Jam Class report card

Pear Cranberry jam class of 12 future jam makers Tuesday night - the report card: all perfect! Everyone peeled, chopped and stirred and witnessed the juicy chunks of pears and shiny crimson cranberries magically merge into intense deep red aromatic jam. Each "student" poured a jar of jam to take home. Everyone asked how long the jar would last. Well, it could last 3 years but who could resist opening it immediately or at least by the time the coffee was ready in the morning. I love this time of year when the jams vary from the predictable. Can you think of other ways to flavor the mixture of cranberry and pear? Think port. Or maybe cardamon or cinnamon. How about adding a little candied ginger? What do you have in mind?

post TG fog

Everyone I know is wandering in a post Thanksgiving fog - how does the black Friday shopping happen? I can barely function. One thing I have observed though is that friends who did not host the grand meal secretly make an unseen TG turkey op. I am guilty. For the first time ever, i did not cook. No leftovers. So tomorrow, I sneak off to the market, stow a turkey in my cart and slip home to roast and eat with just my friend Bob and my son. Do not tell anyone!. I have saved some of the cranberry sauce that I sold at Formaggio so with that and a few potatoes I will experience the joys of LEFTOVERS! YEAH! Next week - Meyer lemons and Cara Cara oranges arrive and I will be deep into marmalade.

Bonnie's Jammy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving. I find comfort in the predictable menu. And no need to get creative. Predictable dishes are all good - and I want them all: the large browned and caramelized juicy turkey, mashed white and sweet potatoes both with the now sinful butter, stuffing again with vegetables sauteed in more butter, gravy made from the drippings and rich broth and of course, the cranberry sauce. But here is where I vary from the predictable cooked version - and this is so not a jam:

1 pkg (12oz) fresh cranberries pulsed & chopped in a cuisinart; one small California Valencia Orange pulse & chopped separately in a cuisinart; both mixed in a bowl with 3/4 cu sugar. Let stand for 30 minutes and taste again. Add 1/4 cup more sugar if necessary. Let stand in refrigerator overnight. Yummmmmmmmmmmm

Jams jams jams jams jams

I am seeing jams everywhere! Finally finished the order for Winston's Florist corporate gift baskets and will hand deliver the remaining group of Red Pepper Jelly and Honey in Nuts on Monday. And the Eli Zabar basket order of the most beautiful red raspberry jam is on its way so those are finished. And now for Formaggio - I have talked to Ihsan about cheese pairings in the past and will catch up with Tim to do the same. I will put together gift boxes of 2 and also 3 jam sets dressed up with shredded white paper in brown boxes with red raffia but would also like to pair some jams and cheeses for the holidays. I love the slight frenzy of getting all the jams out this time of year. The trick is having enough and on time and still taking the time needed to make them really delicious. More to do so back to the jams!

Jams from Australia to Norway!

Thanks to the great Australian blog and blogger What katie Ate, ( blg www.whatkatieate.com) a fantastic store called Chez Nous has joined the stores selling Bonnie's Jams - I HAVE to go visit right? know anyone there? And thank you to Katie in Australia who impressed Ida in Norway with her impressions of the jams. I have tried to pack the jams espcially carefully for their journey - if only I could stow away nestled between the jams somehow. I like to think that New England berries and stone fruits are finding homes across the ocean. Maybe Australia is next! check out Katie's blog:www.whatkatieate.com

Sardinia - flamingos & celery

Sardinian surprises: flamingos inhabiting inland waterways near the airport leisurely greet arriving visitors their one legged poses appearing impossibly comfortable. And did you know that celery could be an anticipated delicious accompaniment? I thought figi di India was enough - and then celery surfaced. Some vegetables and fruits are suppose to play silent roles. Celery surprises. But as I "remember the taste of fruit" I should add that any fruit or vegetable grown carefully and picked when just ripe deserves attention. Memories of great meals in Sardinia - bottarga sprinkled on pasta, paper thin "bread" called Carta di Musica - are replaced by a delightful dinner tonight on my return to Rome in a restaurant near the Campo di Fiori where I had the perfect Roman dish pasta vongole followed by Osso buco.

