Figgy jam

It's no secret, I love jam. I love making it and I love eating it. What's not to love about fruity goodness in a jar?

The last few weeks I've been pretty obsessed wtih fresh figs. They're soooo good. Especially warmed in the oven with a little goat cheese. Even just typing that makes my mouth water. 

So what's a jam-loving girl to do when she gets her hand on a couple pounds of fresh figs you ask? Make some fig jam of course!

 

Such a pretty fruit. And quite nutritious too - packed with lots of good fiber and potassium.

Ok, back to the jamming! I cut up a bunch of the fresh figs, added some sugar and lemon juice and let it sit...

...until it turned into this figgy mess:

Then it was ready for boiling! I let it simmer away for only about 5-10 minutes until this figgy jam was ready to be canned. I've been adding this stuff to just about everything, including our morning breakfast smoothies for a little extra sweetness.

If you're in the mood to make your own fig jam, here is the recipe I went off of. I added just a splash of lemon juice for good measure. Happy jamming!

Homegrown happiness

Ryan and I have a lovely little patio that is perfect for a few potted plants. So far we have a rather large pot for herbs and a second, not so large, pot for our 2 pepper plants. We are growing jalepenos and habanero peppers, spicy! The first batch was finally ready to be picked and here we have it:

Since Ryan loves all things extra spicy, I made him some pepper jelly from the peppers. It was my first experience making a jelly, I've only made jams up until now. So easy! I used the recipe straight from my Better Homes & Gardens cookbook in the "preserves" section. It's sweet and spicy, I think it would actually be pretty tasty on some grilled chicken or pork.

Craft club is this week and I'm so looking forward to it! I think I will use that time to finally start me and Ryan's Christmas stockings. Hope you have a great week!

3 Citrus Marmalade

The three-citrus marmalade I attempted last night is now finished!

What started out as lemons, grapefruits and oranges turned into 5 lovely jars of the marmalade.

It took me a long time to chop all that rind off the fruit without a zester (which I have already added to my Christmas list after this). And it took quite a while to reach the 220 degree mark, about an hour. I was getting worried it would change the taste of the marmalade if it kept cooking, but it finally reached 220.

It still looked pretty syrup-y too when I poured it in the jars, then I was worried that all that hard work would be for naught if they didn't gel properly. But, rest assured, when I woke up this morning they had gelled quite nicely.

I like this picture of the morning sun shining through the jars. The jar on the right was only filled halfway since I used a small jar for the other half to give to my sister.

Overall, tastes great on toast. You can really taste the orange the most, with a hint of lemon. I found it pretty hard to taste the grapefruit at all. I might add a wee bit more in the future. If you like orange marmalade, you'll love this recipe!

Three Citrus Marmalade:

adapted from Food in Jars

3 navel oranges

2 red grapefruit (the store didn't carry any other variety so I went with red)

4 lemons (mine were very tiny)

6 cups sugar

4 cups water

Wash all your fruit thoroughly since you will be using and eating the rind. Zest your fruit in fine ribbons. I think a French zester would be ideal for this job. Add all of your zest to 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

While zest cooks, finish removing all the rind, pithe (white stuff around the citrus) and seeds, and put your fruit in a bowl (I had about 4 cups of fruit). When zest has finished cooking, add the fruit along with the sugar. Bring to a boil and keep at medium-high heat until the marmalade reaches 220 degrees, it took me an hour to reach this temperature.

Pour into sterilized jars and can in a water bath for 5 minutes.

Eat it up!

Citrus marmalade in the works

Tonight I am tackling this recipe for three-citrus marmalade. I'm using grapefruit, oranges and lemons. I don't own a zester so it looks like I'm in for a long night of hand chopping these suckers...which somehow I'm actually looking forward to.

I'll post the finished product soon!