Thursday, August 7, 2008

Frugal and Delicious



Last weekend I stopped by Polk's Farmers Market and found that they had nectarines on sale $.99/lb. They were perfectly ripe and that seemed so cheap compared to apples that are currently running over $2.50/lb at the local Kroger, that I picked up 6lbs. Knowing that I couldn't eat them all before they went bad, I figured that making some jam would be the way to go. (Thinking ahead for Christmas gifts.) After my jam-making practice in June, this went really quickly and easily. Here's the recipe that I developed:

Nectarine Jam
Cut up 6 nectarines - throw away the pit, but keep the skin on.
3 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Bring to slow boil, the nectarines, sugar and lemon juice. Boil for about 30 minutes until you've reached jam consistency.*
2. Stir in spices (I just used what I had on hand that I thought would be good) and boil for another 5 minutes.
3. Take off heat. Skim off any foam. Puree if desired.
4. Decant into jars and preserve.
*An easy test for doneness - place a glass plate in the freezer while making the jam. Place a tbsp of jam on the plate and let it rest in the fridge for about 2 min. Test with your finger to check consistency. If not quite thick enough, keep boiling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

please some in my tummy. thank you

dirty bird said...

you got me all excited about canning my own stuff, and it took a while for me to get on it, but today i went down to the back of the hill where i knew there were some old apple trees - i found an unbelievable amount of good apples 15 feet high, gorgeous crabapples, blackberries, wild black cherries, and even a hazelnut tree- mission hill's got secrets!
i'll be calling for sterilization advice soon...

dirty bird said...

jelly swap - amazing idea - i'm dying to taste some preserved georgia peaches!