jammin'

I had to do it. Thanks to Adrian and Sarah and their many delicious-sounding jams and jellies, I bought a humongous pot that's almost too big for our wee stove and some jars and got to it. I couldn't resist! The inspiration these two ladies have been steadily providing has been tremendous what with their prolific canning of the most mouth-watering recipes. My first couple of attempts were tasty but not quite the consistency I was aiming for, like the raspberry jelly that was somewhere between a syrup and a jelly. Next, there was the blueberry chile jam. That came out wonderfully, but that was more of a fluke than my actually knowing what I was doing. Then, there was a massive fail - the lavender blueberry butter that I burnt so badly it tasted like death in a jar. I gag just thinking about it. Anyway, there was some redemption in the form of a blackberry jam that was a little runny, but at least it wasn't death in a jar. All of my batches have been small, producing only 2 or 3 of the larger 8 ounce jelly jars at most in one go, but I've been enjoying the process and the more successful results.

When Adrian and Sarah posted/tweeted about tomato jam, I had to make some because it sounded amazing and you know, why not? So far, this sweet and spicy tomato jam has been my most successful attempt at canning. Granted, I went a little heavy with the cinnamon. I always forget that the particular container I used lacks the wee holes and when I went to shake some out, I accidentally poured it instead. I tried to temper it with some extra lemon and some crushed up sage that I had dried from our garden, and that seemed to do the trick. The texture and consistency are more or less what I wanted them to be. And good god, it is scrumptious! Adrian was right. My grilled cheese sandwich this afternoon thanked me tons for it. I think I may need to make more of this soon before the tomatoes are totally done for the season.