This past weekend, I got together with several friends and we had a canning party! Jenn was the mastermind behind the whole event, and she taught us how simple it is to jar pickles and jams. I had a hard time picking what I was going to make, so I made three jams. A tomato jam, rhubarb ginger and jalapeno spiked cherry preserves. All three did not use pectin (a gelling agent) which means a lot of simmering and stirring until everything cooked down to the right temperature and consistency. This also meant fewer jars of the final product. But that’s ok, the flavors were really intense this way!
The rhubarb ginger was delicious, but I almost wanted more of a ginger flavor. The candied ginger was good, but if I make this again, I’ll add some fresh ginger too. I like that ginger bite. And I might use orange rind instead of lemon, as some of the reviewers suggested. The tomato jam was surprisingly delicious. It’s an odd sensation to smell what is normally used savory and to have it taste sweet. This would be amazing on a grown up grilled cheese sandwich. By far, my favorite was the jalapeno spiked cherry preserves. Spicy, sweet and just perfectly balanced. I think I’m going to be roasting some pork and glazing it with some of these preserves soon.
My favorite park of the whole process? Sampling what we were making. Once one was done simmering down, we would jar it up, but inevitably there would be some that didn’t fit or didn’t fill a whole jar. So we took this and put it over goat cheese or brie and ate it up with some french bread. Amazing.
Other items that were made? Dill pickles, jarred tomatoes, pickled okra and apple butter. I can’t wait to do it again! Now I need to go buy my own canning kit!








August’s 

















