto a bunch of red pears and a new, delicious sounding recipe.

Ginger-Pear Marmalade:

8-9 medium red pears.

2 1/3 cups sugar.

3 limes limes (zest and juice).

1 tablespoon grated ginger root.

Start by washing and peeling the pears, then quarter and core them. Set them aside. Next, zest three limes - I used a peeler and then sliced the peel into short thin strips. I like the color and texture these strips add to the jar. Now, juice the limes, discarding any seeds.

Combine pears, lime strips and juice, and sugar in a dutch oven. Grate the ginger in.

Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring frequently Boil until it begins to thicken - about 15 minutes or until you reach 222°.

Ladle directly into your hot, sterilized jars (it jells fast). Leave a quarter inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and be sure to wipe your rims clean. Lid directly and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Makes about 2 1/2 pints.

I love ginger and the flavor it adds to the pears - I think this might be my new favorite batch.

Pear-athon: Pear Preserves.

A couple days ago I got an email from a friend expressing his interest in learning how to make preserves, and as an incentive he offered to share a large box of pears, which he had collected from his parent's house. I was happy for the opportunity to share my new found passion with a friend for the first time, so I invited him over.

He showed up with a beer box near full to the top with beautiful, fresh green pears. They were beautiful in all their irregularities. They were firm, smelled tart and earthy, and seemed perfect for preserving. Now I have to admit, I do not recall ever having had pear preserves before, but as pears are one of my favorite fruits, we could not possibly go wrong.

Pear Preserves:

6-8 medium pears.

2 1/2 cups water.

3 cups sugar.

1 lemon.

Start by washing and peeling the pears - be careful, they get pretty slippery. Now, quarter and core them. Place them in a large bowl and set aside. As thinly as possible slice a lemon into rounds and remove any seeds; set aside.

Next, pour all of the water and half of the sugar into a dutch oven. Stir to mix and bring to a boil over medium heat. After two minutes, add the pear chunks and return to a boil. Be sure to stir often, it can stick fast. After about 15-20 minutes, add the remaining sugar and the lemon slices. The pears should just be softening at this point. As the pears softened I slowly began to chop them using my handy bamboo stirring spatula.

Return the mixture to boil, this time over medium-high heat. Cook rapidly, stirring often, for another 25 minutes or so. The pears should be soft and fairly translucent and the liquid syrupy. Remove from heat.

If it does not start to gel, you can return the batch to the stove for a hard re-boil. It should only take a few minutes more. This is not ideal but you can thicken your preserves this way.

Ladle directly into hot, sterilized jars, leaving a quarter inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles that might have formed and wipe the rims clean. Lid directly and process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.

Over a two evening run we made about eight batches, filling about 24 eight ounces and 20 four ounce jars. It was quite the marathon.

We ended up with a substantial amount of variation. The first batch was the most like the preserves I had made previously - soft fruit chunks in a substantial gel. One batch we near completely neglected right at the end - the sugar caramelized into a deep brown gel with a very distinct flavor. The last batch, we went for a double and it never seemed to reduce correctly, ending more like a fruit-in-syrup than preserves. Overall the flavor was sweet and tart and I was reminded of sour apple flavored candies from when I was young, albeit more natural tasting.

These two nights were the busiest and most tiring trials in home preserving I have experienced so far, and I tell you what, I slept like a baby afterwards.

Peach Party Part 2: Jalapeño-peach preserves.

About a week ago, I was telling a couple friends about making preserves over drinks, when my friend Mandy told me about how her family always made jalapeño-peach jelly. It sounded really good, so I asked about their recipe, but she said that she did not have it. As I ended up buying about 10 pounds of peaches this past weekend, I set out to find a recipe of my own. As it turns out, I did not have to look very far - my mom had this one:

Jalapeño-peach preserves:

8-10 medium, ripe peaches - peeled and quartered.

1/2 a medium orange - quartered, seeded, and thinly sliced (rind included).

2-3 jalapeños (seeds and all).

4 cups sugar.

3/4 cup clover honey.

1/4 teaspoon all-natural almond extract.

1/2 teaspoon of butter (optional).

water.

Wash and peel your peaches. Quarter them and discard the pits. Place them in a dutch oven, adding the sugar and honey. Cover and let stand for about 45 minutes (no heat).

In a food processor, combine the orange slices and jalapeños. Blend until finely chopped. Scrape into a medium saucepan and add an equal amount of water, about 2/3 of a cup. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat - simmer for about 10 minutes.

Bring the peaches to a boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar has completely dissolved. Turn heat up to medium-high, and boil. Stir often.

