Sure Becky, I hope I can share accurately, I am famous for improvising but here goes. I used two 16 oz bags of frozen unsweetened black cherries. I put them in quart canning jars covered with white brandy. I did this last Sept and let it mingle in a cool dark place till Christmas. I then drained the cherries and saved the brandy sweetening it to make liquor. I saved the cherries in the freezer. Last week when I wanted to make black cherry jam but could not afford fresh cherries I remembered I had the black ones in the freezer. So being the improviser I am, I took them out and boiled with 4 cups unsweetened black cherrie juice, bottled, that I found at the supermarket. I added 4 cups of sugar and 1 packet of pectin. I followed the jelly directions from the pectin package but it didnt set up. I then followed the "Re-setting" directions and added another packet of pectin. It thickened a little more but is still considered syrup or sauce. It thickened up nicely to use on vanilla ice cream which I tried the other evening with a cup of coffee, it was wonderful! The brandy really enhances the cherries and it will be great at the Holidays. Anything with brandy reminds me of Christmas time. That is the best I can give you for a "recipe", sorry. Hope you can adjust to suit your desired outcome. I love experiementing with cooking of all types and not to brag but I only remember about 3 times that I had to toss out my efforts. Usually I have good to great success. Let me know if you try it and how it turns out. If you secceed at making it jam consistency please tell me your secret. LOL Thanks, Susan in NC

I slept late today ;-) Last night was a "rest" - after DD and I got home from parade, she changed and the whole family went to pick up our jars and ribbons, then we met my parents at pizza place for dinner, picked up a cake and ice cream and went back to their house to celebrate my birthday 2 weeks late (we've been so busy have had no time to go to dinner - and now anniversary is coming up, I've got no idea when/how we're going to celebrate that b/c rest of the month looks busy too, with DS's awards - see my brag post - my mom visiting my sister's family for niece's b-days, and then coming back right before my dad has surgery). Anyway, I haven't made the apple-jalapeno (or any pepper jellies except Gold) for a couple years, I can't find the recipe I used, it was mostly apple juice or homemade apple pectin not vinegar so I don't remember how many jalapenos I used, how much lemon juice. There are a few tomato jam recipes on this forum if you search, I've used the Food in Jars no-pectin recipe successfully with cherry tomatoes (lots of skin and not so much juice as heirlooms, don't try it with really juicy tomatoes). The red-ribbon winner was Orange Minsk tomatoes peeled and sugared per Joy of Jams Tomato-Pineapple preserves recipe, but instead of fresh pineapple I used 1C (drained) of canned crushed pineapple, since that has already been cooked it didn't have the enzyme that hinders the set. I peeled (raw, not blanched so lost a little flesh) 3 huge Orange Minsk tomatoes for 2.25 lbs. 2C of sugar, let stand all day, lots of liquid but very ripe tomatoes were falling apart once I started cooking them. Added 4 Tbsp lemon juice, 1 Tbsp lime juice, 4 Tbsp OJ, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground ginger, 1/2tsp coriander and 1 Tbsp whole dried birdseye (Thai) peppers. Bring to a boil, add 1/2 a can (drained) crushed pineapple (about 1C). Boil until set. The next time I made this, I put the pineapple (not drained) in the pan first with the syrup from the sugared tomatoes, the lemon and lime juice (skipped the OJ), and brought that to a "hard simmer" and crushed the pineapple with a potato masher b/c I had bought 6 cans of pineapple chunks (in juice, not syrup) from BJ's and that's what DD used in her jam first. The pineapple chunks were a lot harder/bigger than the crushed - tidbits might work best, the crushed was really shredded and I was *trying* for a preserve with chunks of pineapple and whole yellow cherry tomatoes, but the tomatoes keep falling apart on me and I used the immersion blender on the whole pot, pulled out the skins. A food mill would have worked better. Same spices, skipped the hot peppers in that one. A 3rd batch used the Orange Minsk again, with crushed pineapple, same juices (incl. OJ) and spices, so it was jam consistency, but instead of whole birdseye peppers which were really spicy (to me and DS) when you bit into one, I added 1Tbsp of crushed red pepper flakes. But that hadn't set up as well by the time of the fair so I didn't enter that. I'll let you know how that goes. I've still got to work out the tomato preserves, but I think I need to use really firm just-ripe cherry tomatoes and it's the end of the season, I don't have any more. I've also been working on a savory "just tomato" spread using no-sugar pectin but am having a hard time getting a set with the juicy heirlooms I've tried this year.

Ellen, welcome to my world, where EVERYONE is taller than me. Even you. (grin) Karen, we all missed you, I would love to see you again, and Pam, one of these days we'll meet up, I'm sure. And you'll be taller than me too... CC, that would have been great fun to meet you too. Maybe on my next trip out to visit the California boys, we'll be driving that one, I'm betting. No way would Elery leave his "favorite girl", Molly! Annie

Made this last year and it was a keeper! Individual Pumpkin custard 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 2 large eggs 1 can (15 ounces) 100% Pure Pumpkin 1 can (12 fluid ounces) Evaporated Milk Directions PREHEAT oven to 300 F. MIX sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir in evaporated milk. If desired, cover and freeze filling for up to one month. When ready to bake, simply defrost, mix well and proceed with recipe. POUR into eight 6-ounce ramekins or custard cups. Place ramekins on baking sheet. BAKE for 45 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted in custard halfway between center and edge of ramekin comes out almost clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate. Top with dollop of light whipped cream, if desired. ***Served mine at room temperature