Picking wild blackberries is something I truly miss about living in the Pacific Northwest. Blackberry bushes hang heavy with ripe fruit in late August and early September all over the state of Washington. After I finished my year of traveling and before I left for California, I spent an August and a September living in rural Pierce county (which is even more rife with blackberry bushes than the average Washington county) and I took every opportunity possible to go outside and pick them. Blackberry cobbler, blackberry jam, blackberry puree, blackberry pancakes — if I could add blackberries, you name it, I made it.

My most frequent foraging ground was (conveniently) my dad’s backyard. Blackberry bushes wildly spill over his back fence, offering gallons of berries for the picking. And when I’d picked every ripe berry offered there I only had to travel a few hundred feet down the road to another fruitful thicket. Ah, Edgewood.

Anyhow, a couple of weeks ago I went up to Washington for a visit with my family (and the IFBC). I arrived early in the afternoon on a Saturday, and Dad and I spent most of the afternoon sitting on his deck sipping local micro brew and catching up with each others’ lives. From the deck you can spy the myriad blackberry bushes that spill over the fence that marks his property boundary. Perhaps having these heavy, ripe, prickly blackberry bushes in my visual periphery all afternoon reminded me of simpler times past (before I went to grad school and started my ‘adult life’), and inspired me to make jam. I mean, what else does one do on vacation than make jam?

Making jam is a labor of love. No bones about it. For most people, there’s absolutely no way that making your own jam is more cost-effective or time-efficient than buying even the fanciest jam available at Whole Foods or the like. It usually costs more to make your own, and certainly takes more time, but still, there is something just lovely about the exercise. It’s a quiet, thoughtful activity, good for the soul I’d say. And I swear it tastes better! :)

Anyhow, next time you find yourself with access to wild blackberries, consider taking a few hours out of your life to make this delicious and simple blackberry jam. Your quiet side will thank you for taking the time.

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Wild Blackberry Jam
from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures
Makes 6 – 7 half pints

1 kg wild blackberries (2.2 lbs), picked over and well rinsed
800 g sugar
juice of 1 medium lemon
1/2 t vanilla extract (optional)

Combine berries, sugar, and lemon juice in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, pour mixture into a ceramic or glass bowl, cover with parchment, refrigerate and let stand overnight.

The next day, pour the berry mixture into a preserving pan. Add vanilla if using. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes until the jam is set (I use the wrinkle test*). Pour into sterilized jars** and seal***.

Let the jam cool. It is ready to use immediately. Enjoy!

* The Wrinkle Test = put a small plate in the freezer to chill for at least 10 minutes. When you think the jam is done, pour about 1/2 t. of the jam onto the chilled plate, then replace in the freezer for 90 seconds. Remove the plate and push the jam with your finger; if it wrinkles, the jam is done; if the jam doesn’t wrinkle (imagine pushing your finger through honey), continue cooking the jam and re-test in 4-5 minutes.

**The easiest way to sterilize jars is to place them (without rings or lids) into a 250 degree oven for 10 minutes. Sterilize rings and lids by boiling for 5 minutes. Leave rings and lids in hot water until ready to use.

*** To properly seal canned jam, boil jars in a large pot of water for 7-10 minutes. The water should cover the jars by at least 2 inches.

Blackberries hanging over dad's fence

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond

- Plum and Cardamom Preserves

- Blood Orange Marmalade with a Hint of Rosemary

These preserves are the result of a co-worker’s citrus bounty from his backyard tree.  He brought in a bag of delicious, juicy oranges a few days ago, and I was the happy recipient of what was left at the end of the day, under the condition ‘bring me a jar of whatever you make‘.  Sounds fair to me.

I have been enjoying these preserves on toast, mixed into plain yogurt, and on top of creamy vanilla ice cream.  I imagine the preserves would also be delicious mixed into homemade buttermilk cheese (minus the thyme and lemon), heated and drizzled over pork, or as a glaze to cooked chicken thighs.  With it’s subtle mix of sweet and savory flavors, the possibilities are numerous…

And just a quick note about preserve making and canning: while it is entirely possible to make pickles and preserves without specialized equipment (jar lifter, lid lifter, canning funnel, etc), these tools are really useful and make the process much simpler.  And they’re cheap!  I think you can get a jar lifter + magnetic lid lifter + canning funnel for about $12 total.  It’s absolutely worth it.  I don’t have a special water bath canner, but instead use my 12 qt. stock pot, which works like a charm.

