Notes from my Freshman Canning Summer

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Preserving is addictive. I started canning with a rhubarb jam that I had been thinking of and before I knew it I was ordering pound after pound of rhubarb from Bailey’s. When strawberry season hit, I knew I was in trouble. I made so much jam last summer that I sold a lot of it at a Christmas craft and jewelry get together that my mom held at the end of November. I remember being in the kitchen sweating over my stove berating myself about why I have bought so much fruit and then ordering more the next day. I […]

Honey Vanilla Peach Margarita

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I’m not actually a big fan of cocktails or hard liquor in general. It is just too strong for me.  I am pretty much a wino and not a very knowledgable one either. I usually go with and $11 bottle of Malbec from South America.  I do like a good margarita though and not the slushy type. I prefer the mixed, non-blender method with real lime juice. The way this drink came to be was a happy accident, like many great things in this world (such as my Timothy).  I canned peaches for the first time this summer and I followed […]

Black Raspberry and Chambord Jam

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Each new jam recipe that I come up with becomes my new favourite.  I think Timothy particularly enjoyed this one as well which makes sense since he devoured half a pint of black raspberries in one sitting. In the same sitting, he ate about a cup of cherries. I knew I wanted to put in some type of booze into this jam but I wasn’t sure what I should use, so I hit the internet. It became very clear that Chambord was going to be the winner. There are two reasons for this: the first reason was that I thought […]

Preserved Cherries with Brandy

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I ordered a box of cherries from Bailey’s last week but unfortunately due to the wet spring their supplier wasn’t able to come through. It was too bad but I ended up getting a bunch of cherries from Martin’s Family Fruit Farm instead.  It was my first visit out there and I came home with a flat of black raspberries too – more on that in the next post. It turns out that Timothy loves cherries. He ate so many that I was worried he would have a big stomach ache. That kids can really pack away the fruit though. He […]