Monday, July 11, 2005

CSA Week 4 Roundup and more jam stories

First things first...the weekly CSA round up:

1.5 lbs of summer squash
1/2 lb of mixed greens (kale, collard etc...)
1/2 lb of broccoli
1/2 lb of yummy, yummy baby carrots
1 fennel
12 oz. of spring onions
10 garlic scape
3 beets

and...lettuce!

LOL

I love this.

Onto some jam news.

I finally made jam this weekend...and I think I did a good job. I made strawberry-rhubarb- key lime jam and the scraps from the pan were mighty tasty. I don't like my jam very sweet so if you get a chance to taste it, it will not be very sweet. It sort of tastes like a cross between key lime marmalade and strawberry-rhubarb pie filling. Just a warning. I think I used a little too much pectin. My jam seems a little too thick! But only time will really tell and the texture shouldn't diminish the taste too much. All the seals seemed to have taken (meaning all the little cute jars have a vaccum seal on them.) Just to be on the safe side though I think I shall store them in my fridge in the crisper even though technically I could store them at room temperature. I have 6 cute 8 oz. jars in total. I think I shall skip a week and then try a second batch in a couple of weeks. If the figs at the market look lovely I might try a fig-blueberry or a fig-peach. I might actually try canning some peaches in the near future. I LOVE canned peaches.

I am so proud of my little half dozen row of jam jars. They look like a little collective of portly, round bellied, ruby colored army of goodness and food love. I'm tickled! (I'm being very not humble right now.) Although I love my job, I never create anything tangible. Just lots and lots of paper. Jam making (and baking) allows me to create something wonderful and substantial.

If you are very good and promise me lots of hugs, I might invite you over for brunch for some freshly baked biscuits with fresh-churned butter (making your own butter is super easy and tastes much better than the store bought variety) and my jam.

No comments: