Bob Marley and I...

... we be jammin.'

Now that the stress of my test is over, I'm back to reviewing all the hard work I put in at harvest time this year. We have four different flavors of jam to look forward to: raspberry, blackberry, peach and apricot.

Notice the difference between these jars of homemade jam. (Well, besides the fact that one is blackberry and the other is raspberry.) As you can see, the blackberry jam was sealed differently than the raspberry. Rather than do a hot water bath to seal the jars, I simply poured the hot jam into the jars, put the lids on and then inverted them onto the lids. They sat out overnight upside down like that. Next morning, I flipped them back over, checked that each lid sealed and tucked them away in the cold storage room downstairs.

Kind of trippy, isn't it? Seeing the headspace at the bottom of the jar instead of the top.

So, all y'all who say you can't can because you don't have a canner? Well, that excuse won't fly around these parts. You could still make jam using the "invert" method.

Blackberry Jam (thanks to Sure Jell Pectin)
6 cup blackberries
1 each package powdered pectin
8 1/2 cup sugar

Sterilize canning jars and prepare two-piece canning lids according to manufacturer's directions. To prepare fruit, sort and wash fully ripe berries; remove any stems or caps. Crush berries. If they are very seedy, put part or all of them through a sieve or food mill. To make jam, measure crushed berries into a kettle. Add pectin and stir well. Place on high heat and, stirring constantly, bring quickly to a full boil with bubbles over the entire surface. Add sugar, continue stirring, and heat again to a full bubbling boil. Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; skim. Fill hot jam immediately into hot, sterile jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; adjust two-piece metal canning lids.

To process the jam, either 1) place the jars into a water bath canner with boiling water. Make sure the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. Boil for 10 minutes. Then remove the jars from the canner and set them on the kitchen counter. As they cool, you will hear the lids "pop" indicating that the jar is sealed.

Or 2) immediately after adjusting the metal canning lids, turn the jars upside down on the counter and leave them for 12 hours.

While the Cookies Are In the Oven

I'm busy this morning making Alfajores because, well, that's what I want to eat. Tonight we are going to Mr. Doughboy's mission reunion and that's got me thinking about my mission and that takes me straight to Argentina in my mind and that takes me straight to alfajores. (Now you know how my mind works. Try and keep up, eh?) I'm all ready with my dulce de leche to put between two of the cookies (more on that later) and chocolate to bathe them in when they are done. I love that in Spanish they call it "bathed" in chocolate (bañado de chocolate). Wouldn't you just love to have all your food bathed in chocolate? It sounds so much more luxurious than "covered" in chocolate!

Oops, got sidetracked there. Anyway, so while we wait for those to be done, I thought I'd give you another larder posting.

Tomato Sauce. My own, homemade tomato sauce. It is so easy and so quick to put together. The taste is so refreshing. Most of us are used to that slow-cooked taste of tomato sauce. But this is a sauce that tastes straight from the garden. I canned this sauce to be used as a base for pasta sauces. You can either freeze it or can it if you have lots of tomatoes still to store up for the season. The secret is to use the ripest, most flavorful tomatoes you can get your hands on. (Italian plum tomatoes work best, in my opinion.)

Tomato Sauce
6 lbs fresh, ripe, flavorful tomatoes, peeled and quartered
3/4 C olive oil
2 small onions, peeled and diced

Remove the majority of the seeds from the tomato quarters. Puree the tomatoes in a food processor. Set aside. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. (I used my Dutch oven.) Add the diced onions and saute until it is translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add the pureed tomatoes and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and cook about 10 minutes. Taste the tomatoes and when they don't taste "raw" anymore, they are done.

Ladle the tomato mixture into hot sterilized canning jars and process in a water bath processor for 40 minutes (50 minutes if you live up in the high altitudes like I do). Or ladle the sauce into freezer containers, let cool to room temperature and freeze. You can keep this sauce in the freezer for up to 6 months.

This recipe makes about 6 cups of sauce.

Come back later today and I'll have the alfajores posted.

Just a Sampling

In case you haven't noticed, I've been posting quite a few "larder-type" entries the past few weeks. It's not because I've sworn off cakes, pastries, breads and pies. Ah, no. Never! It's because it's harvest time here in these parts and that means storing up for the seasons to come.

The above beauties were called to "represent." I didn't grab the bottles that turned out the best; I simply grabbed the ones that were front and center in the cupboard. Who knows but what more photogenic peaches or apple slices were left behind just because they got shoved to the back of the shelf.

I've been stocking up my larder and my pantry so that we have deliciousness waiting for us throughout the winter and early spring. During the late summer, I have canned fruits, canned sauces, made jams, frozen fresh vegetables, mixed my own spices and am now in the middle of making my flavored sugars.

For the next few days, I'll go through the recipes for the remaining items I haven't yet shared.

Today we are talking about Amish Sweet Ketchup.

I'd never had it before, but after trying out a couple of recipes I found, I combined quite a few ideas and came up with one that I think is a keeper. To me, however, it doesn't taste so much like ketchup as it does a very sweet barbecue sauce or marinade. So, make some up and try it with whatever meat dish you usually sauce up or marinate. (I'm thinking it will be delish with a pork roast. As soon as the weather is cold enough to make me crave a pork roast for Sunday dinner, I'll use this sauce and let you know.)

Amish Sweet Ketchup
12 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch diced slices
4 medium onions, peeled and finely diced
1/2 C water
6 lbs tomatoes, quartered (I used Roma)
1/2 C + 2 Tbsp vinegar
2 C packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground allspice
1 Tbsp whole cloves
1 Tbsp celery seeds
2 tsp ground mace
1 tsp salt

Place the celery, onions and water in a medium-sized saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Vegetables should be barely soft. Meanwhile, cook the tomatoes in a large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, partially covered, for about 25 minutes. The consistency should end up being almost like a puree. Add the cooked celery mixture and continue cooking until all vegetables are completely softened, about 15 more minutes.

