There’s a really nice story that I like to remind myself of whenever I wonder why I write this blog. My virtual existential angst usually dissipates when I remember it. Basically, it’s a story about how I have met some incredible people that I probably would have never otherwise met. Like Shae.
It’s nice to know that there’s someone out there who wants to hear you expound on the crisis of a ruined batch of jam. It seems petty or ridiculous, but crap, if you had just let it go for a few more minutes the gel would have set so much better, and jeez, should I reprocess it? Or just call it syrup? Or that someone is totally with you when you gleefully make a new jelly that is just stellar. You just know it is. It’s amazing! Shae cares. Really!
You've probably been to Hitchhiking to Heaven, Shae’s blog. Did you seen all the amazing jam-making resources she has on her sidebar? Did you know how detailed and top-notch every recipe is? (She even has a post to help you find other words than amazing to use!) She is so detailed and thorough. It’s actually generous. So, when I saw her new e-book sitting in my gmail inbox, Hitchhiking to Heaven Prizewinning Recipes 2010, I knew it would be more than just recipes. I am always amazed by her tenacity to make a recipe over and over to get it just perfect. I am the complete and total opposite. I'm not apologizing, but it's true. When you use follow one of Shae's recipes, you can be sure of it. And you can be sure it's going to be delicious.
Case in point: Meyer lemon marmalade. When I tasted her marmalade it was so transcendent that I flew back in time to a seven-years-old me in Los Angeles tasting my aunt’s fresh from the tree Meyer lemonade. The marmalade was so bright and fresh, the sugar never cloying, the gel perfect and soft, just barely holding together the thinly sliced rinds.
If you don't believe me you can ask the Marin County Fair judges. These are prizewinning jams! The Meyer lemon marmalade is in the eBook, among other delicious ones, and loads of wonderfully helpful information. Luckily for me, and you, I get to give away a copy of Shae’s eBook! So: leave me a comment below and tell me what your favorite jam or jelly is, and why it’s transcendent for you. I really, really want to know! And I really really want one of you to win this great little collection of amazing recipes and thoughtful, artful, humorous commentary. You have until next week: Wednesday, November 10 by midnight EST. Go!
i really like homemade peach jam! I never buy it at the store, but I could eat a whole jar of homemade because it tastes so fresh and summery :)
ReplyDeleteStrawberry-Rhubarb. I just love that stuff, hubby loves that stuff, kiddos loves that stuff, it's JUST good! I won't buy jam at the store, now I'm dying to learn to make apple jelly, well, really, I just have to make it, it's just an intimidating process for me, but apple jelly is another winner, I just don't like buying it at the store, so I haven't had it in years.
ReplyDeleteOh dear. It would have to be Apple-Rosemary jelly that I made based on the Apple-Thyme jelly recipe from Janelle at Talk of Tomatoes. It was the first time I'd ever made jelly, (though gads of jam), and I really had no clue what to expect. Would it gell? Would it be runny? Would it TASTE good?
ReplyDeleteLet me tell you that it was SO perfect, that I might never make jelly again, so enamored was I of those first few successful jars! A beautiful amber color, COMPLETELY clear (I DIDN'T SQUEEZE THE BAG!), with one lovely little sprig of rosemary in it, and such a delicious flavor. PERFECT on a homemade loaf of beer bread! (Sigh...) It was divine.
So, I'd LOVE to win this giveaway, just to hopefully continue with a successful jelly-making life!
Thanks for your blog - it's super duper!
Apricot-Pineapple jam. It tastes the best on fresh-baked, homemade, whole wheat bread. Heaven!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great giveaway!
Nice its Good for health naturally.
ReplyDeleteThanks for share.
My favorite jam is rhubarb-ginger. We had it on our honeymoon, homemade by the owner of the B&B we stayed at in Ireland. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm torn between two for my favorites at the moment. I am really loving a Fig, Raspberry, Orange and Ginger jam I found at an apple orchard. They call it Frog jam, lol. I plan to experiment with those ingredients to see if I can't make a version for myself. The best of all time, though, may have to be Pomegranate jelly. I haven't perfected it yet, but the flavor is intense and startling, the color so clear and beautiful, and it's not overly sweet. It can be used as an ingredient in lots of things, but I love it best on toast. So very good.
ReplyDeleteMy absolute favorite has been the apricot and riesling jam by Garrett McCord of Vanilla Cord. FAB-U-LOUS!
ReplyDeleteI accidentally typed that as FAB-U-LOVE a second ago-- Freudian slip?
I'll play along (even though I just bought my own copy of Shae's eBook; but I never win anything anyway so...).
ReplyDeleteMy FAVORITE jam? It's the peach forsythia chile (the one that no one but me can make!). You know that, despite the amount of it I make, that I am not really a jammy kind of girl - but this one? This one I could eat every single day.
Fig jam -- must be, by far, my favorite thing ever. I don't eat much jam -- but fig jam. I'll find excuses to spread it on anything.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a complete marmalade freak. Got together with R from Cakewalk this past year and made some mixed citrus marmalade. It didn't set perfectly, but it tastes FABULOUS. And it makes a great glaze for cake.
Grape jelly is my favorite!
ReplyDeleteNot only was it the first jelly I put up, but this season's concord grapes were absolutely delectable and made for some heavenly jelly.
Blueberry jam! I made a batch this past summer with wild blueberries picked at my best friend's parents' house.
ReplyDeleteThe first jam I made is actually the most eye-opening. Balsamic cherry jam - it was sweet, a bit sour, so delicious.