Oh but read Abraham Verghese book Cutting For Stone - my companion - along with Roberto - on the excursion to Sardinia

Jam Sardinia - figi di India

Figi di India - cactus pear jam - for breakfast - an inspiring way to begin the day and stay in Sardinia. The recipe does me no good in Cambridge except as inspiration. I found a fellow jam maker in Iola, the owner of the bed and breakfast in Dolianova just north of Cagliere on the Island of Sardinia. She immediately asked "se usa pectina?" with a frown after giving her my Bonnie's Jams card and when I answered "certo no!" the exhale of relief was evident and then disparaging remarks flew back and forth about the uselessness of such jams. Her jams are kept in tiny round bottles and lovingly brought out for visitors in the morning along with the local bread and butter.

overlooking the Colosseum

Antipasti from Maureen's class with a little prosecco while sitting on her terrace with Franco and Roberto as the sun fades from the walls of the coloseum was a good beginning for our Roman stay. The intensity of the tastes of good ingredients means that simple food is magnified to majestic levels. Each fruit and vegetable must be grown with great care because they only taste this way from farmer's markets in Massachusetts in August. Maureen buys perfect tomatoes from an intense man who sells at leave 30 varieties and will only sell the chosen variety after establishing the recipe. So the pomodoro with Mozzarella was perfectly matched as was the tomatoes cooked with fageole - these long flat and green. The pointy pale green cauliflower simple cooked in olive oil I wanted to drink followed prosciutto with melon and then I lost track. No jam yet - but Sardinia is next.

Bonnie's Jams Rome

Arrived in Rome and found almost immediately in the shadow of the Pantheon one perfect nectarine. And waiting an apartment we have rented lots -3rd floor up high stairs - high ceilings and great details like moldings and framed paintings everywhere - lovely little terrace with lots of plants and a yellow wall just covered in a lacy design with green leaves - very quiet and yet in the center of Rome. Right down stairs and around the corner is the Pantheon and our favorite coffee bar Bar Camilloni where Teresa and Enzo seem to do nothing but wait for us to arrive each year. I am sure -and they seem to express - that no other customers are as welcome or as anticipated. The apartment owner is a young cute Italian named Emmanuel who sets the mood perfectly! Dinner tonight Food writer (the Encyclopedia of Pasta Oretta Zanini De Vita trans Maureen Fant) "leftovers" from her recent class...will report back

Fruity preserves remembering summer

All the berries are fading - great summer this was for berries with lots of sun and a little rain. The best berry jam making season I can remember. Stone fruits are suffering though - picked too early with or without sun. I am confused by the growers eagerness to get to market when no one wants hard tasteless fruit. I bought incredible nectarines from on farmer who could wait until the sun had done its alchemy and the fruit emerged juicy, rosy - remembering the taste of that fruit from my California childhood summers. Yum

Blackberry Jam farmer delivered berries!

Blackberry Jam using luscious juicy blackberries hand-picked by farmer Pio Angelini make the best possible blackberry jam. And picked and delivered by Pio himself and cooked into jam that afternoon with just a little lemon juice and sugar. Love that about summer...

Jam class - learn how to make a great berry jam

I will be conducting a jam making class in Pennsylvania at Terrain at Styers - http://styers.shopterrain.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/calendar.month/month/8/year/2010
Maybe worth the trip to Pennsylvania - the class will be easy and delicious - and Terrain is a great store - an a new concept store for the home - an off-shoot of Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters. Beautiful stuff for the house and the garden and then there are the jams.

Blueberry Jam - pilgrimage to the source

Every year I visit my friend Nancy Harmon Jenkins in Maine to make, celebrate and wallow (figuratively mostly) in the annual arrival of the tiny Maine blueberries. This morning is one of those warm sparkly Maine mornings and the abundance of the little blueberries is apparent - now in a bowl at Nancy's table - later in Bonnie's Blueberry Jam and Bonnie's Black & Blue.

Here is the simple Blueberry jam recipe:

6 Lbs blueberries
3 lbs (or less to taste)sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

Put all the ingredients in a pot - one with low side is best so the cooking steam evaporates- and cook until the mixture foams, subsides and then thickens slightly. Test the gelling point of the mixture in one of two ways: drop some from a spoon and two thick drops should form rather than run off the spoon in a stream or drop some on a chilled plate, wait a minute, then push it to see if it wrinkles.

Yum!

Sour Cherry preserves for Bonnie's Jams- finally!

