Making Preserves

Yesterday was a preserve day, I made nine jars of different kinds of preserves with the fruit that I had on hand. And, as usual I wanted something a little different from the ordinary jams that I had been eating all along. 

First of all, there is a slight difference apparently between preserves and jams - preserves are thicker, chunkier and usually contain other ingredients such as dried fruit and spices. As opposed to a jam which most often contains only fruit and water (in my house anyway!). But, both are fruit based and these terms are often used interchangeably.

With all of the types of fruit that I had in the house this week, I thought that it would be great to make something a little different and to keep expanding my own learning and methods of working with each type of preserve. I also wanted to make something that was chunkier and could be used as part of a meal rather than only being suitable for toast and crackers.

Since I had a few apples and pears in the house I ended up making a great smelling spiced apple/pear preserve that was not blended as much as it normally would leaving it quite chunky and very thick. The only spice that I used was cinnamon for this one just to keep it simple and because cinnamon goes very well with anything related to apple.

Raw Apple and Pear ready to cook

The end result is similar to an apple sauce, but with the presence of pears, will give a softer, fuller flavour. This type of preserve will be great on crackers with cheese or on the side of a veggie rice stir-fry as a sauce. I am enjoying the versatility of these foods and can imagine endless possibilities and ways to use them.

Jars of spiced apple & pear preserves 

Next, with all of the apricots, nectarines, peaches and more apples, I decided to make what I ended up calling Apricot Raisin Preserves because that was the dominate fruit. Again I wanted to try my hand at making something a little different to give us various flavours, textures and tastes to enjoy in the coming months. This one I can't wait to taste!

There is something about the delicate flavour of apricots that draws us in and awakens the senses, when combined with a few spices and some other equally delightful flavours, this should turn out to be a wonderful addition to any meal. 

For this preserve I chopped and chopped everything that was to go in the large pot (I ended up making a lot of this) and then put in some apple juice, raisins and spices with a little water because the dried fruit would soak up a lot of the liquid. Again as with the mango chutney, I had to keep stirring because it was quite heavy and would settle on the bottom of the pot.

Chopped fruit and raisins for the preserves

I also let this mixture cook for quite a while to get the goodness of all these fruits well blended throughout the preserve. I decided to add pumpkin pie spice which I made up myself from cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. Of course the smell is magical and this will taste great with a meal , on bread and crackers or any where else that I can find to use it.

A big batch of preserves 

Today I am off to make some ice cream from left over bananas and some of these fresh preserves,

Have a good one!

April

The Story So Far....

Today I have been taking stock of what I have learned and managed to change during these past few weeks of deliberately not buying and using the remaining processed foods, that were in our diets, as much as possible. There are a few things that stand out, some of which surprise me.

The main and perhaps most important thing is the taste - I think that I had either forgotten or somehow, never fully realized that homemade jams just taste far better. For some strange reason, I had it in my head that I would not be able to duplicate a good quality shop bought jam or spread as far as taste is concerned. 

Of course, the very first thing that we all noticed about my homemade concoctions was the flavour bursting through, the fragrance spills out as soon as the jar is opened and even the colours are strikingly different. Today we are eating peach jam which tastes and looks like peaches, with a hint of apple, and the smell is exactly like ripe peach.

Another point to be made here is that making these jams (and any of the other condiments) has not taken much extra time. I usually wait until the house is quiet and the children are in bed, so that I can handle the boiling water bath and sterilize jars without kids underfoot. It has become a time for myself, perhaps in the same way that others spend time on their creative pursuits, cooking is my outlet and my way to be innovative in my life. 

I went to the cupboards and counted the finished jars to see what I was up to, as of right now I have a total  34 jars of jams, apple sauce, apple butter and apricot/fig preserves. My goal is to have about 50 or so with a few being made every month for special occasions. At first that number seemed huge, but not anymore, it's totally doable.

Something else that stands out here is that the children prefer the apple butter and apple sauce that I have made while they have not really ever shown much interest in it before. Further to this, is that I am finding more ways to use these sauces - not only at breakfast on toast or in porridge, apple butter tastes lovely on the side with lamb dinner or on a goat's cheese sandwich as well. 

