Everybody recovered from the 4th of July? Yes? Good! Totally time for a contest!

I’ve been using the catchphrase “Everybody Gets Jam!” for about 7 months now. It started out as a private joke between me and the hubs around Christmastime, when we were trying to figure out what to gift people for the holidays. And even though I’m kinda stuck with it for awhile on a bajillion business cards, t-shirts, market bags, and the like, I think it’s time to freshen things up a bit.

A contest is definitely in order: You get to come up with the next great Freakin’ Flamingo tagline. The winner will receive a Freakin’ Flamingo mug (suitable for coffee, tea, or disguising your fave beverage):

PLUS a heavy-duty market bag: PLUS a jar of any Freakin’ Flamingo product (jam, marmalade, or BBQ sauce) your little heart desires. Check the website to see what’s available.

Your prizes will bear the “Everybody Gets Jam!” line, because, well, I paid for them already. But, your winning motto may appear on my new market banner, on future versions of my business cards, and on all future promotional materials.

The only rules are: Your entry should be original, short, funky, and pithy (kinda like me), and fit on one line. It should be G (or marginally PG) rated. And, most importantly, it should make me laugh. Simple, huh?

Just submit your entry* in the comments on this post, and make sure it’s linked to a good e-mail address, so I can contact you. And, I’m going to open this up to anyone in the U.S. and Canada. Shipping, of course, is on me.

Deadline for entries is Monday, July 11, 2011, so get those creative minds cracking! I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

**UPDATE** The first Freakin’ Flamingo Newsletter will go out on Wednesday, July 13th! That’s the first place the winner will get to see the new tagline in action – sign up for the mailing list now! Please? http://eepurl.com/eEPrk

**UPDATE 2** We have a wiener! Um, a winner! The winning motto is: “Tickle Your Tastebuds Pink!” submitted by Lettergirl. She will receive all of the aforementioned prizes in addition to immortality! At least until I get bored again. Thanks for playing, everyone!

*All entries become the property of Freakin’ Flamingo, LLC and may be used in advertising and promotional materials of every sort, in print and online. By entering this contest, you confirm that your entry is original to you, that you have the right to publish and release said entry, and that you release the contents of your entry to be used by Freakin’ Flamingo, LLC in any manner at its discretion. Compensation for the use of the winning entry is limited to the prizes listed in this post.

Now that I’m back from my travels, I’m going back to the farmers market for inspiration, both for personal use, and for Freakin’ Flamingo.

I love pickles. I can’t think of any meal that a pickle can’t perk up. You know that I’ve made pickles before – pickled asparagus, pickled carrots, pickled spring onions & green garlic, even pickled cantaloupe. What I haven’t pickled yet, are cucumbers. Mostly because I hadn’t seen pickling cucumbers around here that are local and worth the effort.

That’s changed. I recently found a vendor at the South Miami Farmers Market with some of the prettiest – and tastiest – local produce I’ve ever had. Seems I can now get limes and key limes grown locally, not from Mexico or Guatemala. And I can now get pickling cucumbers! In my latest outing this weekend, Laura tossed a few cukes into my box so I could try them out before buying a boatload next weekend.

So, I canned up a quick quart and this is what I came up with:

Spicy Garlic Pickles
(makes 1 quart)

Ingredients:

2 cups white vingegar
1 cup white wine vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbs. pickling/canning salt

4 pickling cucumbers
1 serrano chili pepper
1 tsp. whole black peppercorns
1 tsp. whole coriander seeds
1 tsp. whole dill seed
1 large clove garlic

Preparation:

Bring the vinegars, water, and salt to a boil in a 2-quart pot.

Slice the cukes in half, lengthwise, or leave whole if you prefer. Heat (or sterilize) a one-quart canning jar and fill the hot jar with the cucumbers (stuff ‘em in there!). Make a long slit in the serrano pepper, give the peeled garlic clove a good whack with the flat of your knife blade, and insert those into the jar, followed by the whole spices.

Fill the jar with the boiling brine, leaving 1/2″ of head space, wipe the mouth of the jar with a clean, very damp paper towel, top with a new, heated lid, and add the screw-on band, tightening finger-tight.

