Sunday, September 07, 2008

Plum Jam

My good friend Regina (yes, it's Mama) gave me the plums from her back garden again. Her tree is actually a bit freakish. It's very old and grows these little dark plums, and on only one branch it grows bright red ones. So, I was impelled to make bunches of jars of jam from them. I tried making different batches of each variety to find out which tasted nicer. I think I've made crumble from these in posts past. The final feeling is that the darker plum makes a more tart and complex jam (if a jam can be complex), but I love them both.

Recipe

4lbs Pitted Plums
1 Package of Pectin
8C Sugar
1/2C Water

*Finely chop fruit and add in the pectin and water
*bring to a boil and simmer 5-1omin. you may want to
use a hand blender at this point to make it smooth
*add in the sugar and bring back to a boil
*skim off the top impurities and put into jars

Make sure you give all your friends a jar, cause everyone
loves free jam.

Salsa




This is an old family recipe that I've altered for my current palate. This is the first time I've ever made this in my adult life and once I was underway with everything on the stove bubbling away I was flooded with childhood memories. My Mom and Dad would make this every September when the tomatoes and onions were ready for picking. I remember coming home after school with a warm breeze blowing in the air, and me willing the summer to stay. What I've done here is present two different recipes. The first is a sweeter tomato relish that would be more suited as a condiment for meats etc. as my family did. The second is a truer salsa and has the addition of corn kernels so I can discern between the two in the pantry.

Recipe

24C Ripe Tomatoes
6C Chopped Celery
4C Chopped Onion
2 Peppers (green,orange,yellow, it's up to you)
2C Cider Vinegar
1/2C Sugar
1oz Mustard Seed
1Bunch Cilantro
2tsp Cayenne Pepper
1/2C Pickling Salt

*Blanch and peel and chop tomatoes
*Mix chopped tomatoes, celery, and onions with salt and let stand
overnight covered
*Drain off all liquid, add in peppers, sugar, mustard seed, cilantro,
cayenne pepper, and vinegar.
*Cook until bubbling, stirring often.
*Spoon hot mixture into sterilized jars and enjoy

The recipe above is for the sweeter relish. If you want to make the salsa version, simply omit the sugar, add in 2C of corn, and more cilantro.