CLBOM – Carol’s Little Bitter Orange Marmalade. 25 February, 19 July. The event described in A General Adventure – January 5 in Journal 2011 got in the way of making preserves at the beginning of the year, but i couldn’t refuse sweet Carol’s offer of a bag of her little bitter oranges. The glory of San Francisco’s climate is that it confuses Carol’s orange tree, so it bears fruit almost year round, as you can see from the dates of the two batches above.
KPJAL – Kiwi Pasilla Jalapeño Jam. 7 April, 18 April. This one went over well last year, and this year i managed to get the chile level just where i wanted it….not actually hot, but not for children, either. Ramped the jalapeños up a little higher in the 18 April batch. Here’s a video clip of my vendor, Glenn Tanimoto, demonstrating how to eat a kiwi fruit.
Green Strawberry Experiments – Poli Yerena showed up at the market in early April with baskets of little green strawberries, informing me that the trendiest new restaurants were doing dishes featuring them. He gave me a basket and i experimented, cooking half in a simple syrup. Not all that impressive. Made a salsa with the rest, slicing them and mixing in equal parts of chopped Pasilla chile, red onion, and cilantro with a little raspberry jalapeño vinegar. Delicious, but i’m iffy about how long it’ll keep. I jarred another batch of this but with the addition of a couple of jalapños, and it worked well.
KM – Kumquat Marmalade. 19 April, 22 April. Nothing could be more tedious than seeding and thin slicing ten pounds of kumquats. It was like heart surgery on a thousand mice, and i spread the job out over several days. My friend Jeff brought a couple dozen lemons from Palm Springs, so i substituted lemon juice for about half of the water that i use in the CLBOM, which intensified the flavor. The other good news is that i managed to nail the cooking time right, so i’m proud of this one. And to give credit where it’s due, Glenn Tanimoto gave me the kumquats.
SAL – Strawberry Jam. 28 April, 5 May. I’m getting my strawberries this year from the Ortiz family at the Castro Farmers’ Market. On the 28th of April i used the Red Red Strawberry Jam recipe in Joy of Cooking and then cooked the 5 May batch with a shredded apple and the juice of a lemon. Frankly, the latter is better.
SALT – Strawberry Jam. 4 May. I added a touch of Thai red curry paste. Shoulda used more than a touch.
SALC – Strawberry Jam. 5 May. I added 5 teaspoons of mild New Mexico chile powder. Shoulda used more.
CC – Cherry Chutney. 9 May, 19 May, 29 May, 30 May, 3 June, 5 June, 16 June. On 9 May a vendor i didn’t know at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market had passable cherries at a passable price, so i bought a couple of quarts. Only after i got ’em home and retasted them did it strike me that for not all that much more i could have gotten top of the line specimens from one of my top end vendors. Still, for chutney the cherries don’t have to be perfect since the other flavors are so strong. This batch turned out pleasantly spicy but could definitely be hotter. The 19 May batch got more peppers and fuller flavored cherries. The 29 and 30 May batches were made of cherries from Mohammed, my cranky Arab vendor at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market who compensates for the crankiness by undercutting everybody else’s prices…and for good cherries, to boot.
GBBPJ – 18 May. Gloria’s Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Jam. I made this out of blackberries that Gloria had picked last summer along the banks of Santa Rosa Creek and frozen. Too late i realized that the name of it should have been GSRCBBPJ, as in Gloria’s Santa Rosa Creek Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Jelly. I got the pepper level just right, so i’ll do this one again with fresh blackberries.
CAL – Cherry Jam. 22 May, 24 May.
RAL – Raspberry Jelly. 9 June.
GBPJV – Gloria’s Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Vinegar. 17 June. For a month i steeped in white vinegar the seeds and pulp from the jam i made from Gloria’s blackberries. I strained the liquid through a cloth overnight and bottled it. Having got my money’s worth outta the seeds and pulp, i put ’em in the compost bin so the city can get some benefit.
TBJ – Tayberry Jelly. 18 June. The queen of the jellies and i should have labeled it “TBAL” so i could reserve “TBJ” for the Jalapeño version.
TBPJ – Tayberry Pasilla Jalapeño Jelly. 19 June, 8 July. The Pasillas ramp up the chile flavor while keeping the “hotness” down.
TBJ – Tayberry Jalapeño Jelly. 23 June. I managed to nail the right level on the Jalapeños here. One whole and two seeded and deveined.
NCPJAL – Nectarine Cherry Pasilla Jalapeño Jam. 24 June. I overbought on nectarines the other day and was having trouble keeping up with them, and i had the end of the last batch of cherries i’d bought and yes, it’s possible to get tired of fresh cherries. So i threw ’em together with some little green windfall apples and a lemon from Gloria plus a couple of big Pasillas and three seeded and deveined Jalapeños. Real good combination, actually.
