jams of two seasons
Oct 18, 2010 The East Coast seasons are so hard-wired into my brain that I am surprised every year when I see strawberries at the farmer’s market in September – much less October. But there they are, alongside the pears and apples and other harbingers of fall.
For the last few weeks, I have thought that each week will be the last of the berries, so I grabbed a flat last week and jammed them up with a violet liqueur that I am in love with right now (hello!, in champagne and over fruit and added to a gimlet).
I am getting more and more ballsy with my canning. I now look at recipes for approximate proportions and then – snap! abandon them and wing it. I only thought of the violet when the jam was in its final boil, when I poured in a generous glug. After a few years of rigorously following a recipe and checking the temperature, I now realize that it’s hard to go too hideously wrong with canning experiments because if the preserves don't set and are too runny, it still makes perfect sauce for ice cream and mixing into plain yogurt.
And to throw my seasonal attunement even more off-whack, I picked the season’s first apples up in Sonoma last weekend. Gravensteins – the glorious heirloom variety that is sweet-but-tart and extra-crunchy. The apples used to fill whole valleys up there before the vineyards and second homes moved in.
I roughly chopped the apples and made spiced apple butter that smells like Christmas on the same night that I made the strawberry jam. It felt timely, because on the ride home from Yosemite we talked with our friends from Ireland about holiday traditions. We were bundled up and still smelled like campfire and even passed a snow plow, so the Christmas talk felt appropriate. Back at home, the apples boiled into a lovely russet color and smelled like warm winter nights after I added brandy and orange zest and ground ginger. I envisioned bringing a jar to Ireland this Christmas and spreading it on toast, while we’re still in pajamas and drinking strong tea.
Ultimately, that’s something I love about canning. While you’re preserving this moment, you can almost anticipate savoring it in an entirely different moment, in an all-together different season.
apple butter, canning, preserving, strawberries in make
Reader Comments (7)
That is so lovely. I can smell it and taste it and feel it. It's encouraging me to do the same on this chilly fall morning.
Gorgeous jam and apple butter! I just started canning this summer and it's been quite a learning experience. My MIL is coming from the Uk for a visit and we're planning to head up the hill to pick apples. Can you recommend a recipe for apple butter?
I love, love this post.
Beautiful and so evocative. I love the applesauce smelling like Christmas - must do that with my next batch! Lately I have the same trouble with recipes - look them up and promptly think ooh - I could switch that with this, etc so never know if the failures were my substitutions or the recipe's failing....
Hi Christy,
I was interested in this recipe:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/
But wound up going with my old stand-by book called Preserves, by Pam Corbin:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/158008172X/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0747595321&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=04G6FEYV73D1K7WM4TAE
I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It covers the basics but has so many inventive recipes far beyond the basic jams and jellies. I based my apple butter on her recipe, but then winged it by swapping brandy for some of the water and adding orange zest. I wish I could be more helpful, but I didn't make any notes when I was making it!
I jumped canning this summer and love it too. My latest concoction is plum butter cooked down in the slow cooker. It is really good and gives it this smoky taste that is delicious. So far I have only made peaches and plum butter, but I am on the hunt to try something new. Maybe I will try apples next.
wow, strawberries and apple in the same season is throwing me for a loop too. and congrats on being more adventurous with canning- i'm not quite there yet.