Finding new ways to make and use these homemade foods goes hand in hand so it is important to trust your instincts and play with it. If at first you don't succeed, try again - this is really important, because when it comes to cooking many people give up easily when something doesn't turn out right. Although I never gave up on cooking, I did think that there were certain things that I could not make or that were on the 'difficult to make' scale. 

In the past I have made my own mustards and mayonnaise with different results, some good and some disasters. This time around, I didn't really follow any recipes, I actually looked at the ingredients on the back of a natural organic mustard jar and then put them together the way that I thought they should go, plus or minus a few things. My mustard turned out great and is now 'aging' in the fridge after being mixed with honey. 

Perhaps the best thing of all is that once you have had and made your own foods (I cook each and everyday all of our meals) nothing else compares. It is no longer a 'treat' to eat out or spend excess money on food items that can be easily made at home with much better results. I remember those days of spending a fortune on a meal only to feel bloated and heartburn afterwards. 

Finally, one of the best things to come out of making more of my own foods is that I know exactly what is in each jar. There is no label to be read or company to be trusted (did they only put in what they said they put in?) nor is there unnecessary contamination from chlorinated, fluoridated or medicated water supplies that I try so hard to avoid.  

All in all, this has been a great learning curve for me, one that I hope will take me much further than I first imagined, now I think I am ready to branch out into other types of foods such as pickles, chutneys and my own tomato free pasta sauce. 

Today I am baking savory muffins (goat's cheese and rosemary) while last night I made another batch of apple butter, this weekend I want to do something different with a fish dish...

Back to the kitchen! 

April

All that's left of my muffins!

Thick, thick, thick..

The words thick, thick, thick have been going around in my head over the past 24 hours or so as I try to figure out how to get my jams to be a little thicker. I am trying all the usual means - well, you know, that means that I am attempting to make pectin myself!

Strain the cooked apples into a bowl

Last night I followed all the directions carefully on a website that was explaining how to make your own pectin for jams and jellies. Of course, I probably did not have the exact right kind of apple, however, all apples are supposed to contain some pectin - I did manage to produce a thickish syrup from the apples, which seemed to slightly thicken the jam I was making. However, I would have liked it a little bit more jammy.

Today, it is back to the drawing board - I asked around at the market in Skibbereen this morning as well, looking for unripe tart apples. No luck so far. So, I will try my hand at this again tonight with another batch of jams that I want to make this time using a different kind of apple.

Yesterday I used up the last of my raspberries to make raspberry kiwi jam - for something that has no sweetener whatsoever, it does taste really good. I am just not that happy with the consistency of it, but the rest of the family loved it (they ate it without complaint!).

So, that was yesterday, more jam (the cupboards are filling up) and today we are home again from the market with more fruit ready to be made into jams and preserves. However, this time I am going to do some experimenting with carrageenan, agar flakes and the homemade pectin to see what I can come up with.

I keep telling myself that as long as it is homemade (no recipe found yet for agar flakes) and wholesome, our bodies will appreciate the effort being made to remove any kind of processed foods from our diets.

And eventually, I will be more adept at all of this with my own recipes down to a T!

Well, today there is sun, so I am harvesting and drying some herbs from my garden, the entire house smells divine - pictures tomorrow.

April

Raspberries, Kiwi and Apple ready to cook into jam 

I Think, I Am Going To Like This...

Yesterday I was doing some research on using the apricots that I had on hand and making some sort of preserve with them and came across several mentions of apricot fig preserve or jam. From several recipes and descriptions online I was able to come up with my own version of this lovely jam.

One thing that I love is the taste of figs and of course any fresh fruit is also nice, however, making this jam yesterday was not the only thing that got me thinking and so excited. It was actually a deep realization about the foods that I have been eating and of course complaining about.

