Rhubarb Brandy Vanilla Jam

I know it sounds like a mouth full, but trust me your taste buds will be dancing when you taste it. This rhubarb brandy vanilla jam is not only great on toast or pancakes, it is wonderful on all types of cheeses, stirred into yogourt or poured over top of vanilla ice cream.

I met Todd Chambers, owner of Really Horrible Enterprises this past weekend at a The Great Canadian Cheese Festival and I was drawn to his booth by the alluring smell of vanilla that seemed to permeate the air around it.

I use vanilla beans a lot in my preserving and am always looking for fresh beans that don't come in the glass little test tubes from major grocery stores. Well Todd did not disappoint. But in addition to some wonderful fresh vanilla, Todd also had some flavoured Vanilla extract that got my creative juices flowing. I picked up a bottle of this and as you can see in less than a week, I have already used 1/3 of it.

Rhubarb Brandy Vanilla Jam

Ingredients

• 8 cups of chopped rhubarb
• 4 cups sugar
• 1 cup earl grey tea
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• 3 tsp brandy vanilla
• 1 packet liquid pectin (3oz)

Preparation:

Sterilize jars and warm lids.

In an 8-quart, non-reactive pot over medium heat stir the rhubarb, sugar and tea together and bring to a boil stirring regularly.

Add the lemon juice/zest and brandy vanilla to the pot and let it bubble gently for approximately 10-15 minutes. As the jam cooks, use the back of a spoon to mash any large pieces of rhubarb.

Add the liquid pectin, stir to combine and bring back to a boil and let boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.

Add a little more lemon juice if you feel it needs additional brightening.

Fill your pre-sterilized jars, leaving 1/4" headspace. Wipe rim of the jars with a clean damp cloth and place lids and hand tighten rings. Process jars in gently boiling water for 10 minutes.

Yield approximately: 4 – 250ml jars.

St Lucia Inspired Pineapple Jam

If you were to ask my husband what his favourite part of our trip to St Lucia was, you would imagine his response to perhaps include the incredible warmth, the view of the sea from the little house we had rented, the great snorkelling, the fresh fish available at the local restaurants. All good guesses, yet every single one of them wrong.

His answer quite simply would be 'the rum punch'. Even I have to admit that it was the PERFECT thirst quenching drink on days where the weather climbed into the mid 30's.

One evening as an apertif, I ordered their local coconut rum and my tastebuds were very pleased. It is that little glass of coconut rum served with a wedge of fresh pineapple that inspired this recipe.

Pineapple Jam with Rum

1 ripe pineapple, cored and chopped into small pieces

3 cups sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp unsalted butter

3 oz liquid pectin

1/4 cup rum (you can add up to 1/2 cup)

Start by peeling, coring and cutting up the pineapple into very small pieces. Place it into a wide bottom non reactive pot. Add 3 cups of sugar and set aside for an hour, stirring once or twice. You will notice this brings the juices out in the pineapple and help dissolve the sugar.

After an hour transfer the pot to the stove and turn the heat to medium and add 2 tbsp of lemon. Stir the mixture until the sugar has completely dissolved and then add the butter.

Turning the heat to med high ,bring the pineapples to a gentle boil stirring constantly, add the rum and then reduce the heat, cover the pot and let them simmer for 10 minutes. By now you will notice that the pineapple chunks have begun to reduce in size and the mixture has gotten quite liquidy.

Turning the heat once again to med high bring the pineapple mixture to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Added 3oz of liquid pectin and stirred again constantly until the mixture returned to a rolling boil and let it boil for 60 seconds and then turned off the heat.

Leaving the pineapples to cool for several minutes so your fruit doesn't float (stir once or twice) and then ladle into sterilized jars leaving 1/4" headspace and put in water bath for 10 minutes.

My plan is to make this cocount cake, heat some of the jam in a pan and pour over the slices of cake as served. Is it wrong to have that for breakfast?

Beer Jam

When you think Beer and then you think Jam what other ingredients come to mind? First of all, there are all of the different types of beer to consider; lager, al, wheat beer, stout, etc. And then once you have settled on a beer what goes with it?

I should ask my friends at Peerless Beers as I have had the pleasure of tasting many a fine beer in their company and under their guidance.

But my creative juices are flowing and there is simply no time for such counsel ;). Yesterday, James and I were out in the garden picking all of the ripe tomatoes that we have on our plants in the backyard. (btw...it has been a busy morning as those are already cut up and on the stove being turned into Spicy Tomato Jam for our personal stock) and I noticed that my rhubarb has exploded once again. I was thinking about this new bounty of rhubarb last night and wondering if I should make more Rhubarb Vanilla Jam, when suddenly Rhubarb and Beer were together side by side in my mind.

