Fans of canning and preserving often enthused about the joy of enjoying a taste of summer when they crack open a jar of lovingly preserved jam in the dead of winter. As a fan of artisanal jams and jellies around the world, I've been known to pack my suitcase with half a dozen jars of all shapes and sizes whenever I return home from my travels. I never really understood the appeal of canning as my pantry is always stocked with myriad international and local choices. Luckily, I gained a new perspective since last summer.
I remember summer of 2010 as a season of abundant harvest. Every week I came home from farmers' market with armloads of fruit and vegetable so fresh, sweet, juicy, and cheap it was almost an embarrassment of richness. One day, as I stared at my basket of apricots, I wanted to capture its essence so I can reminisce comes the long and harsh Canadian winter. That was the beginning of my journey in preserving.
I thought making jam must be difficult if I forgo the convenience of prepackaged pectin. However, a bit of reading soon convinced me otherwise. Some fruits are naturally packed with pectin and thus almost guarantee success for beginners. Apricots and plums are both fine examples. I turned to David Lebovitz for recipe on a simple apricot jam laced with the heady aroma of vanilla beans. The hardest part of making jam was determining the gelling point when the jam is ready. Although it is always an option to use a digital thermometer, I prefer the more inexact method of nudge test on a chilled plate. By testing the jam periodically, I got to observe the changing behaviour as sugar is cooked to various temperature. In other words, I became more experienced with every batch of jam I made.
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What a sweet journey it was! After the Vanilla Apricot Jam, I made Plum Strawberry Jam, Coronation Grape Jelly, and Damson Plum Jam. Oh my.
The recipe for the Plum Strawberry Jam came from David Lebovitz's Ready For Dessert. It was simply 1/3 red plum, 1/3 strawberries, 1/3 sugar. The high level of pectin from red plum made this jam so easy to work with. As for the grape jelly, it was a step up in terms of difficulty. Coronation grapes was briefly in season and I just love the in-your-face grapey flavour. I followed this recipe and trusted the natural pectin in the grape skins would be enough for the jelly to set. The use of merlot and a warm background note of cardamom was also a nice touch. I beamed with pride every time I looked at the soft jiggly set of the jelly. The damson plum jam was a simple variation on the apricot jam. However, after hearing so much about the elusive damson plum, I just had to preserve it when I saw them at the market.
We are still months away from the first strawberries of the summer. What a lucky coincidence that the pantry I stocked over the summer is now the perfect partner for my bread baking effort! I put away my canning toolkit for a few months but I think it is about time for winter preserving. As I get older, I've gained a taste for bittersweet citrus marmalade. Just last week, I spotted blood oranges in the market and I think Seville oranges ought to be available around this time too. Wouldn't it be lovely to begin my day with a slice of crusty homemade bread slathered with freshly made marmalade?