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Five Spice Orange Preserves
Adapted from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures
makes about six 1/2 pints

2 1/2 lbs Granny Smith Apples
4 2/3 c. sugar, plus 1 c.
About 3 lbs oranges, or 2 c. 1 oz juice and pulp
3 c. 2 oz water, plus 7 oz
2 attractive medium sized oranges
Juice of 1 small lemon
3/4 t. Chinese five-spice powder (a mixtures of cloves, cinnamon, anise, ginger, star anise, and ginger)
2 or 3 three inch pieces of cinnamon stick (optional)

Special Equipment:
6 half pint canning jars with two piece lids.

Rinse the apples in cold water.  Remove the stems and cut them in quarters without  peeling.  Put them in a preserving pan and cover with about 3 1/2 c. water.  Bring to a boil and let the mixture simmer for 30 minutes on low heat.

Collect the juice of the apples by pouring the apple mixture into a fine sieve, pressing lightly on the fruit to extract the juices.  Filter a second time through a clean handkerchief or cheesecloth that has been previously wet and wrung out.  Refrigerate the juice overnight.

The next day, measure 2 c. 1 oz of the juice, leaving in the bowl any sediment that formed during the night.

Sterilize the jars and lids by 1) boiling the lids and rings in a medium saucepan for about 5 minutes; leave the lids in the water until ready to use, and 2) place the empty jars on a baking sheet and place in a 225 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave jars in the oven until ready to use.

Squeeze the 3 lbs of oranges.  Measure 2 c. 1 oz juice and put the seeds into a cheesecloth bag.

Wash and brush the 2 oranges under cold water and cut them into very thin round (1/8 – 1/16 inch or so).  In a preserving pan, poach them with 1 c. sugar and 7 oz water.  Cook at a boil until the slices are translucent, about 15-20 minutes  Add the apple juice, orange juice, lemon juice, five spice powder, cinnamon sticks, 4 2/3 c. sugar, and the seeds in the cheesecloth bag.  Bring to a boil, stirring gently.  Skim.  Continue cooking on high heat for about 10 -15 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove the cheesecloth bag of seeds.  Check the set*.  Put the jam into jars, close with two piece lids (lid + ring), and process in a boiling water bath for about 8 minutes.  Allow to cool, and enjoy!

*To check the set, I typically place a small plate in the freezer when I start boiling the preserves.  When the preserves are nearly set, I do the ‘wrinkle test’.  Spoon about 1/2 t. of the preserves onto the cold plate, place in the freezer for about 2-3 minutes, remove, then press the preserves with your finger.  If it wrinkles, it is ready; if it looks more like honey, keep cooking it.  For a more exact approach, use a candy thermometer — the preserves should be set around 220 degrees F.

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Orange, Pomelo, Lemon and Ginger Preserves

- Blood Orange Marmalade with a Hint of Rosemary

- Plum and Cardamom Preserves

Yesterday I inaugurated my new canning equipment — a huge 12 quart stockpot, a canning funnel, a magnetic lid lifter, and a bright red rubber coated jar lifter.  Joy!  Granted, I actually received most of this for Christmas last year, but since I didn’t envision myself doing much canning in Germany, I packed everything away in storage and forgot about it for a year.

But, now I am back in San Francisco and getting settled into ‘life as normal’, whatever that means.  One of the things that signifies ‘life as normal’ is being settled enough that I feel like embarking on culinary adventures.  Homemade tofu, jelly, pickles, sauerkraut, tempeh, and sausage are the sorts of things I am talking about here — things you can easily buy at the grocery store, but sometimes are just fun to make from scratch because 1) seeing the process is interesting, and 2) the results are often more unique and flavorful than their store bought counterparts.  When things are up in the air or unsettled, the farthest thing from my mind is making something like tofu from scratch, but I can tell when I have finally settled in somewhere because I typically develop the urge to make sausage, pickle something, or cook up some marmalade.

Such is the case now… finally!  sigh of relief that our move is over…

This recipe is adapted from Christine Ferber’s beautiful and imaginative book, Mes Confitures.  Divided by season, this volume focused entirely on unusual preserves and jellies is the jam maker’s dream.  There are SO many things I want to try out of here.  Judging from the fantastic results of my first foray into her book, I expect great things from her other recipes.  A few of the standouts that I plan to make are: Pineapple with Vanilla and Rosemary, Banana with Bittersweet Chocolate, Clementine with Lemon and Cinnamon, Kumquat with Apple and Grapefruit, and Praline Milk Jam to name a very few (and these are just from the ‘Winter’ section!).

