Marie,

It's a bit early in the season for this one, which Annie posted last year, giving the credit to Nancy (Wizardnm). But I made it last fall and gave it away at Christmas and it was a big hit.

APPLE MAPLE JAM

12 C finely chopped apples (about 6lbs) I used the food processor
6 C sugar
1 C Maple syrup (grade B if possible)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp Allspice
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves

Combine all in a large deep pan. Slowly bring to a boil. Cook to the jellying point. Stir frequently, so it doesn't stick. Pour into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust caps. Process 10 min in BWB.

Yields about 8 half pints. I double this recipe and it works fine.

Annie says: The notes are Nancy's and the jam is wonderful if you like maple and apple, two of my favorite fall flavors.

Cheers,

Zabby

Peach Curd
4 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 cup fresh peach puree
lemon juice to taste, about 1 tablespoon
1/2 teaspoon rosewater
6 tablespoons butter

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar, peach puree, lemon juice, and rosewater. Place over simmering water and stir constantly until thickened. Remove from heat and beat in butter, bit by bit. Strain well and chill.

Rose Petal Jam (1)
500g heavily scented, red or pink rose petals
600ml water
500g castor sugar
juice of 2 lemons
20ml rosewater

Remove the bitter white base from each petal. Rinse and drain the petals. Bring the water to the boil, reduce to simmering point, then add the rose petals. The mixture will froth up considerably, so do not have the pan more than half full. Simmer gently for 5 minutes until the petals are soft. Add the sugar and lemon juice. Return to the boil and simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture begins to thicken. Add the rosewater. Allow the mixture to bubble up well. When the bubbles have turned more to foam. Put a spoonful of the jam on a cold saucer, allow to cool and push the surface - if it wrinkles it is ready. Allow the jam to cool slightly, then pour into sterilized jars, label and seal.

Rosewater
Boil 1 cup red rose petals with 1 cup water for about 10 minutes. Cover and leave overnight. Strain, discarding petals. Will keep for about 2 weeks in the fridge. It may be sweetened with a little honey before boiling if desired. [You can make your own Orange Blossom Water in the same way.]

Dried Fruit Salad
500g dried apricots
250g prunes
120g raisins
120g blanched almonds
60g pistachio or pine nuts
120g dried figs (optional)
120g dried peaches (optional)
125-250g sugar (optional, and to taste)
1 tablespoon rosewater
1 tablespoon orange blossom water

Wash the fruits and put them into a large bowl. Mix with the nuts and cover with water. Add sugar to taste (if using) and sprinkle with rosewater and orange blossom water. Stir to combine. Leave to soak for 48 hours, or as long as 3-4 days if desired.

Lavender Jam
2 1/4 cups bottled clear apple juice
1 cup lavender flowers
3 1/2 cups sugar
125ml liquid pectin

Bring apple juice and lavender to the boil in a saucepan, cover and remove from heat. Allow to stand for 15 minutes, then strain. Return 2 cups of the liquid to heat, add sugar, and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the liquid pectin and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, skim off the foam. Pour into sterilised jars, add a sprig of lavender to each and seal. Makes about 5 medium jars.

Lavender Jelly (2)
1/2 cup fresh lavender flowers
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
4 cups sugar
90ml liquid pectin

Bring two cups water to the boil. Remove from heat and add flowers-steep for 20 minutes and strain. In a saucepan, add infused water, vinegar and sugar, bring to the boil, stirring constantly for 10 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Add pectin, return to boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Pour in hot sterilized jars and seal.

Chocolate Raspberry Jam (evil!!)
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg1009180817961.html

Here is a link that might be useful: vanilla peach jam

I can't resist going off topic a little. My grandfather had a sugar bush and a suger house, so there was abundant maple syrup. When I stayed at the farm, my grandmother would give me this simple and superb dish at breakfast. It's OT because there is no canning involved. But do try it.

Cut an orange in half and prepare it as you would a grapefruit.

Drizzle some maple syrup on the orange halves.

