This post, started one year ago today, was supposed to be a victory lap. The cherry-and-gooseberry jam I’d made after last year’s epic harvest had been my favorite jar in years, and I was looking forward to creating—and documenting—a second batch. Alas, in 2018 Mother Nature had other ideas. An extended verycoldsnap in March had delayed…
Tag: fruit spread
Small-Batch Fig Jam
That seems redundant, doesn’t it? Because if you find figs at the farmstand, they’re often upwards of $12-a-quart—or even a buck apiece for big ones. And if you grow them yourself, you likely eat as many as you can straight off the tree (or, say, with a little honey and yogurt . . . or…
Blubarb Jam: A Sweet and Slippery Slope
If you’re new to making fruit preserves, blueberries are the perfect gateway. Widely available, rich in their own pectin, and relatively inexpensive, blues are a small-batch-friendly fruit. And with no hulling and no pitting, your prep is pretty much limited to a quick rinse and a scan for stray stems and bum berries. Lovely when sugared…
Squishy Squash: Spreadable Summer
Decades before Farm-to-Table was a nationwide THING, Madison’s L’Etoile (est. 1976), was championing small, local growers, constructing seasonal menus, and pushing vegetable-centric cooking beyond lentil cakes and baba ghanoush. A summer-squash compendium on the kitchn last week reminded me of a meal I’d had at L’Etoile close to 30 years ago—a meal that kicked off with a warm loaf of crusty bread and…
Hand-Me-Down Muffins, Share-Worthy Curd
Kim Severson’s lovely and poignant Mother’s Day piece in last week’s Food Section sent me sorting through my stash of handwritten, handed-down recipes for one of my favorite fruit-spread vehicles, my mom’s Vanilla Muffins. Fragrant, moist, and simple, these were not muffins you studded with fruit; these were muffins you smeared with fruit. With, say, Aunt Harriet‘s peach butter, made…
Great Scot: Ginger-Cantaloupe Jam
It’s late one evening in March 2001, and we’re finishing up dinner our first night in Campbeltown, Scotland. Joyce Gardiner, my dear friend Judith’s mum, places a sterling shaker on the table alongside our post-entrée cantaloupe. Pepper, I assume. Hmmm. Maybe my dad’s side of the family, who sprinkled salt and pepper on all kinds…
Really, Really Slow Food: Asian Pear Butter
My first memories of fruit butters are driven out of Carbondale, Illinois, which seemed worlds away from the Chicago suburbs, both in station-wagon miles and in accent. Maybe Aunt Harriet’s slower cadences and shifts and drawls reinforced her patience for hours and hours of bubbling the moisture out of the orchard’s apples and peaches. All…
Blackberry-Bourbon Jam
Vanilla beans and lemon zest make their way into most of my berry-based preserves. But last season’s final batch of blackberry jam had to settle for a tablespoon of vanilla extract; I was out of beans and didn’t want to head to the store just for that one item. It was, however, homemade extract that…
Swap-Box Hero: Strawbarb Preserves
One of the perks of being a site host is that you get to scavenge through the swap box at the end of pick-up day. This week, that meant we staff got to divvy up bundles of underloved endive and rhubarb. Thanks, but no thanks on more greens—I got plenty in my own sharebox. But…
Boxing Day 