Add orange-jalapeño mixture, and return to boil for another 20-25 minutes or until you reach 222˚. At this point, the preserves were almost ready but they seemed overly foamy, so I added 1/2 teaspoon of butter, which helps cut it down some.

Remove from heat and stir in the almond extract. Ladle directly into your waiting hot, sterilized jars. Leave a quarter inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and and be sure to wipe the rims clean. Lid and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

The resulting preserves were spicy, but not so spicy as to overpower the peach flavor. They retained a pleasant sweetness - I swear I could taste the honey. I sampled a bit on some stovetop toast sliced from a baguette I had on hand - as usual - but this time with a taste of cream cheese, which really made for a winning combination.

Spicy Blueberry-Citrus Marmalade.

Well, I have received two requests for a specific jelly flavor combinations. The first was Jalapeño Peach jelly, requested by my friend Mandy (which I will make soon).

This is the second:

Spicy Blueberry-Citrus Marmalade:

1 valencia orange.

1 meyer lemon.

1 persian lime.

2 cups of water.

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes.

2 cups of sugar.

2 cups fresh blueberries.

Start by thoroughly scrubbing your citrus, especially if you are using store bought fruit. This is important because we will be using the skin for this recipe, and you do not want anything disturbing the natural flavors.

Next, you want to cut the rinds from the orange, lemon, and lime from the fruit in thin strips. I used a normal peeler, which worked well and made for irregular strips - which is nice. Set the strips aside.

Slice the citrus trio in half and use a reamer to extract as much juice and pulp as you can and set aside. Be sure to remove any seeds from the juice.

In a dutch oven, bring two cups of water the citrus strips and red pepper flakes to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rinds a tender. At 25 minutes, mine ended up on the firm side of tender - which I really liked.

Start your jars to sterilizing in a boiling water bath.

Now add your blueberries, sugar, and citrus juice and pulp to the pot. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring often (222˚F). After about 15 minutes it should start getting syrupy. Remove from heat and if any foam has formed skim it off - foam can have adverse effects of headspace if you are canning the marmalade.

Ladle directly into hot, sterilized jars (it jells fast). Leave a quarter inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and be sure to wipe our rims clean. Lid directly and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

I had some left over, so I quickly threw some french bread on the stove for toast and spread it over. I really love the consistency - the blueberries spread like preserves. I was also impressed by the flavor. It is tangy, and more tart than sweet, and finishes with a pleasant burn in the back of your mouth after you swallow. Success tastes sweet.

That is all.

jon.

p.s. if anyone has any requests...

Strawberry Preserves.

Despite a ridiculously late start yesterday, I made it to Froberg's just before they closed. Lucky for me (and you) they still had strawberries.

The recipe for my preserves is very basic, which is a good place to start - this is my first time after all.

Strawberry Preserves:

2 pounds fresh strawberries.

4 1/2 cups sugar.

2 lemons (juice only).

Wash...

...and hull strawberries.

Pour lemon juice over sugar in a deep skillet.

Bring to a boil undisturbed.

Stir and add strawberries. Bring to a boil and up to 220 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Ladle into jars with 1/4" head space.

Process in a boiling bath for 15 minutes.

The recipe filled nine four ounce jars, leaving just enough to spread over two slices of toast. All I can say, is that the flavor of the preserves was perfectly strawberry and made me as proud as the best meal I have every prepared.

***

I did learn a couple very important lessons:

Do not touch boiling sugar.

Precise temperatures = no pectin.

Do not forget butter - it cuts down foam.

Keep ice on burns as long as possible.

***

The selection at Froberg's was plentiful and saved me from having to choose what else to make. In addition to strawberries, I picked up eggs, okra, and cucumbers. I plan to pickle them in the coming days, so stay tuned.

That is all.

jon.

I got big plans. Big.

Jars and jars.

After last weekends trip to the farm and the reminder of just how much I love jarred goods, I began thinking about making my own pickles and preserves. I started researching how-tos and materials and there are so many great resources out there. Even the USDA pitched in:

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/publications_usda.html

Then, I glanced through my older cookbooks and found that I already had plenty of recipes I could try. Well, I really sold myself the idea, so yesterday I bought some jars, and a lot of white vinegar, and pickling salts, etc.

Saturday, I plan to wake up early and head out to the farm to get the best selection and maybe just rely on that to dictate what I end up making.

I am thinking/hoping:

Dill Pickles (of course).

Spicy Pickled Okra.

Pickled Eggs with Beets (Yes, eggs).

Strawberry Preserves.

...or Raspberry.

Peach Something.

I know what you are thinking, "What are you going to do with all that stuff?" Well I intend to start small, keeping some for myself of course, but I think I could sell some to friends and family - and maybe people I do not know yet...

Go cottage industry! That is all.

jon.