This month’s contribution to the Can Jam, a Peach Vanilla Marmalade, kind of evolved in the pot as I went along. Once again, I found myself seasonally-challenged by the choice of “stone fruit” by Kate of The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking. To my knowledge, we don’t have much in the way of stone fruit in South Florida (unless you count mangoes – should I have counted mangoes?) this time of year, so I settled for the bounty of California peaches that are apparently in-season and flooding our markets right now. (I should note here that the computer file I created for the photos I took for this episode, is titled “Sept 2010_Stoned Fruit”. Should say a little about where my head was at.)

When we get them, the peaches start out rock-hard, then ripen in an instant, so I virtually stared them down, giving the occasional poke, until they were ready. All the while, I longingly recalled the gorgeous fresh peaches I’d seen and tasted in the Granville Island Market, while visiting Vancouver a couple of weeks ago. Wish I could’ve brought them home with me… sigh.

The ones I was stuck with were so-so, so I added a couple of nectarines, a lot of lemons, and a tablespoon of good clear vanilla extract to the pot and it worked!

Peach Vanilla Marmalade
(makes about 5 1/2 pints)

Ingredients:

4 lbs. ripe peaches
1 lb. ripe nectarines
7 average lemons
2 cups water
8 cups sugar
1 Tbs. clear vanilla extract

Stash a couple of small plates in the freezer for gel-testing.

Peel, stone, and chop the peaches and nectarines into rather small pieces (about 1/4-1/2 inch) and place them in a bowl of cold, acidulated water (add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to the bowl of water to acidulate it).

Shred the lemons finely with a mandoline, being careful to remove the seeds as you go along. Place them in a large (roughly 6 or 7 quart) non-reactive pot. Add the water, cover, and boil on medium-high heat for 25 minutes.

Drain the peaches/nectarines. Add the fruit and sugar to the pot and stir well. Bring back to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium. Cook uncovered for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat and do a gel test by putting a small spoonful of the liquid on one of the frozen plates, return the plate to the freezer for about a minute, then remove. With the tip of a spoon or your fingernail, push the liquid on the plate. If it wrinkles – even a little bit – you’re ready to can. If it stays completely liquid, return the pot to the heat and cook for an additional 5 minutes, then try again.

Add the tablespoon of vanilla to the pot when you get a successful gel-test and stir well.

Ladle the hot marmalade into sterilized, prepared jars, wipe the rims with a very damp paper towel to clean them, cover with new, heated lids, and screw on the bands finger-tight. Boiling water process for 5 minutes. Wait 24 hours to test your seals (they should have all gone ping! and the lids should have no flex when pushed on).

Label and store your golden treasures against the cold, dark winter months ahead, so you can dream about summer once again. Of course, it’ll be sunny and pleasant here, and I’ll be outside gardening & basking while y’all are inside, hiding from the cold and shivering. Bwahahahaha! Oops! Did I say that out loud?

This has been one hell of a summer. I can’t really talk about most of it until after next week, but I feel a little like the puck in a game of air hockey. And I almost didn’t get this post up at all.

In one way, this month’s Can Jam wasn’t a surprise, and in other ways it kind of snuck up on me altogether. I should have known Tomatoes would come up sometime this summer. After all, most of the rest of you are swimming – nay, drowning – in them right now. Sure enough, that’s what Julia at What Julia Ate, chose for this month’s theme. And for the umpteenth time, our tomato season is actually in the winter/early spring times, so I searched. And searched. And searched. While I did eventually score some local tomatoes, that was a bit of a miracle. Someone in the southern end of the county must have planted a “heatwave” type. And they’re not bad at all.

But I probably should have been canning tomato stuff earlier and saved it for now. So, in a bit of a mad scramble, and using some of my own home-canned Mango Ginger Jam as an accent flavor, I made barbecue sauce. Because I’m gonna love me some barbecue this winter while the rest of you are freezing your patooties off! Hehehe.

I based my recipe on the Summer Sizzle Barbecue Sauce recipe in The Complete Book of Year-Round Small Batch Preserving by Topp and Howard, omitting the tomato sauce, adding the jam and using freshly ground chipotle pepper and chipotle pepper hot sauce. I also used the delicious new vegan, gluten-free Worcestershire sauce produced by my friend Jim at Oxford Falls.

Mango Chipotle BBQ Sauce
(makes about 5 half-pints)

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. canola oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, minced
3 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine (I used a Malbec, because, after all, the Argentinians know their barbecue!)
3 Tbs. honey
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbs. cider vinegar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. peppercorns (whole)
1 tsp. chipotle pepper powder (or less, to taste)
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup mango ginger jam
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp. chipotle pepper hot sauce

Preparation:

Heat oil in a medium non-reactive saucepan, over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic, sautée until soft, about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the tomatoes, wine, honey, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, mustard, peppercorns, ground chili pepper, and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and boil gently, uncovered, for about 30 minutes or until thickened.

