Canning Cookbook- Triple Cherry Jam

This is a post from City Girl Country Life, centering around canning and a sad loss at an Iowa aquaponics farm. The blog City Girl Country Life is heading into retirement so many of the recipes originally shared there will make an appearance here over the next several months. Since I have had my love of canning reignited this week, it seemed appropriate to bring back a canning recipe that's easy and delicious- great for beginners. This story was originally published in June, 2015.

************************************

The other night the Little Lake House, and a whole lot of others in Iowa, were rocked by storm after storm after storm. All day long, starting in the early morning, the rain and thunder and lightning just kept coming. Tornado sirens sounded in the nearby town of Dexter and like it always does, the satellite tv signal was knocked out by the storm. Even at nearly 3 a.m. the storm raged on. In the morning much of Iowa awoke to flooded roads, rivers bursting out of their banks, basements turned into indoor pools, and storm debris all over.

photo courtesy of Chris Winget

One casualty of the storm was a cherry tree at the aquaponics farm a few miles away. Checking my email this morning I was surprised to see Cherries!! in the subject line. I had no idea they even had fruit trees! The tree's misfortune was my good luck, because I scored a big bag of fresh sour cherries for a mere $3.00. While chatting with the farm owner, he hinted that this is the perfect amount of cherries for a pie. Good idea, although I already had plans for these guys.

It's getting to be canning season around here again. The pile of empty jars in the storage room is growing and the cupboards are starting to look a little bit like Old Mother Hubbard's cupboards. The tomatoes and tomato jam are long gone. So is the salsa, and many of the jams. A few odd pickles remain, a few pints of salsa verde, several jars of green beans, and a decent stash of apple butter. The cherry jam I made before has been gone for months and I've been waiting patiently for cherry season so I can replenish my stash. As you can imagine, I wasn't too heartbroken to hear about the rush sale on cherries at the farm (although losing the tree means there will be a lot fewer cherries next year) because I got a great head start on pitting cherries tonight. Those have been safely stashed in the fridge, and tomorrow I'll grab some sweet juicy Bing cherries, and my very favorite, Rainier cherries, to add to the pot. They will add a new dimension of cherry deliciousness to my jam and beautiful color too.

photo courtesy of Chris Winget

Triple Cherry Jam

2 cups chopped pitted sour cherries

1 cup pitted chopped Bing cherries

1 cup pitted chopped Rainier cherries

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 box powdered pectin

5 cups sugar

Pit and chop the cherries. I like to use a food processor to chop the cherries. Just add the pitted cherries to the workbowl and pulse several times to desired size. I like to keep some larger chunks of fruit in the jam so I only pulse two or three times. Measure 4 cups fruit. Place in large heavy stockpot with the lemon juice and pectin.

Sour cherries, pitted and ready to go.

Bing cherries and Rainier cherries

Measure the sugar and set aside.

Place the stockpot over medium high heat and bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Add the sugar all at once. Return to boil, stirring the entire time, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim foam.

Ladle the hot jam into prepared canning jars to 1/4 inch headspace. Fix lids and rings. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. Let jars cool undisturbed overnight before removing the rings and checking seals.

I had enough cherries to make a double batch BUT you should never double a batch of jam or jelly. You might end up with a jam that doesn't set properly. Make two batches instead. You don't even have to wash the stockpot between batches, just add the fruit and cook the next batch. Each batch makes about 8 8-oz jelly jars.

Next up on the agenda? Popping an English muffin in the toaster, slathering that bad boy with real butter and adding a nice big spoonful of this luscious cherry jam. It's also really good served with a creamy cheese as part of a cheese plate, spooned onto a slice of cheesecake or even as part of the PB&J.

NOTE: This recipe has not been tested by the NCHFP. If you are not comfortable canning untested recipes, please do not use this one. Having said that, cherry jam is a basic recipe and this one differs from tested recipes only in the fact that there is more than one type of cherry in the mixture. Acidity is not affected.

Eat The World- Classic French Clafouti

I feel like cooking. Something really good, something rich and hearty, something wonderful for a cold day. Something that braises all day and is filled with beautiful vegetables and red wine and mushrooms and rich beef. As long as I have the oven on all day, I might as well make dessert too, right? Of course!

A while back I was invited to attend a cooking class given by my friend Wini, the author of Chez Bonne Femme Cookbook and a well-known local food writer and reviewer. Sadly I was late for class (such is my luck- a day late and a dollar short) but I was just in time for dessert. Wini taught the group how to master the classic French dessert- clafouti. If you have never had a clafouti you are truly missing out. Wini made her clafouti that night with stone fruit, including big fat juicy cherries. I however, was totally in love with the creamy, eggy custard that surrounded the fruit. Eggy is the perfect way to describe the custard. It has more body than a baked custard and really, you can use any fruit you like. I have a freezer full of fruit, so I'm going to poke around in there and decide what my fruit will be.

When you think of the typical French home cook, you might think of a cook who is busy creating multi-course feasts with encroyable dishes from appetizers to cheese plates to fabulous pastry creations. Not so. The French home cook is much like the American home cook- they just want to get dinner on the table without a lot of fanfare. The French do enjoy their sweets however, but instead of spending hours fussing with pastry and creme Anglaise and meringues and pate choux, they are more likely to pop into a bakery or make a simple, delicious dessert like a clafouti. You will love this recipe. It's easy to make, no outrageous ingredients, and you can use whatever fruit you have on hand. Stone fruits, such as cherries or peaches are super delicious. Wini's recipe uses cherries, I used chunks of juicy peaches and blueberries.

Wini's Cherry Clafouti

• 12 ounces pitted fresh or frozen sweet cherries, thawed and drained well
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon kirsch (cherry brandy)
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter and sugar a 9 inch round nonmetal baking dish with 2 inch sides. I didn't have a round ceramic dish so I used an oval casserole- it works just as well.

Spread the fruit in the baking dish. In a bowl combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, kirsch and salt. Beat with electric mixer until combined. Add the flour, milk and cream until combined. Pour the batter over the fruit.

Bake until a thin knife inserted near the center of the clafouti comes out clean and the top is a deep golden brown, about 40 minutes. If the top browns too quickly, cover loosely with a sheet of foil. Cool slightly on wire rack. Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar.

A little bit of spiked whipped cream goes beautifully with this dessert but it's just as delicious without. Like Wini said at the class, leftovers are amazing for breakfast the next day. A nice cup of coffee or cappuccino alongside- perfect! Now you MUST own this cookbook. Wini has graciously given me permission to share a recipe or two, but you truly must own this book- the recipes are amazing and easy for us to make at home. Click HERE to get your copy!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 55: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Jelly Belly !!

Lots of jam is coming out of this kitchen right now, partly because I have too many bags of fruit in the freezer and also because I have alot of jelly jars for some reason.

Anyway, the other night I thought I'd so a little experimenting so I came up with Cherry Peach Jam and here is how the jam came to be:

I had cut up peaches and cherries in the freezer so I thawed 2 cups of each to make 4 cups of fruit. I placed the fruit in a saucepan and added about 1/4 cup of lemon juice and a box of powdered pectin, bringing it to a boil. Then I added 5 cups of sugar (winging it from instructions for Bing cherry jam and peach jam, trying to hit the right balance) and bringing back to boil, then boil hard for 1 minute. Ladle into hot jars, seal and BWB for 10 minutes. I thought I had some pics of the finished jars, but honestly, they look like every other jar of jam. I think I'm going to try this one more time with 75% peaches and 25% cherries and see if I can get that nice coral color.