Strawberry Lemon Balm Jam

Last year, I made some amazing Strawberry Anise Hyssop Jam which inspired me to start using herbs in my jams and jellies.  So today, I finally had the time (and berries) to try a batch of Strawberry Lemon Balm Jam.  The process is the same for the Anise Hyssop, so if you want to make that, feel free (I only use a dozen large leaves of the Anise Hyssop)!  The recipe is adapted from Ball, using less than half the sugar.  It's still plenty sweet but the flavor of the berries really shines.  It makes about 7 half-pint jars.

First, I went out and picked 2 dozen large lemon balm leaves.  I washed them and gave them a whirl since I already had the spinner out, anyway.

Then, I cut them in half.  Which meant I had 48 pieces of leaves.  It's helpful to remember this number.  You'll see why later.

Wash and hull about 8 cups of strawberries.  These beauties are Camarosa's that I picked at a local farm (Hickory Ridge) for $1.25/lb.  Can't beat that, baby!

 Mash them down to about 5 cups.

Add the berries and the lemon balm into a large stock pot, along with 1/4 c lemon juice and 2 tsp calcium water (I use Pomona's Pectin and the calcium water makes it gel.  If you are using traditional pectin, you want to add 3 TBL of the low-sugar kind at this point.)

Bring it all to a boil.  Then add 3 cups of sugar and 2 tsp Pomona's Pectin, stirring well, and bringing it back up to a boil.

 Skim off foam if you are so inclined.

Remove from heat and start picking out the pieces of lemon balm.  (This is where it comes in handy to know how many pieces are in there.)  This time off the heat also gives the jam time to start cooling a bit, which reduces the likelihood of 'floating fruit' in your processed jars.

When you've got all the lemon balm out, fill jelly jars and leave 1/4" headspace.  Watch carefully as you're pouring it in if you weren't able to get out all the leaf pieces.  This is your last chance to retrieve them.  Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes, and enjoy!

Strawberries!

It's been a cool and rainy spring, which didn't help the strawberries to ripen.  This time last year, we'd been picking for weeks.  So when I saw the weather forecast for today (sunny, low 80s), I decided I needed to go and pick some berries. 

I headed over to Vaughan's Farm Produce and picked four different kinds of berries.  The Albion's are HUGE and I figured the kids would love eating them.  The Chandlers are one of the most popular variety grown here in Hampton Roads.  The Sweet Charlie's are my favorite for eating (so sweet!), and the Festivals are a firm berry great for canning.

After all was said and done, I came home with almost 17 pounds of them!  Because I'm still working on cleaning out the freezer, most of these will be dehydrated.  It takes a little time to prep them, but it's well worth it in the middle of winter when you have tasty berries for muffins, scones, and the morning oatmeal.

First, I washed them and sent them for a ride in the salad spinner to get as much water off of them as possible.

I use a pairing knife to take the tops off.

Then, I slice them with an egg slicer.  I own three of them (one for me and one for each kid).  It's much quicker than doing it with a knife, and this ensures that they are equal thickness so they dry at the same rate.

Lay them on the dehydrator tray.  You want them as close together as possible, but in a single layer.

The time it takes to dry them will vary.  I usually start with 8 hours and up it if I need to.  I store them in glass jars (wide-mouth are easier to get into.)

Strawberry Jalapeno Jam

My new counters we installed yesterday!  The plumber will be here today to hook up the faucet, but I had strawberries that NEEDED attention, so I decided to can them up even without the use of my sink.

You want 4 cups of mashed strawberries and one cup of chopped jalapenos.  Miraculously, those were the exact measurements that I had... I used up the berries we picked the other day and also the frozen jalapenos from last fall's harvest.

Mix in a large saucepan with 1/4 c lemon juice and a package of pectin.

Bring to a boil, then add 7 cups of sugar.  Return to a boil and let it go for a minute.

Bottle 'em up and BWB for 10 minutes.

I got the equivalent of about 9 1/2-pint jars (not pictured is the one already in the fridge!)  It's not a hot jam, but it definitely has a kick to it.  I can't wait to serve it over cream cheese with homemade crackers!

Strawberries... and Rhubarb! Oh, My!

I went back to Brookdale to pick berries TWICE on Tuesday.  Once in the morning with my youngest, before she went to school, and once in the afternoon with both kids after they got out of school.

We picked about 16 pounds of berries in total.  That translated into 9 trays of berries in the dehydrator, a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb Jam, some fruit roll-ups, a couple trays in the freezer, and tonight's dessert:  Strawberry Rhubarb Crunch.  It came from a Taste of Home issue back in '97.

For the 'crust' and the topping, mix together

1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
3/4 c oats
1 tsp cinnamon

and cut in 1/2 c butter.  Press half into a greased 9" pan.

Dice 4 cups of rhubarb and 2 cups of strawberries.  And throw in the mandarin oranges you might have in the fridge.  Ignore my inaccurate measuring.  It's what I do.

Spoon over crust.

 

In a sauce pan, combine

1 c sugar
2 Tbl cornstarch
1 c water
1 tsp vanilla

and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Stir for two minutes.

Drizzle over fruit, then crumble the remaining topping over the top.

Bake at 350 for an hour.  You may want to put it on a cookie sheet because it will probably run over and make a mess.

This is one of those desserts that really should be served with vanilla ice cream.

More Strawberry Goodness

I am absolutely loving the Strawberry Vanilla Jam I made.  It's from Ball's Big Book of Canning and so easy... just a matter of adding a split vanilla bean while heating up the strawberries for traditional jam.

I also attempted a batch of Strawberry Lemonade Concentrate.  Sounds delightful, doesn't it?  And it would be, if it weren't for the fact that I had to juice 25 lemons in order to get the 4 cups of fresh lemon juice required.  Thankfully, I have a juicer attachment for my Kitchen Aid, but it still wasn't 'quick' and my wrist still hurt when all was said and done.

Another gadget that has been very helpful is this mushroom slicer that I won last year from www.dehydrate2store.

It saved me a lot of time slicing berries and filling up all 9 trays of the dehydrator.

I don't have a ton of freezer space available (we haven't made a dent in our 1/4 side of beef and we've got a 1/2 hog coming in a few months) so I plan to dehydrate a lot more this season.  But I did freeze a few quarts, because we love smoothies around here.  I also made a batch of strawberry ice cream.

For now, I am all caught up on the 22+lbs of berries I picked.  I'm taking a few days off, but then I'll go pick more.  I still have several jam recipes to try and then I definitely want to make more Strawberry-Vanilla!

Strawberry Kiwi Jam

We are lucky enough to have a strawberry field 3 minutes down the road from us.  So the other morning I dragged my youngest there at 9am when they opened (we had to pick and get back to get her on the bus!)  In no time flat, we had 4 pounds worth of berries.  Not much, but enough for me to make a couple batches of jam and strawberry shortcakes for dessert.

I still have some of the kiwis that I bought last winter, but I am down to the last few.  I was so hoping they'd hold out for strawberry season, and they did!  So the first batch of jam had to be strawberry-kiwi!

It was very easy.  I used the recipe from the Ball Blue Book.  I am not going to reprint it here because if you are canning, you need your own copy.  Go spend the 8 or 10 bucks, it's worth every penny.

First, I crushed the strawberries and diced the kiwi and added some homemade crystallized ginger.

Then I added the pectin and brought it to a boil.

Pour in the sugar, return to a rolling boil for 1 minute and process it up.

Easy Peasy.

From vine to jar in under an hour.  Pure Delicious!