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully run the contents through the blender until thoroughly smooth. Or do what I did, which is use my stick blender right there in the pot and not dirty another appliance.

Return the sauce to the pot (if you had to use the blender). Add the water, jam, brown sugar and hot sauce, combine thoroughly and bring to a boil.

Ladle the hot mixture into hot jars (no need to sterilize them this time, just make sure they’re good and hot), leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Cover with new lids, tighten the screw rings finger-tight, and process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Wait 24 hours and test your seals before labeling and storing.

Tasting it right out of the pot, this stuff’s got that hit of spicy, smoky chipotle peppers, and is not terribly sweet, despite the honey, jam and brown sugar. It’s gonna be awesome on chicken and beef, and even on veggie burgers. Can’t wait to get my new grill!

Cucurbits. You’d be right in thinking “cucumbers,” because they are a major part of this family of gourds. I’m betting you’ll see a bunch of pickled cucumbers in this month’s Can Jam, and honestly? I probably would have made some myself if they weren’t out of season down here. We’re a little out of sync with the rest of y’all.

But what we are getting, are melons! Cantaloupe (and their brothers and sisters of the musk melon sub-family) and Honeydews. And thanks to the USDA Canning Guide, I actually found a method of preserving them, using our required hot-water bath method. So, for this month’s Can Jam, I bring you something (I think) weird and wonderful.

I bring you:

CANTALOUPE PICKLES (makes about 4 pints)

Ingredients:

5 lbs of 1-inch cantaloupe cubes (about 2 medium underripe* cantaloupe)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 one-inch cinnamon sticks
2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
4-1/2 cups cider vinegar (5%)
2 cups water
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1-1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

Select cantaloupe that are full size but almost fully green and firm to the touch in all areas including the stem area.

Preparation:

Day One: Wash cantaloupe and cut into halves; remove seeds. Cut into 1 inch slices and peel. Cut strips of flesh into 1 inch cubes. Weigh out 5 pounds of pieces and place in large glass bowl. Place red pepper flakes, cinnamon sticks, cloves and ginger in a spice bag and tie the ends firmly. Combine vinegar and water in a 4-quart stockpot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat off. Add spice bag to the vinegar-water mixture, and let steep for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour hot vinegar solution and spice bag over melon pieces in the bowl. Cover with a food-grade plastic lid or wrap and let stand overnight in the refrigerator (about 18 hours).

Day Two: Carefully pour off vinegar solution into a large 8- to 10-quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Add sugar; stir to dissolve.

Add cantaloupe and bring back to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until cantaloupe pieces turn translucent (about 1 to 1-1/4 hours). Remove cantaloupe pieces into a medium-sized stockpot, cover and set aside.

Bring remaining liquid to a boil and boil an additional 5 minutes. Return cantaloupe to the liquid syrup, and bring back to a boil.

With a slotted spoon, fill hot cantaloupe pieces into hot pint jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Cover with boiling hot syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process 15 minutes.

I wasn’t sure I was going to like Pickled Cantaloupe, and was glad to see that I was able to perfectly halve this recipe and made two pints. But you know, what? They’re pretty good! Chilled and served as a side-dish, they compliment barbecued chicken, really well.

Surprised? I was!

This is the third and final installment of my Blueberry Trilogy prepared for Tigress’ Can Jam. It’s a tribute to Miami and the Latin vibe that’s such a big part of what the area is today. And of course, my summer blueberry fixation!

The lime and mint (can’t get any more local than my backyard!) in this jam is gently refreshing – not overpowering – and the subtle hint of rum gives it a bit of that tropical quality. A Caribbean vacation on toast! Oh, okay, maybe not a whole vacation, but you just might hear a palm tree rustling in the breeze as you take a bite…

Blueberry Mojito Jam (makes about 10 half-pint jars)

Ingredients:

3 limes
3-3/4 cups water (divided)
3 cups sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp. baking soda
3 dry pints (about 6 cups) blueberries, washed and de-stemmed
1 pkg. pectin
1/2 cup rum
10 4″-5″ sprigs of fresh mint

Preparation:

Wash and dry the limes and slice a thin strip off of each end.

With a mandoline or hand slicer (don’t forget your cut-glove!), shred the limes finely and place into a large, non-reactive saucepan. Add 3 cups of the water and bring to a boil. Continue to cook at a boil for 10 minutes.

Add the sugar and lemon juice, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add the baking soda. The mixture will foam up suddenly, but will subside.

Add the blueberries, cover the pan, lower the heat to medium and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

In the meantime, wash and dry the mint sprigs, and cut or pinch off the top 1-1/2″-2″ of each sprig. Reserve those tips you just cut off.