I have long known that we eat the foods that are put on store shelves and part of us must fade away - the creative soul - because there really is little imagination into tastes, textures and flavors anymore. Well, we get strawberry jam or apricot jam or perhaps some company is a little daring and makes something a little different. But for the most part, the food is all alike and fairly generic, either way, it is someone else's idea of what 'we' would be likely to purchase. (There's my food management and supply degree talking)

Yesterday opened my eyes a little further into my creative soul because it hit home that now I was in charge of the jam and I could make it anyway that I wanted. My apricot fig preserves then ended up with some of the flavors that I love, such as cloves, cinnamon, walnut and orange. I did not follow a recipe or even an idea, just an intuitive sense of what would taste nice on roasted duck at Christmas or as an accompaniment to homemade crackers and goat's cheese. I wanted something tasty and versatile.

When you make your own foods completely from scratch and allow yourself to unleash the foodie in you, who knows what will result. I have a feeling that it would be something fabulous and great every time. This is really the only way to go, when it comes to food.

The tiny bit of preserves that were left over were sitting in a bowl on the countertop - waiting for me to taste today, because my fast is now over and I am getting back to solid foods. I had a little spoon of it and it is lovely, just as I imagined it would be, slightly spicy, very thick and rich, yet it has the freshness of homemade food. 

And as there are only 3 jars of this (which all sealed perfectly I might add!) we won't be sick of it, it will be treasured and reserved for feast days to be used on special dishes and meals. Just as wonderful food is meant to be. Not too much, no endless supply of any one item, just something precious to be enjoyed and used thoughtfully.

What a great approach to eating, mindfulness at it's best,

April

This is one of the many pots of baby salad leaves that grow outside my door and in my cold frames. Greatest way to get greens fresh for a good long season. 

Love Summer Fruits

Yesterday was another interesting day with still being on this fast, and wanting to create and cook - I ended up making ice cream and apple sauce in small batches to just keep myself occupied really. I find that I relax, am happy in myself and can think or process through things when I am busy working with food. 

First of all ice cream is something that I have been making for awhile and we have a small ice cream maker. The main reason we got this was because we had been all going without any ice cream for several years due to the fact that we don't eat cows milk, sugar or want the added chemicals of commercial ice cream.

There are companies out there who make ice cream from goat's milk however, it would have other ingredients that we did not like or need. Therefore, being resourceful, I started to make my own for our special occasions (such as summer!) and feast days. There is a feast day coming up soon at the beginning of August, and now the ice cream is ready for this celebration. 

When I first started out making ice cream I just researched what other people were doing and then improvised to fit our own needs - and it turns out very well. I make goat's milk ice cream using bananas, milk, jam and little else.

Yesterday I used 4 bananas, about 2.5 cups of goat's milk, 1//2 cup fresh peach jam and a tiny bit of raw agave syrup - mostly because I could not taste it to see how sweet it was. Otherwise I would not use the agave, but the jams I am making are mainly only fruit, some lemon juice and 1/2 cup of apple concentrate per batch of jam. They will not be overly sweet.

Then I decided to try my hand at making my applesauce recipe and canning it into the last remaining jars because I had apples that were not being eaten. I never liked applesauce as a child or at any other time - until I started making it myself. I think for me it has to do with the texture - if it's too much like baby food, I don't want it.

I also like applesauce that is warm and spicy with lots of cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger or allspices in it. So this is what I did - 8 cups of chopped apples, teaspoons of spices, tiny bit of lemon juice and cooked the apples into a sauce. They bottled up perfectly as well, in the jars that would not seal the day before, go figure! 

Now, when I open the cupboard there are a dozen jars lined up filled with jams and sauces - ready for the coming winter and changing seasons. It is a warm and fuzzy feeling for me and I truly feel right now these few remaining items that have been creeping into our diets will be eliminated once and for all.

Soon, I want to try my hand at making some chutneys and perhaps pickles as I get more adventurous  with my canning abilities. Last night Max came home with over 30 more jars, so I guess that was my green light to keep going with this. 

Keeping it real here in West Cork,

April

This is my ice cream maker - very simple little thing!

Here is a deep mixing bowl filled with the 4 ingredients of my ice cream