Rhubarb Beer Jam. I even like the sounds of it. I am thinking that it would go nicely with a wheat beer...what do you think?

To be honest, it was not where I was going originally when I started to think of Beer Jam. I was thinking of something heavier, kinda syrupy. And that may still happen. But I have been side-tracked and now I need to know if I am onto something good.

Stay tuned....

Peach Jam with a twist

This might not be the year to decide to experiment with my peach jam recipe with everyone saying what a horrible year it is going to be for peaches. Each year I try to preserve enough peaches and make enough jam to carry me through the winter months and I hope that this year is no different. Yes, peaches might be more expensive, yet I can't seem to imagine they will be so expensive that I won't find preserving enough to get me through the winter worthwhile.

But to take a great batch of fresh peaches picked up at the market and instead of making the tried, tested and true peach jam recipe to experiment with these precious peaches, is that just madness?

Madness or not it is what I decided to do today. I have a great peach jam recipe. I can't remember if my mom gave it to me or my sister Yvonne. They can both lay claim cause I am sure at one point or another they both shared their peach jam recipes with me. Whether my mom's or my sisters, it is good! But I had an idea on how to make it better. Now by making it better I am also making it perhaps not suitable to be spread on toast in the morning, which is how I have always loved my peach jam. All these things aside...I had an idea.

What if I were to add brandy to my peach jam recipe...what might that taste like? I was determined to find out.

Dizzy Peach Jam

4 pounds peaches (peel, remove the pit and then crush)

3/4 cup brandy

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp butter (unsalted)

7 cups sugar

2 pouches liquide pectin (3oz)

If you decide you are going to make the PG version of this and take out the brandy, there are a couple of alterations you will need to make to this recipe. The first is that you will only need 1 pouch of liquid pectin and the 2nd is that you might want to add about 1/2 cup more of sugar.

In a large pot. combine the peaches, brandy, lemon juice and 3.5 cups sugar. Place the lid on and cover for at least an hour. I gave it 3 hours so that the brandy would soak in real good :).

Remove the lid and add the rest of the sugar. Place the pot over med/low heat and stir until the sugar you just added dissolves. Once it is fully dissolved, turn the heat to high and continue to stir until it reaches a full rolling boil. If you continue to stir constantly this will take 20-30 minutes. Don't rush it as you want to allow some of the brandy to evaporate, otherwise the jam won't set. At this point take the pan off the burner and with a wooden spoon, skim off the foam.

Place the pot back on the stove and return it to a full boil. Add the pectin and continue stirring until it reaches a full rolling boil again. Boil and stir for another minute and then remove from the stove.

In order to prevent the fruit from separating, I usually let the jam sit for 5-8 minutes stirring from time to time before I ladle them into my previously sanitized and prepared jars. Once I wipe the rim and put on the lids I return it to the water bath and process 250ml jars for 10 minutes.

My official taste tester gave it a taste and claims that he wishes we had a loaf of white bread in the house to eat a jar with and I found myself craving Kawartha Dairy Vanilla Ice Cream. Tell me what you think it would taste best with and the person who makes my mouth water the most with their idea will get a jar to taste test for me!

Sour Cherry Jam for Ms. Sandler

My dear friend Cori deserted her Toronto friends when her and her lovely partner Alice packed up, sold their house and moved to the west coast. They bought a house on the island and have settled into a nice new life that seems to suit them both amazingly well. Going out to visit them is high on my wish list.

When Cori tweeted this earlier this week, I knew I had to dig out an old recipe that my cousin gave me a few years ago and share it with her. I hope it is not too late :).

Sour Cherry Jam

6 cups sour cherries. You will want approx 4 cups after you have pitted and chopped them

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

4.5 cups sugar

1/2 tsp butter (unsalted)

1 pouch liquid pectin (3 oz)

Combine the cherries and the sugar and let sit for 45 minutes. Place the cherries in a large pot and add the lemon juice and butter. Over medium low heat heat the mixture until the sugar completely dissolves stirring constantly.

Once the sugar has dissolved, increase the heat and bring the cherry mixture to a full rolling boil. This should take 15-20 minutes to get to a boil.

Stir in the pectin and continue to stir constantly , returning the mixture to a rolling boil for 60 seconds. During this 60 seconds test the consistency on a spoon to ensure it has achieved the consistency you want. Remove the pan from the stove and quickly skim off any foam.

Let it sit and cool for 4-5 minutes before ladling it into the jars. You should have sterilized the jars and lids before hand and will want to ensure you are ladling the jam into warm jars. Leave 1/4" head space.

Clean the rims of any jam that may have gotten on it during the ladling process and screw on your lids. Place in a hot water bath for 10 minutes assuming you are using 250ml jars.

Remove and allow to cool. Then enjoy.