RBV – Raspberry Vinegar. 8 July. The vinegar from the 8 June jelly.
TBV – Tayberry Vinegar. 17 July. The vinegar from the 17 June jelly.
NPJAL – Nectarine Pasilla Jalapeño Jam. 17 July. Don’t know why it took me so long to figure out that a combination of Pasillas and Jalapeños was the best pepper addition to jams and jellies. The Pasillas are in there to ramp up the chile taste without making it too hot for most folks.
TBPJV – Tayberry Pasilla Jalapeño Vinegar. 19 July, 31 August.
CLBOLLM – Carol’s Little Bitter Orange/Key Lime/Bearss Lime Marmalade. 19 July. And “Bearss” is not a typo. This mixture of bitter orange and two varieties of lime may make a marmalade even better than the original CLBOM with nothing but Carol’s oranges. And the next time i can catch a shipment of good Key limes from Mexico i’m gonna try making a marmalade of them alone.
BBPJ – Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Jelly. 24 July. For this one i used beautiful blackberries from Yerena, two small Pasillas and three seeded and deveined Jalapeños. Shoulda left the seeds in at least one of them, but hey, this batch can be for folks who have low pepper tolerance thresholds.
WSRCBBPJAKL – Wild Santa Rosa Creek Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Key Lime Jelly. 3 September. And OK, i went ahead and just labeled this one SRCBB on the jars. Still trying not to go overboard.
BBPJV – Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Vinegar. 4 September.
NDDPNMCAKL – Nectarine Dapple Dandy Pluot New Mexico Chile Key Lime Jam. – 7 September. It’s labeled NDDP, and three of those New Mexico chiles were just right to create a pleasant chile finish.
BB – Blackberry Jelly. 8 September. Plain old blackberry jelly, no chile pepper, no strange tastes….well, except that i threw in a few key limes instead of the usual lemon.
NNMC – Nectarine New Mexico Chile Key Lime Jam. 16 September, 19 September. And for a change i did not puree the 16 September one with the stick blender, so it’s chunky with a pleasant chile finish. The 19 September one i pureed, as i like it both ways.
NNMC at the beginning of cooking
BBNMC – Blackberry New Mexico Chile Key Lime Jelly. 18 September. I’m loving these red New Mexico chiles and am throwing ’em in everything as long as the season lasts.
FPNMC – French Plum New Mexico Chile Key Lime Jam. 20 September, 22 September, 23 September.
FPNNMC – French Plum Nectarine New Mexico Chile Key Lime Jam. 30 September. Didn’t have quite enough of the last of the French plums, so filled out the batch with the last of the yellow Nectarines. I’m too much of a bigot to eat white nectarines. Not enough taste besides sweetness.
Pickled New Mexico Chiles
Pickled New Mexico Chiles. 30 September, 2 October. The second batch i split, seeded, and deveined
RBNMC – Raspberry New Mexico Chile Jelly with Key Limes. 3 October.
BBRB – Blackberry Raspberry Jelly. 5 October. When i told my berry boy at the Ortiz booth at the Noe Valley Farmers’ Market that i couldn’t decide whether to get blackberries or raspberries, he mixed me a flat of both. Years ago i observed that the tayberry enjoyed the best characteristics of both the blackberry and the raspberry. Here’s another way to get that.
WBV – Wild Santa Rosa Creek Blackberry Pasilla Jalapeño Key Lime Vinegar. 5 October. This is the vinegar steeped from the seeds and pulp of the 3 September jelly.
BB – Blackberry Vinegar. 19 October. The vinegar steeped from the seeds and pulp of the 8 September jelly.
BBRBV – Blackberry Raspberry Vinegar. 5 November.
PAL – Pluot Jam. 12 November. Last Wednesday i stopped by Schletewitz’ booth at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market and saw the biggest pluots ever. When i realized that i had made no pluot jam recently, i bought a bag. They’re the “Flavorfall” variety, the last of the stone fruits of the season and far from my favorite pluot, but they’re here fresh in November, so you’re getting a jam of them.
Pickled Sugar Snaps. 13 November. I said i’d pickle some beans this year, and by the skin of my teeth, i did. Put a little red jalapeño, red onion, and garlic into these but forgot the mustard seed.
FL – Feijoa Jam. 2 December 2011. Well, yes, i’d whined about missing the Feijoa season this year, but some friends of Gloria’s gave her a bag. Thus, this jam. And i boiled the skins in water and strained it, so there’s no need for the apple for pectin.
FC – Feijoa Chutney. 3 December 2011. Can’t believe my luck. A vendor at the Heart of the City Farmers’ Market had some of the little cuties, so we’re getting a chutney of them again this year.