Fruit Slinger

Did I promise myself I wouldn't make jam this week? That seems unwise. I should make fewer promises and more jam.

Monday I cranked out an easy one — green apple jelly, from the unripe apples I picked last week. Full of pectin, this was to be used as a thickener in the other recipes to follow. 

Today I made two sour cherry jams: Sour cherry with rose petals, and sour cherry with almonds. 

I don't know how I feel about rose petals as a food, but it was the sort of thing I couldn't not make.

Like black currant jam.

If you are lucky enough to find some wild black currants, wash them well and pick off the stems. Chop them, then put them through a coarse sieve, or puree them briefly in a food processor. Measure, then add an equal amount of sugar. Bring quickly to a boil and cook gently for 20 minutes, stirring. Pour into hot, sterilized jars and seal.

- The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

I walked up to another stand at Green City Market and picked up some black currants.

"Hey, you want to do a deal on these black currants?" I was hoping for a professional courtesy rate although — I'll be honest — part of me was also hoping that he would tell me no and I could do something else with my afternoon. Something other than making black currant jam.

Maybe I shouldn't have taken the phone call in the first place. And when I say the phone call, I mean the phone call a day or so before in which my friend called to tell me that David had made black currant jam — and if we get into who David is, I'll never finish this sentence — and that it was "extraordinary."

"Extraordinary?"

"Extraordinary!"

I need another jam project like I need a hole in my head.

Also, do you know how hard it is for me to write about making jam now? "Now" meaning now that Jamlady might be looking over my shoulder — well, looking over Bev Alfeld's shoulder looking over my shoulder.

Before I bought the black currants, I tasted one.

They were . . . OK. Not as tart as I was expecting, with a more complex flavor than the red currant with which I was familiar, and a slightly medicinal quality to them. I wasn't bowled over.

I bought three pints. This, apparently, is what I do with fruit I'm not sure I like.

At home, I cracked open The Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

It didn't take too long to pick the stems out of the currants, although I did take the extra step of putting them through the food mill to remove the skins and some of the seeds.

Black currants are naturally high in pectin, a fact I discovered by looking around on the Internet while my black currant jam was on the stove turning into Flubber.

It tastes great, though.

Which reminds me: Black raspberry preserves with chocolate and fraises des bois are on the right path, but they need a little less chocolate next time.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, I'll be publicly thanking some people for contributing to my Kickstarter project, which helped fund the blog's hosting and purchase a new camera. Thirty people contributed. Can you believe that? I can't.

Contributions ranged from $2 to $150. I know about a half dozen of the contributors personally. Another half dozen or so I know from the Internet or the markets. The rest were strangers. I can't decide if I'm more grateful to the people who contributed without knowing me, or to the people who knew me and contributed anyway. So let's call it a tie.

Some contributors signed up to receive a jar of jam. One wanted a print of a photo from the blog. Two will be rewarded with tree-naming rights at the orchard. Some chose to receive nothing in return. A handful requested a shout-out on the web site.

It's that last group of contributors that I'll be singling out with a few plugs. But please know that all of you have my thanks.

I have a new camera.

How cool is that?

* * * 

Have you ever watched a Sky Full of Bacon video podcast? Michael Gebert does an incredible job with these things.

I'm going to suggest two in particular. The most recent one takes us to a fish distributor and explores seafood and sustainability. You can watch that one here. 

If you dig into the archives just a bit, there's also a fruit episode! You can watch Sky Full of Bacon covering Asian pear grower Oriana Kruszewski here.

And you should.

Thanks, Mike.