I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because I took this picture in the brightest of bright lights. In reality, the jam is dark and tastes like apricot caramel...really, not good. Good thing we will be able to try again next year!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Damn Jam
Sometimes things don't go as planned in the kitchen...like the time we made jam. Rod gave me the recipe over the phone, he is, after Grandma Mary of course, the jam-aficionado of the family. But even though we followed his "directions", sometimes things just don't work. Maybe it was the fact that we were trying to make jam in too tiny a pot on our tiny stove in our tiny New York apartment. Maybe it was the fact that our stove was either pumping at full blast or refusing to stay lit. Or maybe Collin Murray and I just suck at making jam.
I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because I took this picture in the brightest of bright lights. In reality, the jam is dark and tastes like apricot caramel...really, not good. Good thing we will be able to try again next year!
I know it doesn't look that bad but that's because I took this picture in the brightest of bright lights. In reality, the jam is dark and tastes like apricot caramel...really, not good. Good thing we will be able to try again next year!
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Well even though I have been reading the Blog Mistress's entries quite regularly, I had gotten out of the habit of commenting since we were away in August. So it has been a while since I have put in my 2 cents worth.
ReplyDeleteBut since I was made reference to in this blog I decided to comment. I think that I told you that using that recipe can be quite frustrating as I must admit that I have had similar results on more than one occasion. The recipe says that apricots tend to have a lot of pectin in them and that it is not necessary to add Certo when making the jam. They suggest boiling the fruit after it has set over night in the sugar and then when it has reached a certain point where the mixture just coats the back of a cold spoon, that it has reached the correct consistency. Not as easy as it sounds!
Just for the reader's information, when we brought back our usual stock of BC fruit (this year we mostly had apricots, free stone peaches and blueberries), I decided to try a different recipe that involved using a package of pectin when making my apricot jam. And I must admit that it is much easier and not as frustrating as what you have experienced. I think that it is always good to experience a certain amount of failure when trying something new so that you appreciate when things go correctly!
As for failures, I don't know if Collin Murray told you about the funny thing that happened at our place just before he was heading back to NYC. We hosted the kids for a huge pork rib dinner that you are aware of. What we didn't mention was that when I was looking for a jam or jelly to add onto the ribs as a glaze just before they were finished on the grill, I found a couple jars not labeled. So Collin was there when I opened it and it turned out to be some jelly (I think that it was either Nan-king cherry or Crabapple jelly) that I had overcooked. It was so thick that it would not come out of the jar unless you scraped hard at the surface. It sort of tasted like bad fruit leather! No wonder I didn't bother to put a label on it but I guess that I hated to admit failure and throw it out which is what happened that Sunday!