Absquatulate

Jam Update

I made four pints of the Joy of Cooking Jam recipe and I wanted to type down some thoughts before I forgot.

The Joy of Cooking recipe for Red Red Strawberry Jam is a delight to behold in the pot. It is also a little easier. Essentially you put one quart of strawberries into a pot and cover with four cups of sugar. Gently stir the berries and sugar over medium heat until the berries "juice up". I assume that means that when the sugar melts and you have berries in a thick, grainy syrup. Then you bring to a full rolling boil and DO NOT STIR. Keep at a boil for 15-17 minutes. While it's cooking the jam smells like jam. The liquid was also much thicker and a darker red than that from the other two recipes. After that time, remove from heat and let cool. The recipe doesn't suggest skimming, but I did as I had a bit of foam. I deviated from the recipe here which was a little vague (and that's one of my beefs with the JoC; some of the steps just aren't entirely clear.) The recipe said you let the berries cool, sprinkle the juice of half a lemon over the top, gently stir a little and then let cool. (Cool twice?) Then you ladle the berries into sterilized jars, but it doesn't say if after that you have to process the jam. Since I don't have a canner and was using the inversion method to get a seal, I compromised and took hot jars out of the oven and filled them with the hot berries, then sealed, inverted for 10 minutes, then heard the pops. I hope this won't ruin the recipe!

As compared with the other recipes, I liked this preparation the best (we'll have to wait and see on the taste!) I liked working with smaller batches, although I'd like to have two pots going at once for productivity's sake. The other recipes worked with double the quantity but required pectin (and none of those jams have seemed to set. I'm not terribly upset by this, but I'd like to get one good set at least!) I felt the jam was much more fragrant and the liquid much more red and much thicker than the other two preparations, and it took half the time of the Mark Bittman method (which was also kind of loose with the instructions) but didn't require all the pectin of the Cento version nor all the stirring over boiling pots of sugar (which took less time.) I did like the crushed berries of the Cento version as the strawberry pulp was then distributed through the jam rather than a few whole berries floating to the top of the jar. I wonder if I could crush a few berries in the JoC version to get a similar effect, or if they would completely disintigrate in the longer cooking time. When I get the chance I'll take pictures of the jars to show you the differences. Viva l'experimentation!

Side note: Meg has a timely post about her family's tradition of making strawberry jam. (It seems they enjoy the Cento Pectin recipe with mashed berries, a quick cook, and the inversion seal method!)

I dream of strawberries.

A friend who happens to be in the know recently returned to his house with some organic, locally grown strawberries. He asked me to come over and help wash and hull them. What I was not expecting what the sheer quantity!

Yikes! We estimate it's about 50 qts. of strawberries, all of them delicious and ripe and too good to let go to waste. So aside from freezing, eating, pureeing, and eating, what else can one do? Make jam!

So I looked up a few recipes and went to work making jam, something I'd never done before. I'm two batches in and am staring down two more batches of strawberry jam tonight, and maybe a few more batches after that! I hope I didn't mess up the canning process and that they'll keep for about a year so that I can enjoy scrummy jam through the winter. No telling if they'll set yet, but I'm keeping an eye on them. I've tried the recipe from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman as well as the recipe from the Certo package, and tonight I think I'll try the Joy of Cooking recipe. Taste testing will be the best part!

The hope.

The hope.
Originally uploaded by absquatulate.

This is where she should be.

The reality.

The reality.
Originally uploaded by absquatulate.

She drives me crazy.

High Fructose Corn Syrup? Check!

Let this tale of woe and malaise serve as a warning to all my dear, wonderful, readers who aren't afraid of drinking their coffee strong, cutting up your own chicken, and making your own stock.

Never, ever again will I set foot in an IHOP. This morning I woke up and decided that I wanted to go get some pancakes. But as I was in a city I wasn't terribly familiar with, I thought, "Eh, IHOP! I know there is one around here, and I haven't been in ages. Fake blueberry syrup, here I come!"

I should have turned right over and gone back to sleep while that idiotic idea worked its way out of my head, but no, off to IHOP! I should have turned around when I saw how busy it was. I should have run back to the car and sped down the road to a little diner when I saw they were advertising the glossiest Stuffed French Toast topped with whipped cream that I've ever seen. But no, I sat and I ordered a pancake sampler and coffee.

The pancakes, hash browns, and eggs were entirely too salty, the coffee was entirely too weak (I wasn't sure if it was coffee or brown water), and the flavored syrups entirely too fake. Everything has this pre-packaged, pumped-through-with-sugar-and-fat taste and texture that I couldn't finish the plate of food in front of me and had to 'walk it off' outside in the parking lot before I could get in the car. And now I sit and feel this... mass... make it's way through my bloated intestines and I am seriously contemplating which would be the lesser of two evils: a) letting nature "take its course" or b) inducing regurgitation. I'm not sure which will be worse: the long term bloating and malaise, or the short term misery of worshiping the porcelain god.

Sure, some may say that I've gotten old and that I can't take that kind of food anymore. To them I say, "Old? HELL YES!" I like to think that I've opened my EYES to what real food is, what good food tastes like, and how much artificially sweetened salt we put in our bodies because we trust the food industry to do what's right. Old? More like wisened up to the fact that good pancakes, good coffee, and good eggs don't have to be shoveled out of a vat but can be made at home at a fraction of the cost and with control of what goes IN to the food that I use to fuel my body.

Verbosity

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

Retro Dishes

Retro Dishes
Originally uploaded by whitneybee.

I would love to find a whole set of these somewhere somehow. Perhaps it's time to scour Ebay, huh?

Questions

1. Is there any better flavor combination than dark chocolate and hazelnut?
2. Pigtails: old and busted or new hotness (for women over 23)?
3. What do you suppose the age limit is on Kaluha?
4. Good BBQ in Western MA: Where would you go?
5. Where is your favorite spot in Western MA for a day hike?
6. How about a day hike where you can return to a campsite for the evening?

Um. Hi.

You. Yeah, you, reading this. You and I, you know, we might have known each other at one point. Maybe we grew up together. Maybe we went to school together. Maybe we have a few mutual friends and get together for a weekend on occasion. Or maybe we really don't know each other at all, but rather you see fit to stop by this here website for... well, I don't know why. I haven't been writing much, or talking much, or communicating much at all in the last few months. And for that, I'm sorry.

You see, it's this sado-masochistic program I decided to undertake. It's one where you do alot of work so that... well, so I can take a 30% pay-cut in the end and have an extra two years of education. Hm. Well, anyway, it kept me busy. And that meant I kind of ignored the people I know in real life, like the people who usually matter the most. And it's not right, but it was the best I could do.

So yes, school is (sort of) over for the summer. And I'm peeking my head up over the mounds of paper I have to organize and file, and wondering if anyone wants to get together for a barbeque. :^)