Place the filled jar in a boiling water canner, or even a tall stock pot with a rack in the bottom (make sure you have at least 1″ of water over the top), and boiled, covered, for 15 minutes.

Allow to meld for a minimum of one or two weeks before eating.

Notes:

If you don’t want to boiling water process these, you can put the jar in the fridge after it’s cooled, but it may take a bit longer for the flavors to develop. Also, they have to live in your fridge. One of the benefits of water canning process is that you can leave them in your pantry for months.

I’m going to pop these babies open next weekend, and I can’t wait!

Hey – stay tuned for some special announcements, including some promotions for Freakin’ Flamingo!

For the final Can Jam of 2010 – but hopefully, not the last Can Jam ever – Tigress herself picked the key ingredient: Dried Fruit. I knew I wanted to use something a little bit out of the ordinary, and settled on one of my favorites – dried mango. And since I haven’t canned a chutney this year for Can Jam, I thought it was high time that I did. I was inspired by some of the flavors common to Bengal, in northern India. This isn’t a terribly traditional version, but delicious nonetheless!

Bengal-Style Chutney
(yield: 3 pints)

Ingredients:

10 oz. carrots
1-1/2 lbs apples
1 large onion (about 8 oz)
2/3 cup dried mango (chopped into roughly 1/4 – 1/2″ pieces)
4 dried chili peppers, crushed
1 cup raw sugar (turbinado or demerara)
1/4 cup kosher salt
1 Tbs ground ginger
1 Tbs curry powder (I used hot Madras curry powder)
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 Tbs honey
1-2/3 cups cider vinegar

Preparation:

Peel the carrots and slice into thin coins – about 1/8″. Peel and core the apples, then chop roughly into about 1/2″ dice. Peel the onion, cut in half, and slice into very thin half-rounds. Place everything into a large saucepan (at least 4 quart).

Add all of the remaining ingredients, stir well, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, and allow to simmer for about 45 – 50 minutes, or until reduced and thickened.

Ladle the hot chutney into hot, sterilized jars – leaving 1/2″ head space, cover with new lids, and tighten rings finger-tight. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes. Check your seals in 24 hours. Any excess can be put into a sealable container and refrigerated.

While you can certainly eat the chutney right away, it’s at its best if allowed to meld for at least a couple of weeks. Try to control yourself.

This Bengal-Style Chutney is sweet, savory, and spicy all at the same time. Don’t wait for an Indian meal – this is a condiment that compliments so many different foods! Try it with chicken, turkey, and I imagine, even pork or a nice tofu steak.

Happy Holidays to all of my fellow Can Jammers!

By the way, have you been following
Share Our Holiday Table is a progressive holiday dinner party consisting of 7 courses over 4 tracks (Gourmet, Family Friendly, Vegetarian, and Gluten Free), with over 50 bloggers participating, to raise money for Share Our Strength during the critical holiday season. I’ll be posting a vegetarian side dish on Monday, December 13th, but here’s what’s been happening so far:

December 9: Soup

Gourmet

• edible cville
• The Runaway Spoon (read the post)
• A Girl, A Market, A Meal (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Ladles and Jellyspoons (read the post)
• Two Dollar Dinners (read the post)
• All About Alton Brown
• Cookie Central’s Great American Bake Sale (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Good Life Eats (read the post)
• Feed Our Families (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Celiac Teen (read the post)
• Celiacs in the House (read the post)
• Gluten Free Life with Jen
• And Love it Too! (read the post)

December 8: Salads

Gourmet

• The Bitten Word (read the post)
• girlichef (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Food For My Family (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Glugle Gluten-Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Add a Pinch (read the post)
• Gluten Free Diva (read the post)

December 7: Drinks

Gourmet

• Food Woolf (read the post)
• The Gringo Chapin (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)
• Three Many Cooks (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Fat Wuz Here (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Lexies Kitchen (read the post)
• Simply Sugar and Gluten Free (read the post)

Gluten Free

• Gluten Free Easily (read the post)

December 6: Appetizers

Gourmet

• The Italian Dish (read the post)
• Recipe Girl (read the post)
• Neo-Homesteading (read the post)

Family Friendly

• Family Fresh Cooking (read the post)
• Giving Up on Perfect (read the post)

Vegetarian

• Two Peas and Their Pod (read the post)
• Smith Bites (read the post)

Gluten Free

• La Fuji Mama (read the post)
• Wenderly (read the post)

Please visit these terrific blogs and consider donating to Share Our Strength.