ReplyDeleteShae inspired me to enter some canned goods in the local county fair. I don't think my fair had as strict of standards, nevertheless I won a blue ribbon for my apple butter and red ribbons for tomatoes, salsa, and my strawberry blackberry rhubarb jam. Even if I don't win it here, I definitely plan on buying her eBook. I owe it to her!
ReplyDeleteThe mango-ginger jam I made this past summer, mango will always be my favorite food. I'm gonna need this cookbook, whether I win it or not!
ReplyDeleteRaspberry. It's almost generic, really, but my first spoonful on a piece of toast or in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and I'm transported back to my mom's kitchen, drinking coffee and making fun of the local morning news on the radio. It's totally is connected to her and my memories of her.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite jelly is raspberry. I love the way it tastes but the memories it invokes of my family (grandmother, mother, myself and my sisters) sitting around Grandma's kitchen table making jelly every summer after picking the berries from her patch in the yard is simply heaven. I make it for the taste as much as the memories.
ReplyDeletePeach vanilla jam made with a real vanilla bean. I just love those little bean flecks! Kelly
ReplyDeleteA good quality Seville orange marmalade is my favourite, closely followed by a plain and simple raspberry jam and then it would have to be apricot. But there are so many good ones out there!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic giveaway!
Red Raspberry jelly with Rose Geranium leaves. This was a recipe from a very sweet book by the late M.F.K. Fisher, "Fine Preserving".I never use pectin so followed the traditional method. My rose geranium plant nearly took over the garden and this was a wonderful way to use a few leaves. Beautiful clear ruby color and an undescribable flavor of raspberry-rose.
ReplyDeletei'm pretty easy and open to any kind of jam, but lately we've been snacking on one from a local farm: raspberry ginger jam!
ReplyDeleteElderberry jelly is my favorite. I laugh when thinking of the first time I made it. It never set and we used it as syrup. My son loved it poured on to his peanut butter sandwiches. I swapped some with others who had theirs set. I was the popular one that year. All over a mistake that I didn't know (at the time) how to correct! :)
ReplyDeleteStrawberry-rhubarb jam! I made it for the first time a couple years ago right after we went strawberry picking, and now it is a tradition that I definitely plan to continue every year. :-)
ReplyDeleteDoes orange marmalade count? Yum yum! If not, then strawberry/rhubarb jam will do too. Thanks for the opportunity to win what looks like a great book.
ReplyDeleteHomemade apricot jam on whole wheat toast = heaven in the morning. The taste of summer revisits me every time I take a bite.
ReplyDeleteRed Raspberry is my favorite. Of course, strawberry is pretty awesome too.
ReplyDeleteI love plum jam; I just can't seem to get enough of it!
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ReplyDeleteO there are so many. But my new favorite is Fire & Ice Jelly. Made with icewine, finely chopped sweet peppers and hot pepper flakes it's so YUM! On Brie or cream cheese & hearty crackers. Or in a sandwich with chicken & gouda - {sigh}
ReplyDeleteI tried a zucchini triple citrus marmalade this year and love the surprise factor when I tell people the green in it is not just lime.
ReplyDeleteI am diabetic so my favorite is low sugar strawberry jam.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely adore hot pepper jelly. Give me a jar and I will finish it off with crackers & maybe even some cream cheese!
ReplyDeleteI love nothing more than plain old raspberry jam. I tend to be pretty boring in my jam tastes - plain raspberry, plain strawberry, plain plum. So, I need to experiment more with exotic recipes. :)
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to try my hand at Shae's Blackberry Mojito jam--why didn't I think of rum when I made my blackberry mint jam this year?! :-) My personal fave, though, is strawberry balsamic jam--the balsamic makes the strawberry taste the way I imagine it would off a wild strawberry bush in Neverland :-)
ReplyDeleteMy very favorite jam EVER is strawberry jam with sambuca. This sounds crazy, but the sweet strawberry and the dark licorice flavor go SO well together. It's an addictive combination. My second favorite is the vanilla bean, black pepper and blackberry jam I made this summer. Holy. Moly. I've really enjoyed reading everyone else's posts!
ReplyDeleteMy moment-in-time jam would be a tropical peach conserve with sour cherries, peaches, oranges, rum and more. I made it when I was in labour with my daughter last year. Every contraction I'd pause, grin and bear it, then continue to stir. I finished up by 11 a.m. and went to the hospital at 1 p.m. I named it "Ellie's Pre-Game Jam" as she was born the next day. Now when I make it, I remember that day, the anticipation and the joy my daughter brings.
ReplyDeleteI have two favorites: Spiced Tart Cherry jam and Peach Pie jam - I make them both at home from fruit I pick at a local farm. So, so , SO delicious!
ReplyDeleteTo me, it depends on what you are using it for. For PB sandwiches I like the simple taste of Blackberry jam. On a cracker with cream cheese, I like something hot or savory like red pepper jelly. But mostly I use jellies and jams and preserves for cooking. Yellow Tomato Preserves on chicken is yummy. And there is a local person here who makes organic lavender jelly/syrup that is awesome drizzled on top of sweet potatoes topped with some chopped nuts. I use pear butter and brown sugar to form a crust onto baked ham...kind of like Honey baked hams. Lots of choices and sadly, I can't choose just one.
ReplyDeleteMeyer Lemon vanilla marmalade is my favorite!
ReplyDeleteThe Rosemary-Black Pepper Strawberry Balsamic Jam that I made for the Can Jam this summer. It was completely amazing. I made two batches because I loved the first so much and have started hoarding it to savor later. It makes even toast seem so much more sophisticated!
ReplyDeleteI have to have this e-book!!! Pretty please???
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