Ok diving in! Jammin' for 1st time. Got cherries and apricots! Variations? Tips? Am I crazy?

M

mariadnoca

Moderator
Now you know what my weekend six is!

So after thinking about Blenheim apricots and how I no longer had a tree, it came to me...wait, this area use to be almost apricot central of the world...so recalled some orchards still around. Got a 5 lb (closer to 6) flat of soft ready for jammin' for $8. Sold!

Also got cherries at WF. I plan to make a batch of plain, but am interested some variations too. (Not cherries and 'cots together though.)

Things I have on hand:

jars/lids

powder pectin (should I get liquid?)

pot to can

canning tongs

Do I need anything else? Am I crazy for just jumping into this sorta blind?

 
You're not crazy & you can manage nicely with what you have.

For the plain jams just follow the instructions in the pectin box. You'll be amazed how simple it is.

I envy you the apricots. We get few here and they are picked so green to travel that they never taste like anything. I've seen several cherry chutney recipes I thought sounded interesting. Here's one:

Cherry Chutney
makes one cup

1 cup pitted cherries
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup chopped red onion
3 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
1/4 cup raisins or currants
2 tablespoons minced candied ginger
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (yellow will do, too)
1-inch piece cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
3 whole cloves
a few grates of whole nutmeg
pinch of salt

Combine everything in sauce pan and bring to a low boil over medium heat. Turn the heat down, cover, and simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Remove cover and continue to simmer until mixture is thick and gloppy. This may only take a minute or two. Remove from heat and fish out cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and whole cloves.

If not using right away: cool, spoon into a jar and refrigerate. It should keep for a week or two.

Recipe can be tripled (happy cherry pitting!) and puts up well. Just follow basic canning instructions (pack in hot jars & process in hot water bath for ten minutes.)

 
Actually, cherry/apricot is a wonderful flavor combo, my mom used to make

batches of it in the summer when we had both sour cherry and apricot trees. So good!

 
I have a couple of thoughts on your supplies and things you might want to have on hand. While I'm

sure you probably have these as part of your kitchen, you'll also want to have a good ladle, a canning funnel (it's wide mouthed, fits comfortably inside jar mouths) lots of sugar, several fresh lemons, a heavy, wide-mouthed 6 qt sauce pan and some kind of instant read thermometer.

Something important to note as well. Old, soft fruit is NOT what you want for canning. The ideal fruit is JUST ripe or even slightly under-ripe. Part of this has to do with how it will hold up to the high-heat required to bring the pectin and sugar to temperature. Also, under-ripe fruit has more natural pectin in it than over-ripe and will set up far better.

You won't be happy making preserves from fruit that's almost gone because your end product will just taste "off."

 
Oh poop...back to get new 'cots tomorrow I guess...thoughts on what to do now w/5lb *ripe* cots?

Here I thought that getting ripe ones would make it sweeter. Shoot.

Also I do have:

good ladle (thanks mom)
a canning funnel
lots of sugar (needed/planned to get some in the morning)
several fresh lemons (got a meyer tree, and happen to have a bag of limes also if need be)
a heavy, wide-mouthed 6 qt sauce pan (finally a real reason to use this, I almost gave it away)
instant read thermometer ...do I really need this? I have an old electric cooktop and things that require a thermometer don't always go so well (Hello, candy or fried chicken, you're not my old friend) because the stove control options are either HOT! or sorta hot. Rut ro, now I'm kinda worried, things that require thermometers worry me.

 
And now, guess what? I think I may have become allergic to cherries - is this even possible?

I just walked into the bathroom and saw I have a rash(?) on my face, in fact it looks more like I got bonked in the noggin'. A big redish blotch, the size of a large cherry (of course) on my forehead.

Is this possible? Is this a Friday the 13th thing? Why is the fruit fighting me today...does it know I want to kill it?

 
Not to worry, thermometer isn't critical. Some recipes call for bringing the mix to a particular

temperature but the majority just tell you to bring it to a rolling boil for a minute while constantly stirring. The thermometer's nice to have in case you run across one of the former. Actually, they're just plain nice to have.

 
I've been making really simple and quick clafoutis with them but also the typical peach kuchen with

apricots instead is simple.

But do they really taste like apricots should? I haven't had a good one since the 60s. Except in Europe.

 
YES! it's possible to develop an allergy later in life. sounds like hives. be very careful.

I end up in the ER if I eat RAW apples and peaches and nectarines and sugar snap peas and cherries now make my lips tingle, so I watch that carefully. I can cook these things and I'm fine. just watch how many you eat and if you start swelling or your palms start itching, go to the ER, take benedryl.

 
Yes, they are delicious. They are Blenheims. Sad article about them possibly becoming extinct >>

and it looks like it was from 2008. Now I feel bad about taking out my tree. This area was one of the top producers at one time. The orchard I got mine from is run by a neighboring city's historical society. I got some dried slugs too. Gonna send them to mom. She adores them. Going to go back and get some more for jam, didn't get there this weekend.

http://www.californiabountiful.com/features/article.aspx?arID=127

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top