I can’t get over that this is the 11th Can Jam! This year, with all of its ups and downs, has been really inspiring to me on so many levels.

I’m on a ginger kick, lately. I have to put it in just about everything! So, when I found this recipe for Apple Ginger Jam, and the Cosmic Cowgirl announced that the Can Jam theme this month would be Apples, Pears, and Quinces, the stars aligned once again!

Apple Ginger Jam (makes 8 half-pints)

(adapted from Clearly Delicious – An Illustrated Guide to Preserving, Pickling & Bottling by Elisabeth Lambert Ortiz)

Ingredients:

2-1/2 lbs. cooking apples (I used the venerable Granny Smith)
2 large lemons
2 tsp. ground ginger
3 cups water
5 cups sugar
1/4 cup chopped candied ginger (or more to taste)

Preparation:

Place a couple of small dishes in the freezer.

Peel, core, and coarsely chop the apples, reserving the peels and cores. Put the peels and cores in some cheesecloth or another clean cloth and set aside, then put the fruit into a large saucepan.

Finely grate the zest of the lemons, using a Microplane or similar grater, then juice the lemons and add the zest and juice to the pot (I added the juiced lemon “shells” to the cloth, too), along with the ground ginger and water. Now tie up the cloth “bag” and add that to the pot, as well. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes, uncovered, stirring occasionally.

Remove the cloth “bag”, squeezing as much of the juices out of it as you can, add the sugar to the pot, and stir till completely dissolved. Bring back to a rapid boil and continue to cook without stirring for an additional 10 minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and do a gel test by putting a little of the liquid on one of the frozen plates and return to the freezer for 2 minutes. If the liquid wrinkles when you push it with your fingernail or the tip of a spoon, you’re ready to jar up. If the liquid remains runny, return the pot to the heat, bring back up to a boil and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Repeat the test and then repeat cooking/testing if necessary.

After removing from the heat finally, stir in the chopped crystallized ginger.

Fill sterilized jars with the hot jam, cover with appropriately prepared lids and rings, tightened finger-tight, and process in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes (adjusted for altitude).

You know the rest of the drill by now: Remove the hot jars to a towel or newspaper-covered surface, listen for the pinging of your seals, and check the seals in 24 hours to make sure everything is kosher.

*Notes:

It’s a bit tricky to get that bag of stuff out of that boiling hot pot and then squeeze the juices out, and do it safely. I have a colander that fits perfectly over the rim of the pot I used. When I lifted the bag out of the pot with a pair of tongs, I slipped the colander under it and put it in there. Then I took a sturdy wooden spoon and smooshed the bejeebers out of it, so everything went directly back into the pot, and Look, Ma! No burns! If you have a pair of those silicone waterproof oven mitts, you could probably just squeeze it with your hands. But the colander method worked for me.

Oh. Em. Gee. I can’t believe how good this stuff turned out! I want to eat it on toast, I want to eat it with cheese, I even wanted to figure out how to put it in other stuff! In fact, I did mix it with softened cream cheese, slapped it between two squares of puff pastry, and drizzled some dulce de leche over it to make one darned decadent dessert: Apple Cream Napoleons with Dulce de Leche. Talk about over the top! I am so glad there are seven more jars of this stuff waiting for me… I might just make another batch!

Okay – what’s next?

Okay, I was all set to go with a delicious Mango Chili Sauce that I canned up back in August. I said to the hubs, “Hey! the Can Jam theme for October is Chillies! I can just take a couple of snaps and write up a quick post. I’ve got October covered!” And then, I made a discovery. Guess what’s in season in South Florida right now. C’mon, guess! Oh. You saw the title of the post, didn’t you? Hmmph.