This both is and is not a great book for beginners — to me it feels a little like reading through a grandmother’s notes — scant detail, few instructions regarding proper sterilization methods, no tips on how to tell when the jam is set, etc.– but on the other hand it has so many wonderful and imaginative recipes that are sure to inspire the beginning preserver.  Also, there is no packaged pectin to be found in any of her recipes!  For low pectin fruits, Ms. Ferber calls for the addition of green apples or pectin-rich homemade Green Apple Jelly.  I really like this aspect of the book, as I have always felt a little put off by those strange little packages of powdered pectin one buys at the grocery store.  Call me crazy and old-fashioned, but they just don’t feel natural to me.  Her approach is truly ‘from scratch’, and instead of being daunting, I think it actually demystifies the whole process of making preserves (i.e. no magic powders…)

Anyhow, these preserves of orange, pomelo, lemon, and ginger are a wonderful mixture of sweet, bitter, sour, and spicy.  So far my favorite thing to do with it is stir it into plain yogurt.  It’s also tasty on toast or stirred into oatmeal.  Ms. Ferber recommends mixing these preserves into fromage blanc, which I am sure would be delicious as well.  As with so many things, the final result depends heavily on the quality of the ingredients you use.  Citrus is in prime season right now, so try to buy the ingredients at your local farmer’s market.  You will get fruit that is flavorful, perfectly ripe, and truly in season.

Do you make preserves? do you have any favorite recipes?  I’d love to hear them.

Essential ingredients: citrus and sugar

Bring mixture to a boil, then refrigerate several hours

Notice the foamy bubbles — these preserves are not set  yet

See how the bubbles have changed? They are less foamy now.  These preserves are nearly set (set point is ~220 degrees F)

Orange, Pomelo, Lemon and Ginger Preserves
Adapted from Christine Ferber’s Mes Confitures
makes a scant 6 cups

1 3/4 lb oranges (800 g), or 1 lb 2 oz (500g) net (cara-cara oranges are delicious here)
2 lb pomelos, or 1 lb 2 oz (500g) net (or substitute grapefruits to follow Ms. Ferber’s original recipe)
2 lemons
3 3/4 c. (800 g) sugar
11 oz (300g) candied ginger, finely chopped

Peel the oranges and pomelo, removing all the white with the rind.  Slice the fruit into rounds a little less than 1/2 inch thick.  Remove the seeds and cut the slices into quarters.  Rinse and brush the lemons under cold water and cut them in very thin slices, removing the seeds as you go.  In a preserving pan (5 qt is a good size), combine the citrus fruits, sugar, and ginger.  Bring to a simmer, then turn the preparation into a bowl.  Cover with a round of parchment paper and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

Pour the mixture into a preserving pan and bring to a boil, stirring gently.  Skim and continue cooking on high heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring continuously.  Check the set.  Put the jam into jars immediately and seal.

This post is part of Food Renegade‘s Fight Back Fridays!

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Three Infused Vodkas: Persimmon, Lemon, and Pear/Ginger

- Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond

- Lacinto Kale with Lemon and Candied Ginger

Perhaps you would have chuckled if you saw me leaping into the air, grabbing at bunches of elderberries that grow alongside Moody Road yesterday morning… without a ladder, one must leap!  That’s right — it’s the time of year when elderberries are ripe, and just waiting for wild food enthusiasts to come harvest them.

I’ve been interested in wild foods for a while now (nettles, lamb’s quarter (aka pigweed), dandelion), but usually, I procure these things at the farmer’s market.  This was one of my first foraging experiences — and it was fruitful!

My elderberry haul

A couple weeks ago I picked up ‘Stalking the Wild Asparagus’ (circa 1962) by Euell Gibbons.  This is a fantastic and fun-to-read book with lots of information about wild foods that reads like a personal narrative.  After reading the chapter ‘A Salute to the Elderberry (with a nod to Sumac)’, I figured out that I have a (small) elderberry tree growing outside my front door!  Who knew!?!  It’s funny how things happen right under our noses and we don’t realize it!  Once I figured this out, I started seeing elderberry trees everywhere!  Really, I’ve seen no less than 40 trees while meandering around my neighborhood.

Elderberry tree with ripe fruit

So, yesterday morning I went foraging.  In an hour or so of berry picking, I came away with about 16 cups (4 qts) of elderberries!  Elderberries are tiny, about a half inch in diameter, and require a fair bit of work (de-stemming and rinsing) before they’re ready to use.  The leaves and green stems MUST be removed before using the berries, as I hear there are trace amounts of poisonous substances present (namely cyanide, though I’m no botanist).  The berries are completely edible and safe.

De-Stemming Elderberries

Rinsing Elderberries; skim off anything that floats to the top (dried flower petals, old berries, etc.)