Strain the mixture in small batches through a sieve. Press down firmly to extract all the liquid. Place extracted liquid into another nonreactive saucepan. Stir in the vinegar, brown sugar, and all spices. Bring to a boil. Continue boiling until mixture thickens somewhat, about 15-20 minutes. Stir often to keep mixture from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Allow the ketchup to cool and then ladle it into jars. Ketchup can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 months. You can also pour the hot ketchup into hot sterilized canning jars and process using a pressure canner.

Amish Sweet Ketchup is quite thin in consistency compared to what we normally consider ketchup around these parts.

Jump to it, my friends. Autumn has come... at least to my neck of the woods. Here's proof:
The harvest will soon be over. Get your canning and storing up done.

Gifts from Old Faithful

My mother has lived in the same house since 1976. I was 14 when we moved there. In the back yard is an apricot tree. I don't know how old the house is, but it was probably around 10 years old when my parents bought it. That would make that tree close to 43 years old now. It has been quite a large tree for a very long time. Large enough for my mom and dad to put a toddler swing on one of its boughs so that my nieces could swing from its branches. Large enough to produce ample shade for family barbeques and backyard picnics. It had lights strung on it for my backyard wedding reception lo those many years ago. All in all, a wonderful family tree.

It has gotten a little crotchety in its old age. It still produces apricots. Bumper crops of apricots. But every now and then, it will take a year off. Not send out a single blossom. Not produce a single fruit. My mom never knows from one early spring to the next whether she will be handing out bags of apricots to her neighbors that year or not. We just wait for the tree to make up its mind. And we deal with the results either way.

Well, this year... a bumper crop again!!! Now, I am not an apricot person. I don't eat them raw. I don't like them in galettes or cakes. However... apricot jam... that's another story entirely. Especially my mom's apricot jam. Slather that baby all over a piece of toast and I am happy as a pig in mud.

We went home to Mom's during the summer and she graciously gave me four pints of her homemade apricot jam -- which I promptly left behind in all the hustle and bustle of packing the car for the return trip. Weeping. Wailing. Gnashing of teeth. But, lucky me, my dear dear friend traveled to my hometown last weekend. Mom sent up my abandoned (but not forgotten) pints of jam, as well as 30 empty quart canning jars (yeay Mom!) with my save-the-day friend.

Aren't these beautiful? Don't they just make you want to go find a loaf of bread and toast it all up? Or homemade dinner rolls? Yes, these jars are crying out for some Parkerhouse rolls.

My mom just uses the recipe she got off of the pectin box.

Apricot Jam
5 cups prepared fruit (about 3-1/2 lb. fully ripe apricots)
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
7 cups sugar, measured into separate bowl
1 box Fruit Pectin
1/2 tsp. butter or margarine

BRING boiling-water canner, half-full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.

FINELY chop unpeeled apricots. Measure exactly 5 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-qt. saucepot. Stir in lemon juice.

STIR pectin into prepared fruit in saucepot. Add butter to reduce foaming. Bring mixture to full rolling boil (boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in sugar. Bring to full rolling boil and boil 1 min., stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on a towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. (If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

Homegrown, Homemade, Home-Canned

I like to think of myself as hip and happenin'... however, I have a confession: I love to can my own fruits, jams, tomatoes and salsa. This year, I'm extending myself beyond what I normally do, and I'm going to be inventing some original (well, original to me anyway) vinegars, chutneys, and sauces.

I have a cold storage room in my basement with shelves in it. On those shelves, you will find the fruits of my labors (pun intended). There are peaches, rasberry and blackberry jams, and apple pie filling. By the end of next week, there will also be nectarine preserves, Amish sweet ketchup, some lusty tomato sauces, diced tomatos and salsa.

There's a fun story behind the apple pie filling. I went to buy apples from a fruit stand across the street from our town's high school. The nice man there told me his daughter-in-law had a recipe for apple pie filling that was very easy to bottle. So... thinking of a winter with apple crisps, apple bettys, apple cobblers and apple pies, I gladly accepted the recipe and bought a bushel of apples. (He's a sly one, you know... I had only stopped in for a bag of apples.)

Having the filling all ready to go makes for a quick dessert when unexpected company comes into town. Pour the bottle into a baking dish, mix up a topping for Apple Crisp and throw it in the oven. Served warm with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce... well, it's simply heaven on earth.

Apple Pie Filling (for canning)
4 cups sugar
1 cup cornstarch
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 drops yellow food coloring
enough peeled and sliced apples to fill 6 quart jars (I used a combination of Jonagold and Jonathan apples)

Mix together the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Heat 10 cups water to boiling; add sugar mixture and stir till dissolved. Then add the lemon juice and food coloring. Heat until thickened. Pour into 6 quart jars filled with peeled and sliced apples. Process jars in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Note: if you use an Apple Peeler/Slicer/Corer, getting the apples in the jars is a lot quicker and easier. Time was of the essence for me, so this is the route I chose. However, the slices will be a lot thinner than normal. If you prefer thicker slices, you'll have to do it by hand. Next year, I'll budget my time better and go for the thicker slices of apple.)

I did a whole bushel's worth. I was done in about 1 1/2 hours time. I ended up with a total of 20 quarts. (I did some pint jars as well to be used with smaller serving cobblers and crisps.) Over time, the liquid separates a bit in the bottles. But that's okay. When you use the filling, simply drain off the clear liquid before you put it in the pan or pie shell. We've used this for apple cobblers, apple crisps and an apple pie. They all turned out delicious. Can't wait for another winter evening with a fire in the fireplace and the smell of apple pie in the oven.