Add the large mint sprigs and the rum to the jam, stir, and return to a boil on medium, for another 5 minutes.

In a small saucepan, dissolve the pectin in 3/4 cup cold water, and bring to a boil, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir the hot pectin liquid into the still-boiling jam for one minute. Remove from the heat while you perform the “freezer wrinkle test”. Place a small amount of the jam on small dish and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes, after which you push the mixture with the tip of a spoon or your fingernail. If the jam wrinkles up, you’re ready to jar. If it’s runny, put the pan back on the heat and cook at a boil on medium for another 5 minutes. Repeat the wrinkle test.

Remove the large mint sprigs before ladling the hot jam into the hot, sterilized jars. Push one of the reserved mint sprig tips into each jar of jam. Seal each jar with appropriately prepared new lids, screw on the rings finger-tight, and process in a boiling-water canner for 10 minutes.

Remove the jars from the boiling water, allow to cool, and wait 24 hours to test your seals.

Go ahead – take a bite!

Have you checked out Part One: Blueberry Marmalade and Part Two: Grand Marnier Blueberry Peach Sauce?

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This is the second in my Blueberry Series for Tigress’ Can Jam, and today I bring you Grand Marnier Blueberry Peach Sauce! Sounds delectable, doesn’t it?

Strawberry season is over for us in South Florida. In fact, the farmers markets and local vegetable/fruit stands all pretty much closed by the end of April. Remember, the bulk of our fresh and local produce comes in the winter and early-mid spring. With our growing season kind of topsy-turvy to most of the rest of the country, finding “local” produce is going to present a bit of a challenge for future Can Jams.

I mention this, because we in the South tend to think pretty much of the whole South as “local.” If it came from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, or anywhere in Florida, well darlin’, that’s as good as our own backyard. Otherwise, we’d be pretty much fruit-less… at least until the mangoes come in. And our local mango season is running a bit late this year because of all the strange weather we had this winter. But I digress…

During the month of June, aside from the Florida blueberries, there is nothing quite like a Georgia peach. They just don’t come any sweeter and juicier – and they are coming into our markets right now. So, why not combine the two?

This dessert sauce is kind of a riff on, and adapted from, a hazelnut mango blueberry sauce I spotted in Small Batch Preserving by Topp and Howard. And I’d have made it with mangoes, too, except for the fact that, as I said earlier, the only mangoes available right now are those small, hard, stringy things from Mexico. Also? I don’t have any hazelnut liqueur.

But what I did have, were peaches. And mmm…. Grand Marnier. The result was something my husband said is so good, I could sell it. And it may come to that.

Grand Marnier Blueberry Peach Sauce
(makes about 6 half-pints)

Ingredients:

7-8 peaches
2 dry pints (approx. 4 cups) blueberries (washed and stemmed)
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
1/4 cup Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)

Preparation:

Cut an “X” through the skin of the bottom of each peach and drop them into a pot of boiling water. Allow them to blanch for 3 minutes, then remove them to a bowl of ice water for a minute. The skins should slip right off. Remove the pits and dice the peaches about the size of your blueberries. Slightly larger is okay.

Place all ingredients, except the liqueur, in a large, non-reactive saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes, or until the fruit has softened and the liquid has thickened.

Add the liqueur and simmer an additional 5 minutes.

Ladle into hot, sterilized jars, seal with new lids and rings (prepared appropriately), and process in a boiling water canner. Ten minutes for half-pints, 15 minutes for pints.

Remove from canner and allow to cool. Wait 24 hours and check your seals.

This sauce is fantastic served over cheesecake, pound cake, or ice cream. Here, I’ve served it over some One-Ingredient Banana “Ice Cream” (2 banana recipe, to which I added 1/2 tsp. vanilla and a tiny pinch of salt). The combination of the cold, creamy banana with the blueberries, peaches, and hint of liqueur, is like a match made in heaven!

Stay tuned for Blueberry Mojito Jam!

And did you see the Blueberry Marmalade?

In a bit of epic timing, when Joel and Dana over at Well Preserved announced that this month’s Can Jam theme would be Berries, I was thrilled! Florida blueberries are in all the markets right now, and I’ve never seen them bigger and plumper – and less expensive!

So, of course I got a little carried away, and this is the first of three blueberry posts I’ve prepared for the Can Jam.

The first, is a Blueberry Marmalade, combining the best Florida has to offer right this minute – its blueberries and citrus. It’s a twist on the classic citrus marmalade and blueberry jam, and man! Is it tasty! The recipe I’m going to give you is adapted and modified a bit from Preserving the Taste by Edon Waycott.

