Fresh from the Oven: Carrot Cake Jam

Hey Everyone!
Continuing with my canning, I came across this recipe from the Aska Lodge in Georgia, and I had to try it.  I mean, I love carrot cake, especially when it has pineapple in it, so I was drooling over the idea of a jam with similar flavors.

One of the best parts of this recipe is that the ingredients are so inexpensive, and it makes a decent amount.  To get the required 2 cups of carrots, I shredded 3 large carrots.  For the apples, I chopped 2 good sized Golden Delicious and had plenty.  I was extra careful when I cored and chopped my apples that no pieces of the hard core were left.  I would have prefered to cut up another apple than to bit into nasty core in my jam.

The whole process was quite quick.  The recipe calls for a small saucepan, and I did use my medium sized one.  I was afraid that my "small" was too small.  Good decision on my part, as I almost had to go up to the large one to fit everything in. 

Most of the time is spent simmering the apples, carrots and pineapple.  That gave me a chance to clean up the mess I made from all of the shredding and chopping. 

Once you add the sugar, spices and pectin, it smells heavenly!!!  It took a lot out of me to not start lapping the bowl right then and there!!

The recipe made 4 1/2- oz freezer jars worth of jam.  It says it doesn't set 100%, so this is more of a spread than a jam.  I put all of my jars in the fridge for now and I am going to freeze, and give away, the full jars.

Hannah and I sampled a bit of the warm jam and it was so yummy!!  I think next time I'll use actual pumpkin pie spice instead of the individual spices.  I found the cloves to be a bit strong for my taste and I'm hoping they'll be a bit more mellow in the pre-mixed version.

All in all, a keeper!!!

Happy Canning!!

Sharon

Fresh from the Oven: Evans Cherry Jam

Hello All-

It is that time of year...canning season!!!  I haven't canned much in the past few years, with my big halt taking place when I was pregnant with Hannah.  When we lived in Maine, I was "in charge" of making my Memere's Piccalilli each year for my family.  (Someday I'll share the story of the recipe and how I ended up being the only one with it)  The only problem is that it requires hours of simmering green tomatoes and vinegar in what then was my uber-tiny kitchen.  If you know me in real life, you know that I am not a big fan of vinegar, and having morning sickness and having to smell it in my home was not a good combination.  So, I packed up my pot and jars for another time.  Then we moved to Canada and though I missed it, I hadn't busted out my supplies.  I think the altitude difference worried me and I didn't want anyone getting sick from my creations. 

Fast forward to this summer.  We planted an Evans Cherry tree a few years ago and we had quite a bit of fruit this year.  I didn't want to waste it, so Hannah and I picked the good ones and left a few for the birds. 

I was pretty happy, our 4 year old tree produced about a pound and a half of quality cherries.  Not bad in my book! 

I scoured the Internet for a jam recipe and was having a really hard time.  Finally, I came across this one on the blog, Food on the Food.  It was for a small batch, which was perfect for what I had. 

My only complaint was that I busted out all of my canning supplies, optimistically thinking that I would have more jam than I could eat before we move.  Instead, I only got two jars out of the batch.  It is my own fault...I can't expect a small amount of cherries to transform into gallons of jam.  Had I been more realistic, I would have simply put the jam into freezer jars and called it a day.  Oh well.  Live and learn. 

Hannah and I tried the jam today and it is quite tart.  I think it will be yummy on a sweeter bread.  Though I only got a small amount of jam, I am so happy that I was able to preserve something form our yard! 

Happy Canning!!

Sharon