Some years it seems as if summer will never arrive. And I only know the seasons by the fruits for jam and if sour cherries are in the market, I know the summer is launched! But pain often accompanies pleasure and cherries, like life, come with pits. I may be too philosophical here but try facing a large batch of cherries with pits. A task that looms gloomy, messy and large. The preserves have an alchemy about them - the cherries are light red not the deep red of the usual supermarket variety. After the pitting and the first stages of cooking the batch is deep red, inte- nse, slightly sweet but also a little bitter. Worth the work and the wait. Like life most of the time.

Seduced by figs

I spotted the first June figs at Russo's and they were almost good enough for my fig conserve so checking back ASAP. I was in the midst of a pepper jelly frenzy - of course everyone must know what that is like. I cut up tons of dark red shiny peppers and mix them up with tiny yellow habaneros and do some other stuff I can't share and out comes the shiny gorgeous reddish orange jelly. I love it with cheddar on a sandwich and grilled tiny lamp chops.
On other non-jam fronts has anyone tried Lark's chocolate cookies? I think they are called cha chas or something - the cookies are a seductive deep dark chocolate with a shot of chili that creates the most amazing mouthful of zing - kinda like my Red Pepper Jelly which is why they came to mind. Find them! Buy them!! and you might also get the Red pepper jelly while you are at it.

Pearberry or Pear Berry fall thoughts

I am ruminating on a new jam - thinking fall - cool days, gold leaves - hard to go there but thinking flavors. On Crete Nancy Jenkins and I talked about using pears, cranberries, late plums and early oranges. The current thinking is about pears & cranberries. The questions is the name: Pear Berry? Pearberry? Pearnberry? Thoughts?

Jam wanted!

I love when someone I don't know emails requesting a jam flavor - so now I have to make more Plum Valencia jam for this person. I am thinking of changing the name to Harvest Plum but unsure - I must do a survey but who to ask....I love this time of year when all the new fruits start creeping into the markets. And I love the magic of turning them into a neat beautiful jar of jam - I think of this process as a kind of alchemy - I think life can be managed this way or maybe an illusion? Make everything look good and it feels good? How shallow, trivial and true at the same time. Still thinking of Crete. I was reminded of Milea the tiny mountain village on Crete - fragrant, simple and beautiful. I could make great jam there....

Bonnie's Jams

Love making the first skinny rhubarb into jam with some big fat California strawberries. Whatever else could make me happy - ok getting 40 cases of Pepper Jelly made and out the door headed to lots of stores.
Still thinking of Crete - wish I could do something with the fantastic olive oil I brought back - so I am bringing back a cute student who is coming to work on an economics project - the olive oil tie-in? His family owns Biolea - an extraordinary organic olive oil mill in the the hills of Crete. I am not really bringing him back but he is traveling here and happily I found him a place to stay.

Following a Food Writer on Crete

While my main agenda is finding some new takes on jam I am following my food writer friend around to eat great food . The first problem is the amount of food offered in the presence of such a person. For instance, yesterday we were treated to 12 dishes - we staggered away. The second is this happens every day! All this on an island that still appears to be driven by their past entangeled with gods! Zeus, for instance, was born in a cave here - and because his father had eaten his previous offspring because some other god had threatened that a son would surpass him in every way possible. But back to jam. Tomorrow

"Welcome to Crete" Dinner

I discovered last night the error of following the travel trails of a food writer - the food! Last night's welcome to Crete dinner lavished upon us will definitely expand me to dangerous levels - hoping the raki that I drank first, the local white that came next, the red after than and the ouzo after that disolved the incredible food. Oh but the flavors! the Greek salad that in Greece has not lettuce just the best richest tomatoes, crispy chunky cucumbers tiny anchovies, creamy feta and hard little rusks (barley croutons)with just the best drops of olive oil but followed by roasted fish, tiny racks of lamb after that. The rest is a blur. Following Nancy today - but first breakfast.

I am learning Greek!

I am on the isalnd of Crete - day one. Kalymera means good morning so I am pretty sure I will get this language! The alphabet may take a few extra days.

I am on a search for all things edible with the formidable food writer Nancy Harmon Jenkins - I am sleuthing - shadowing her -looking for Greek jams to add to my repertoire for Bonnie's Jams. Maybe just lying in the sun will inspire. Will try that now.