I wouldn’t recommend using the berries raw, as they have a bit of a musty taste;  however, when cooked or dried, any disagreeable taste disappears.  With 16 cups of elderberries, I had quite a bit to work with — I made elderberry jam (recipe above), dried elderberries (to be made into chutney), and elderberry juice (for… cocktails?  and perhaps another jelly recipe — this time with using crabapples for the pectin).

And I must say, the preserves turned out great!  This is a fairly ‘loose’ jam, and is not overly sweet (a problem with many preserves).  The hint of almond adds a wonderful complexity to the jam.  And oddly, for all the preserves I’ve made, this was my first time using purchased pectin.  Previously, I had shied away from commercial pectins for fear of strange additives and chemicals, but I found this at my local natural food store, and thought I’d give it a try.  Pomona’s Pectin is a citrus based pectin, and does NOT require large amounts of sugar to jell properly (not the case with regular pectins like Sure-Jell, etc.).  If you notice, this preserve has only about 25% the typical amount of sweetener in jams — usually it’s 1:1 fruit to sugar.  Having had success with this low-sugar preserve, I envision many possibilities for preserves using low-pectin fruits (cherries, kiwi, peppers, tomatoes, etc.).  I’ve also considered making my own pectin from slightly under-ripe crabapples, but this is a large endeavor  on its own…

Well, foraging is an adventure in itself, and culinary delights often follow!  I encourage you to get outdoors, find some edible wild foods, and try something new!  You certainly won’t regret it!  And a tip if you’re anywhere near Los Altos Hills, CA — there are a plethora of elderberry trees on Moody road near Foothill college and Hidden Villa Farm; Page Mill Road also has 20+ trees.

And for the next foraging adventure — prickly pear!

Wild Elderberry Preserves with Honey and Almond
using Pomona’s Pectin (citrus-based)
makes ~ 4 1/2 – 5 cups

4 c. mashed elderberries (from about 4 1/2 c. berries)
1/4 c. lemon juice
2 t. calcium water (from Pomona’s Pectin package)
1 c. honey at room temperature
2 t. Pomona’s powdered pectin
1 t. pure almond extract

Sterilize 5 cups worth of canning jars and their corresponding lids and rings according to your favorite method.  (I heat the jars in a 250 degree oven for 15 minutes (or longer), and boil the lids and rings for 5 minutes;  leave rings/lids in water until ready to use; leave jars in oven until ready to use)

In a heavy bottomed sauce pan, combine elderberries, lemon juice, and calcium water.  In another bowl, combine honey and pectin powder and mix well.  Bring fruit mixture to a boil, then add honey mixture.  Stir vigorously for 2-3 minutes, return mixture to a boil, then remove from heat.  Add almond extract and mix well.  (Note:  with no-pectin preserves, I would do a ‘jell test’ at this point — with Pomona’s pectin, the preserves jell as they cool, and a jell test at this stage won’t tell you anything)

Ladle preserves into jars, filling within 1/4 inch of the top, wipe rims clean, and close with lid and ring.  Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes (add 1 minute for every 1000′ feet above sea level).  Preserves will set as they cool (allow at least 5-6 hours).  Stored in a cool, dark place, preserves will last for many months.

Cleaned, ready-to-use elderberries

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Plum and Cardamom Preserves

- Honey Roasted Rutabaga

- Blood Orange Marmalade with a Hint of Rosemary

Plum and Cardamom Preserves

7 1/2 c. pitted, chopped plums (about 3-3.5 lbs)
6 c. sugar
1.5 c. water
1 t. + 1 t. ground cardamom

Makes ~3.5 pints

Sterilize 4 pint jars, lids, and rings according to your favorite method. (I heat the jars in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, and boil the lids and rings for 10 minutes in a saucepan)

Combine plums, sugar, water, and 1t. cardamom in a large, heavy pan or kettle. Bring to a rapid boil and skim off foam. Boil for ~20-25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning. After 25 minutes, check that the mixture is ready using one of the following methods. If not, boil until done, checking every 3-4 minutes.

You can check that the preserves are done in one of two ways:
1) using a candy thermometer, monitor the temperature of the mixture. Once it reaches 220 degrees, remove pot from the heat
2) the ‘wrinkle test’: while mixture is cooking, place a small plate in the freezer. Spoon a small amount of the mixture on the plate and refrigerate for 2 minutes. Push the mixture with your finger — if it wrinkles, then it’s ready; if it stays smooth and acts more like honey, continue to boil.

