In the Kitchen: Yes, I Can

On Sunday, I had to go down to school for about four hours of business classes.  Trust me, I learned my lesson from last summer - weekend classes are the worst, never do it!  But I was tricked into this one.  It's a weekNIGHT class, but the professor canceled the last class and required us to come in one Sunday afternoon.  Take a moment to imagine my displeasure.

I missed a romp through the beer garden, the local BBQ fest and a bunch of other stuff, but after running a few company valuations, I was set free to enjoy the rest of my weekend.

So I did this.

 

That is black gold, dear ones - otherwise known as strawberry balsamic jam.    It tastes like canned euphoria and I made it, from scratch.  My friend Amy and I have always had fond canning memories from our early years, but we've hesitated.  From what we remembered, canning was a lot of work.  And you end up with a LOT of jars of the same old thing lying around.  But inspired by this book about small batch canning in New York, we have set a summer challenge : we want to give it a try, to jump into canning, freezing and dehydrating in-season fruits and vegetables.

I've never canned alone.  I mean, without an elderly expert canner at hand.  We are babes in the woods, but I dare saw our first venture was a success.

On a warm summer afternoon, we opened all the windows in Amy's apartment, for canning is a hot business.  We took about 8 cups of fresh, hulled strawberries and 5 cups of sugar and cooked them for 40 minutes.  After adding a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, we portioned the jam into 5 (and a half) half pint jars, stuck on the lids and boiled them for 10 minutes.  That's just a summary, but you get the jist of it.

We didn't quite have all the right stuff ~ in lieu of a canning pot, we instead brought a lobster pot into duty.  We didn't have a proper rack on the bottom, so one of our jars went all wonky sideways, balanced on a cake cooling rack.  I don't think it mattered.

The tense moment came after extracting the jars.  We waited, whispering encouragment at our jars, hoping to hear that metallic *plink* that would signify successful sterilization.   It was only a minute or so before we heard it.  *plink* *plink*  Two successful.  Another wait.  *plink* *plink* and *plink* again!  Of the five we stuck into the pot, every one popped just like it should (Amy lay claim to the 1/2 jar of jam and didn't worry with sealing it.  Her jam pantry was bare.)

We celebrated with a bottle of wine, then moved to our next venture: Asparagus.

 

Pickled asparagus!  We blew through 6 bunches of stalks (with lots of stems left over for soup) to generate 4 pints of pickled asparagus tips. 

These were easy (which was good since we were a bottle of Cote du Rhone into the evening already).  The laborious part was trimming the stems to the exact level to fall just below the jar rim.  After that, they just needed a quick blanch before the vinegar/water/red pepper/dill solution could be poured over them and the jars sealed. 

Again we plunked them into the water where they bubbled about for 10 minutes before we pulled them free.  The *plinks* were slow to come this time, so we stuck them back in for a bit.  On the next try, though, we were rewarded and *plink* *plink* *plink*.......*plink!*  Asparagus!

Which, of course, called for celebration with a bottle of savignon blanc.  Monday morning was a bit rough for me, if you can imagine.

Initial taste-tests of the jam have been delightful.  I can't wait to get my hands on my jars tomorrow, when Amy and I meet to collect our co-operative vegetable haul, so I can dive into them (they have to "rest" after canning, and since we canned at Amy's place, they are resting on her counter until she schleps them down to me).   The asparagus must "cure" for at least 4 weeks, so stay tuned for an update on that one.

This coming weekend we plan to whip up some more strawberry balsamic, some rhubarb-strawberry jam (if rhubarb is available at the market) and we aren't sure what else.  If you're interested, I'll document our process next time.

Comments

[grigorisgirl]

So this is what canning is? I always thought it was putting in cans!LOL Over here we just call it pickling or jam-making. Jam we don't put metal lids on, just wax discs and cling film. Those jars are what we call Kilner jars.I've never made anything but jam and chutney.
Sounds like an excuse to drink wine to me! (BTW have you tried wine-making?;)

[Jocelyn]

Ooh, yum! That strawberry/balsamic jam sounds fabulous, I may have to give it a try. Isn't that little pinging sound satisfying? I haven't canned in ages, but I like the small-batch idea a lot.

[Jody]

OMG who new you could do it in small batches - that's so cool. I have to go a looking for that book. Can't wait to hear about the rhubarb escapades - I have some growing in my garden this year... maybe I can get some jelly out of it. :)