Blueberry Marmalade (makes about 5 half-pint jars)

Ingredients:

1 large orange (preferably a juice orange, not navel)
1 large lemon
2-1/2 cups water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup lemon juice
4 cups blueberries (washed & de-stemmed)
2 cups sugar

Preparation:

Cut a thin slice from each end of both the orange and the lemon.

With a mandoline or hand slicer (don’t forget your cut-glove!), shred the orange and lemon very thinly. Be careful to remove seeds as they appear. Place the shredded fruit into a large shallow pan with the water. Cover the pan and bring to a boil over high heat.

Cook on high for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Add the blueberries and sugar. Return the marmalade to a boil, and continue cooking for an additional 20 minutes. Most of the blueberries will burst during cooking, turning the mixture that pretty, dark purple color.

Remove from the heat while you perform the “freezer wrinkle test”. Place a small amount of the marmalade on small dish and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes, after which you push the mixture with the tip of a spoon or your fingernail. If it wrinkles up as a whole, you’re ready to jar it up. If it’s runny, put the pan back on the heat and cook at a boil on medium for another 5 minutes. Repeat the wrinkle test. The marmalade will thicken further as it cools, so try to avoid overcooking it.

Ladle the marmalade into hot, sterilized jars. Wipe the rims with a damp paper towel, seal with new lids and rings (prepared appropriately), and process in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes. Remove the jars and allow to cool.

Notes:

Shredding the citrus whole on a mandoline or hand-slicer is my now-preferred way to prepare it for marmalades. No more onerous zesting for me. Juicing oranges (such as Valencias), lemons, and limes, all have naturally thinner skins and zests, so you get the benefits of the whole citrus with very little waste and all the benefits.

Waycott’s original recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups of water, which I discovered boiled nearly completely away during the first 15 minutes of cook time. The original recipe also calls for 1/8 tsp. of cinnamon and a “dash” of freshly grated nutmeg. I omitted the spices simply because I don’t find those flavors consistent with the fresh fruit of summer.

Use this marmalade as you would any marm or jam – on toast, bagels, muffins, whatever! You see it pictured here on a toasted sesame bagel, along with my new favorite: Basted eggs. Yum!

(That’s pepper on the eggs)

Next up: Grand Marnier Blueberry Peach Sauce!

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For the May Can Jam, we were given the choice of either asparagus or rhubarb. Rhubarb being one of my absolutely least favorite vegetables – right up there with fennel (I wanna know who decided these things are vogue. Sour and licoricey. Bleah.) – and asparagus being one of my all-time faves, the choice was a no-brainer.

Now, what to do with it.  Since the rules say we must use the boiling water canning method – and I don’t know nuthin’ ’bout pressure canning (yet), pickling is the default position.

I love pickled asparagus. In fact, I served Oxford Falls Asparago Conservuto as part of the antipasto at my mom’s birthday party a couple of months ago. Best I’ve ever had!  So I turned to my Twitter buddy Jim (@oxfordfalls), and asked if he would share his recipe with me.  He’s such a sweetie, he said yes! And dutifully e-mailed it to me.

What he didn’t tell me, was that it was literally his usual recipe.  Any recipe that starts with “Two 11# boxes of asparagus” and uses a gallon each of water and cider vinegar, is a bit beyond my current resources.

So, after consulting with various canning books to get something less than commercial proportions, and a bit of weeping when I realized that my pint jars are not really tall enough to get the long, graceful spears I was after, here’s what I came up with (recipe used with permission):

Pickled Asparagus (makes one pint)

Ingredients:

1 lb. thin asparagus, trimmed to fit 1/2″ below the rim of a pint jar (reserve bottoms for other use)
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbs. pickling salt
1/4 tsp. coriander seed
1 dried red chili pepper
1 large clove garlic, peeled
1 sprig fresh dill

Method:

In a medium saucepan, bring the vinegar, water and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt.

Sterilize the jar and lid appropriately, and arrange the raw asparagus spears “heads” down in the hot jar.  Insert the chili pepper, garlic clove, and dill sprig. Add the coriander seed.  Fill the jar with the hot brine, leaving 1/4″ head space.  Cover with the lid and jar ring, and boil for 15 minutes.

Allow to meld for a week or two before use.

Note:  I love this recipe for its simplicity and the great little zing you get from the chili pepper and garlic. This pickled asparagus makes a perfect little stirrer / garnish for bloody marys, or as a side with meat, or a snack with cheese.

As a side-note, I actually made a double-recipe of the brine, intending to pickle some jalapeño peppers and some Central American long peppers my husband bought.  The jalapeños were fine, but this is what happened to the Ball jar the other peppers were in:

Yup, the bottom fell out.  Literally.  I still don’t know why, but after consulting with some canning mavens on Twitter, determined that it wasn’t me. Just something that happens sometimes.  I’m just grateful that it wasn’t the asparagus!