Thursday, November 8, 2012

Preparing for the Holidays

There is nothing more messy in the world than making jam. Oh does it splatter. My husband complained that night of the floor being sticky. I even had to bring out the big pot for this recipe from the Food in Jars blog. I usually make small batches of jam in my 3 quart pot. But there was no way that a recipe that calls for 12 cups of fruit was going to fit into that pot. For those in the world that use a reasonable measuring system, 12 cups equals 3 quarts.

My husband was suggesting that I make gift baskets for the neighbors again this year. I might. But if I did, I'd need some jam. Now I should have made enough strawberry jam for this as that would be the prefect gift as it would have been from my garden. I do have apple trees and cranberries in the garden, but the apples have not yet produced anything and the cranberries really are struggling without a bog and with a very dry summer. I'm thinking they need a bog if I want them to produce even if they were sold as bogless cranberries.

I did do some preserving of things actually from the garden. I froze some rhubarb. It too is for the holidays. I'm going to bring a strawberry rhubarb crisp to Thanksgiving this year. This year I've preserved rhubarb two ways, by canning and by freezing. I'm going to see if there is any difference in their taste in the final product. Freezing is much easier, but it also takes up precious freezer space.

8 comments:

  1. We do the gift basket thing for the Holidays. It is so much fun and folks look forward to getting our home made gifts every year.

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  2. I don't know what if anything I will give to others besides my immediate family. They don't really appreciate my homemade goods :( I am fairly ready for the holidays though. I have home canned cranberry sauce, home canned apple pie filling, I'll have home canned pumpkin this weekend. Everything else can be made from scratch. I love cooking for the holidays!

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  3. I had trouble with my cranberries too. Also bogless. They had flowers and small berries developed about the size of a pencil lead and then dried up and never produced! Not one! So bummed! Tell me if you come up with something! Love the jars of jam! Beautiful!

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  4. That's a lot of jam. Used to make jam but family downsized and since I do not have a sweet tooth have not made any for a long while. Should make some for gifts, great idea.

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  5. That is a lovely lot of jam, - although goodness knows what a quart is, sounds quite a unreasonable to me, ha, ha, ha. I actually bought a jar of jam today for the first time in about 3 years - the kids get through it at a phenomenal rate. I reckon I need a 12 cup recipe too.

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  6. For a minute there, I thought that rhubarb was ribbon candy.

    If cranberries don't grow for you, try lingonberries.

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  7. Jam making really does leave absolutely everything sticky - but oh does the house smell good while it is being made, and oh how good it tastes afterwards! Your jars are really beautiful and will be welcome additions to a gift basket.

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  8. Lots of jam, so pretty against the light.

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