I’ll tell you anyway – Carambola! You look confused. It’s also called “Star Fruit”. Most folks have only seen them in a fruit salad or as a garnish. They’re very striking when you slice them and you’ve got a slice of fruit – shaped like a star! Cool, huh?

So, the hubs and I were at a favorite breakfast joint the other morning, when I glanced over at the muffin counter and saw a big bowl of carambolas with a sign that said “3 for $1.00″. When I went to pay the check (we’re very liberal, that way), I asked the owner, “How much for the whole bowl?” And we played the game of “How much do you want to pay me for the whole bowl?” “Well, do you have anymore in the back? Or is this it?” She went in the back and came out with one of those plastic shopping bags, half-full. They were mostly runty and some were still half-green. “Hmm…”, I said, pursing my lips. The woman dumped the bowl of carambolas into the bag and said, “$5 and they’re all yours.” Turns out she’s got a tree and the fruit is dropping like mad. Done! I think there was at least 10 pounds of ‘em!

Hubs has stopped looking at me quizzically when I come home with bags full of produce. In fact, he’s pretty much stopped eating produce at home without my express permission, fearing cries of “I was going to can that!” And I do have plans for these babies.

But, Kaela of Local Kitchen chose “chillies” as the theme for October’s Tigress’ Can Jam. Remember? ->Sigh!<- By the way, I know many people spell it “Chiles”, but I’m not going to get into the whole “Chili is the pepper. Chile is a country in South America.” thing. Anyway, there was only one thing left to do: Carambola Pepper Jam!

I made a micro-batch of this, as M was very clear on the point that he doesn’t like pepper jelly or jam. So, for the purposes of the Can Jam, I made one jar. Seriously. One half-pint jar. Plus whatever’s in that bowl you see in the photos. So, if you’re at all hesitant, or you’ve been mesmerized by that pile of weird-looking fruit at the store and you just don’t know what you’d do with it anyway, I’m going to give you that micro-recipe:

Carambola (Star Fruit) Pepper Jam
(Makes 1 half-pint plus a little for the fridge)

Ingredients:

2 cups of finely chopped carambola (plus a few whole slices, for fun)
1 Tbs. lemon juice
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbs. honey (I used a local orange blossom honey)
1 ripe (red) habanero pepper (seeds & pith removed and chopped super-fine)

Preparation:

Put a small plate in the freezer for gel-testing later. If the carambola has any brown on the “fins”(perfectly normal!), trim that part off with a sharp knife before chopping the fruit.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, put the carambola, lemon juice, and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and add the habanero pepper and honey. Continue to boil and stir periodically for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and do a gel test. (Put a small amount of the liquid on the frozen plate, return to the freezer for 2 minutes, and push it with the tip of a spoon or your fingernail. It’s ready to can when it’s no longer runny and wrinkles on the plate.)

Don’t forget to sterilize your jar (10 minutes in boiling water) and prepare a new lid appropriately! Pour the jam into the sterilized jar, leaving 1/2″ head space, twist on your lid finger-tight, and boiling water process for 5 minutes. Remove the jar to a towel or newspaper-covered surface to cool. And ping. Allow to sit for 24 hours and test your seal. Put the little bit remaining into a container and refrigerate.

Note: The honey makes this jam pretty stiff when refrigerated, so, while you should refrigerate this after opening, allow it to warm up a bit at room temperature before using.

Sweet, with a little bit of tartness from the carambola, and even though I used a habanero pepper, it was a red one (a lot of flavor!) and I did cut out the pith and seeds. You get the heat, but it’s not overwhelming, and the honey really mellows and rounds out the flavor on your tongue.

My favorite way to eat this is as a snack on crackers with cream cheese, but it’s equally awesome with a crusty slice of baguette and a sliver of brie. Try melting a little in the microwave and brushing it on chicken or fish as a glaze, too!

Oh, and M’s verdict? “This is great! Make sure you keep the recipe!” ->Sigh<-