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| Last year's photo of 3 Jamsters by Judith W. |
Rainy Day, as most of you know, has a large Family of Choice (FOC). This FOC includes Brothers of Choice (BOC), Sisters of Choice (SOC), and various Nieces, Nephews and Children of Choice (NOC). There will be a test, at some time in the future, so be sure to remember all those acronyms! (For those of you who have forgotten the difference between an acronym and an abbreviation – you can pronounce an acronym as a word – SOC, laser, etc. – and you cannot pronounce an abbreviation – MRM, TTFN, etc. There, you learned something almost useful this day. Wasn't that fun? And there will be a pop quiz on the difference betwixt acronyms and abbreviations, too!)
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| Freezer at beginning |
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, er, kitchen.... Lee and Nancy, two of Rainy Day's SOCs came to visit her last Thursday night. They had a short visit, a short glass of red, and got everything unpacked from the car, and went to bed for a short night's sleep. On Friday morning, they were in the kitchen heating the bath water for the jars, cooking the ginger for the final time (Rainy Day always gets the ginger ready to go because it takes four separate cookings over as many days). Canton Ginger is the 'official start' of the Jam Session. They then spend the next three days in the kitchen, with now and then breaks for eats (when they have time and remember) and sleep (when they can no longer function safely.)
This year, they spent about 17 hours in the kitchen on Friday, slightly less on Saturday, and somewhat more on Sunday. They used 40 different recipes and put up 415 jars of jam. One jar broke in the bath, which was a minor set back (and a pain in the sit-down-upon!) as they had to empty the pot, refill it, and bring it back to boiling. In the five years Rainy Day has been doing this, it's the first time a jar has broken. Nancy, the Kitchen Boss, has been canning since she was knee high to a grasshopper, and says it was her first, too.
Actually, the breakage was a good thing. 414 can be divided equally by 3, so there was no fighting <snicker, snort> over the odd jar.
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| Island full of jars and ready for jamming (note coffee) |
They made a lot of chutneys, one recipe of yellow squash relish that is a lot like some of the zucchini relishes they've had, only prettier. They figured out how to process the Damson Plums left from last year and made gobs of Damson Jams – 4 different kinds! They made their world famous Plum Ketchup, Asian Pear Marmalade, Cherry jams, and I don't remember what all. And four recipes of Caramelized Onion Jam. See way down below for a complete list, and where to find the recipes.
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| Kitchen table holding stuff |
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| Fresh fruit and jars, more jars |
They found a recipe online, at the Tigress in a Jam blog site that looked really, really yummy. Peaches and Lemon Basil; forever more to be known as 'Raccoon Delight.' Alas, the refrigerators were full, and it had to set overnight to macerate in a cool place, so it was covered and left in the garage. Uh, NOT! Seems the combination of the cat's food that had been temporarily relocated to the garage for the duration, and the smell of the fresh fruit was just too much temptation for the local raccoons. So, you'll have to wait until next year for a report on that jam. (The cat food is kept in a tall plastic container with drawers. Those pesky varmints had not only turned the little 3-drawer gizmo upside down, they had shoved it across the garage, and were trying to get it out the cat door. Raccoons are pretty smart, and spatially oriented when it comes to what they can and cannot fit their fat little bodies through and into, but when it comes to plastic stuff, uh, not so much.
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| Do you see why it didn't all get to the jam pot? |
The surprising thing, to the 3 Jamsters, is that the freezer was full when they started, and it's still full now! Of course, they did have three cases of fresh fruit to stop and prep – peaches and plums, and, oh, yum, was that ever nice! And tasty. (Need Rainy Day explain that there were several slices of each that did not make the entire transition from sink to cooking pot? ;-) The nice thing is, they now have fruit prepped and ready for next year, the not quite so nice thing is, the empty and turned off freezer is where Rainy Day stores her jam!
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| 414 jars of Yummmm! |
Now Rainy Day is trying to catch up on her sleep, and to continue to do her part in this annual gig, she is also taking extra naps for her two SOCs who had to return to the Big City and their respective jobs! This being retired is a tough job, but Rainy Day is up to it! Or, is that 'down' to it?
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| Freezer at end of Jam Session |
And, just in case you want to see exactly what we did...and perhaps try some of the jams...
Recipe | How much sugar? | Source |
Canton ginger | Conventional | Rombauer’s Joy of Cooking |
Caramelized Onion Jam | Conventional | |
Damson Plum Jam | Conventional | |
Damson Plum-Orange Jam | Conventional | see: Damson Plum Jam |
Ginger Cardamom Peach Jam/Butter | Conventional | Tart and Sweet, p. 95 |
Gingered Damson Plum Jam | Conventional | see: Damson Plum Jam |
Gingered Pear Marmalade | Conventional | The Home Canning and Preserving Book, p. 164 |
Jalapeno Jelly | Conventional | |
Jalapeno-Habanero Jelly | Conventional | |
Mango Chutney (w/ almonds) | Conventional | The Home Canning and Preserving Book, p. __ |
Mango-Apple Indian Chutney (no nuts) | Conventional | Putting Food By, p. 316 |
Peach Chutney (no nuts) | Conventional | The Home Canning and Preserving Book, p. __ |
Peach with Brown Sugar and Rum Jam | Conventional | Fancy Pantry, p. 121 |
Peach with Cardamom Chutney (w/ almonds) | Conventional | Art of Preserving, p. 54 |
Plum and Raisin Chutney | Conventional | Art of Preserving, p. 57 |
Plum Ketchup | Conventional | |
Plum Ketchup “concentrate” | Conventional | |
Raspberry-Rose Jam | Conventional | |
Red Bell Pepper Jelly | Conventional | Art of Preserving, p. __ |
Spiced Damson Plum Jam | Conventional | see: Damson Plum Jam |
Yellow Summer Squash Relish | Conventional | Lenora's Cousin |
Blackberry-Strawberry-Peach Jam | Low-sugar | |
Blueberry Marmalade | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Blueberry-Rhubarb Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Cherry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Cherry Marmalade | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Cherry-Blackberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Cherry-Raspberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Gingered Cherry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Peach Marmalade | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Peach-Blueberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Peach-Blueberry-Raspberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Peach-Raspberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Raspberry-Blueberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Raspberry-Orange Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Raspberry-Rose Jam (low-sugar version) | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Strawberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Strawberry-Raspberry Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam | Low-sugar | Pomona |
So, have we inspired you to go forth and jam? Are you hoping one of us will invite you over for toast and jam? Doncha wish you were on our Winter Gift List? What do you think about our weekend's work?
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