Once the mixture is ready, stir in remaining 1 t. cardamom, then ladle hot mixture into sterilized pint jars. Wipe rims with a wet paper towel, then place lids on jars and secure by screwing on rims finger-tight. Flip hot jar upside-down onto a clean kitchen towel and allow to cool. If any of the jars do not seal, process in a hot-water canning bath for 10 minutes, or place in the refrigerator and use within 1 month.

Enjoy!

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This preserve came about thanks to one of my co-workers with a prolific plum tree in his backyard. He brought me about 4 lbs of delicious, ripe, and juicy black plums, which begged to be made into some sort of preserve or pickle… Thanks Scott! After perusing my many cookbooks, preserving guides, and pickling books, I decided to go with a spiced twist on one of the simplest recipes I came across.

The spice twist I added was cardamom. Cardamom is one of my favorite spices, and I happened to have a few teaspoons kicking around my spice cabinet from the last Daring Baker’s Challenge. Cardamom, though it is strong and pronounced, goes wonderfully with many things — blended into yogurt and water for a yogurt drink, with cranberries for cranberry sauce, with Indian curries, and of course, with fresh stone fruit — delicious!

Usually when making no-pectin preserves, you want to use a mixture of under-ripe and ripe fruit, as under-ripe fruit has a higher pectin content. Since I was using 90% ripe fruit here, I had to boil the mixture a bit longer to get it to the right consistency; in this way, preserve making is a bit of an art — since each piece of fruit is different — different ripeness, different peel-to-flesh ratio, different seed size, etc — there are no hard and fast rules for preserve making; you just sort of boil, test, boil, test until it’s ready… after one or two attempts, you’ll most certainly get the hang of it.

Some other interesting preserved plum recipes I came across were pickled plums in red wine (from Linda Zeidrich’s The Joy Of Pickling), plums in rum, and plum butter. Perhaps if I come into some more plums I’ll give these a try (especially the plums in rum — I’m a sucker for rhyming recipes!)

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Blood Orange Marmalade with a Hint of Rosemary

Pickles, pickles, pickles of every kind… that’s how the last few months have been going — pickled kohlrabi, pickled lemons, pickled cabbage, pickled onions, and now pickled eggs! Pickled peppers, pickled cucumber, and pickled okra are yet to come, and you can expect recipes for these once summer is in full swing.

Pickled eggs in particular hold a special place in my heart. One of my old hang-outs in Cambridge/Boston was a lounge called The B-Side; whereas most bars serve some array of nuts, chips, and pretzels as bar snacks, The B-Side served — you guessed it — pickled eggs. I have very fond memories of sitting with my good friend Jordan, talking music, sipping cocktails, and eating pickled eggs…

When I started perusing Linda Zeidrich’s, The Joy of Pickling (one of my favorite cookbooks), I was immediately attracted to the recipes for pickled eggs. I knew it would be one of the first things that I tried. Whereas The B-Side served classic pickled eggs, I decided to take a little more adventurous route and make these Indian-style hot and spicy pickled eggs. These pickles are relatively quick too — they’re ready in a week rather than a month or even… a thousand years.

Anyhow, the pickles turned out great — a little spicy, vinegary, a bit salty — and with a wonderful texture! Some ideas to serve these are:

- plain, as an appetizer with cocktails
- sliced into rounds, served on crackers/toasts
- crumbled over rice with cilantro or parsley
- crumbled and mixed with cottage cheese as a dip

Do you pickle? If so, do you have it posted on your blog? Leave a comment with a link, and I’ll collect everything I receive for a future post in the next few weeks and post a digest — I’m so curious as to what everyone else is doing!
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Hot and Spicy Pickled Eggs
Adapted from The Joy of Pickling

4 hard cooked eggs, peeled (pour boiling water over raw eggs and allow to sit, covered, for 14 minutes, then peel)
2/3 T. pickling salt (any non-iodized salt will do, i.e. sea salt)
2 fresh green chile peppers (serrano, jalepeno)
1/2 c. cider vinegar
3 T. water
1 t. minced fresh ginger
1 t. black mustard seeds
1 t. crushed black pepper
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped

Special Equipment: 1 pint jar with lid

With a fork, pierce each egg through the white to the yolk about 6 times. Put the eggs into a 1 pint jar. In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the remaining ingredients. Bring them to a boil, reduce heat, and cover. Simmer 15 minutes.

Let the liquid cool a bit, then pour over the eggs. Cap the jar, and refrigerate for at least 1 week to allow the eggs to absorb the flavor. Refrigerated, the eggs will keep for several weeks.

Still Hungry?  Try one of these:

- Quick Citrus Pickled Red Onions

- Quick Purple Kohlrabi Pickles

- Spicy Slivered Green Beans with Lime and Cilantro