Whole Foods has had fantastic looking two pound containers of blueberries on sale the last couple of weeks. Went through blueberry scones, blueberry oatmeal crumble cake, blueberry waffles with the first package, along with sprinkling a few berries in every bowl of yogurt, ice cream or cereal. This weekend, I decided to try my hand at preserves.
I make jams, chutneys and jellies - in small quantities which go in the fridge or freezer. Have never tried official "preserving" before. Picked up a dozen half-pint ball jars at the local Ace, dug out my largest pot, and got all the necessary implements ready to go.
4 cups blueberries
2 grated granny smith apples (with skin)
2 cups sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
Bring to full boil for 10 minutes. Add a small pat of butter if the juices get foamy. Turn off heat and ladle into hot jars. Seal and place back into large pot of hot water. Bring to boil and cover for 10 minutes.
Cool for 24 hours. Check seal on jar lid when cool. If the center of the lid pops up after pressing, store in refrigerator or freezer. If lid center stays down, it's sealed, and can go into the pantry.
All four jars sealed, so we're good to go. The little bit extra was used up right away, on a batch of cornmeal waffles.
Now that I know I can do it, I'm going to try something savory, while the blueberries are still a bargain. I found a recipe for Spiced Blueberry Chutney over at Grist.org, and am hoping to try it out later this week. A batch of pint jars might be in order soon too, as the grape and heirloom tomatoes in the garden are growing like crazy. When the yield is greater than we can eat fresh in a few days, it'll be time to put up jars of tomato basil sauce and spicy corn relish.
1 comment:
That looks great!
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