That's it. The flavor is incredible.

Jim

Zabby, never too early in the season. I just opened a general store in my neck of the woods and one of the things I sell is homemade jams. We have a lot of tourists here and they like unusual stuff and I have had a lot of requests for maple syrup recipes. Vanilla and the other stuff I just plain like. I will try Melly's Black forest cherries this week, as I have just gotten 100 lbs of cherries. I never planned to can this much in my life lol but people really like it. I just really like all these unusual recipes. Thanks for those already posted and keep them coming, I will try them. I have some to post too, in the near future, but my books are now at the store and I have the computer at home, so I have to remember to bring them over.

Marie

Marie,

Oh, if you like lavender, too, try this one, which I am sure I got from here. I never get 4 cups out of it (more like 2.5). A wonderful, subtle but noticeable lavender taste.

Zabby

Blueberry-Lavender Jam

Yields: makes 4 cups
INGREDIENTS:

2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers

1 11 1/2- ounce can frozen white grape juice concentrate

3 cups fresh blueberries, washed and drained

DIRECTIONS:

1. Make a lavender sachet: Cut a piece of cheesecloth into a 6-inch square, place lavender in the
center, and tie into a bundle with kitchen twine.

2. Cook the jam: In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, bring lavender sachet, grape juice
concentrate, and blueberries to a boil. Stir constantly to prevent burning until the berry mixture
jells -- about 20 minutes. (To test whether mixture has jelled, place a teaspoonful on a plate and
let cool to room temperature. Lightly touch the berry mixture with your finger to see if it has
consistency of jelly. If not, continue to cook for 10 more minutes and check again by using the
same test.) Cover and steep for 2 hours.

3. Store the jam: Remove the lavender sachet and discard. Divide the jam between 2 pint jars.
Cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

Nutrition information per 2-tablespoon serving -- protein: .1 g; fat: .1 g; carbohydrate: 3.2 g;
fiber: .4 g; sodium: 1 mg; cholesterol: 0; calories: 13.

A couple more lavender recipes:

LAVENDER BLOSSOM MUFFINS
1 cup sugar
1 stick butter or margarine (1/4 cup)
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 cup flour (sifted)
1/3 cup lavender blossoms (fresh are best but dried work well
too)
1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2 Cream butter with sugar, add eggs, milk, salt, baking powder
and flour. Beat well.
3 Fold in lavender blossoms.
4 Grease muffin tin or use cupcake papers.
5 Fill cups 1/2 full.
6 Bake 1 2-1 8 minutes depending on size. They are done when
toothpick stuck in middle comes out clean.
7 While still hot, glaze with 1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed with juice of 1
lemon
8 Decorate with lavender blossoms. Let sit several
hours before serving.
Makes 12 small muffins, 8 regular.

________________________

Lavender Honey Bunches
3 cups quick oats
2 cups flaked coconut
1 cup unbleached flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon dried lavender

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine oats, coconut, and flour in a large mixing bowl. In a heavy sauce pan bring butter, honey, sugar and lavender to a boil. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well. Drop dough by the spoonful into muffin tins, making each one about 1-2 inches high. Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden, being careful NOT to overbake. Cool in the tins for 15 minutes before removing. These cookies store well and are excellent for care packages.

Deanna

Yummy

thank you for all those lovely recipes. I am definitely going to try them. Anyone know if I can use the leaves instead of blossoms of lavender for the tea? I got plenty of those but the flowers are done for this year, sadly.

Marie

New question. My dad brought me two jars today, from different places. One is strawberry and black pepper and the other is strawberry and basil (don't taste much like basil though). I wondered if any of you had any recipes of fruits jams with herbs of any kind. Also, I once tried a milk jam. Any idea on how to make that one?

Marie

By milk jam do you mean dulce de leche? Here's a recipe. This would be for refrigeration only.

Lots of threads have included preserves with herbs or spices. "Mes Confitures" is a book with quite a number, including berry preserves with pepper, jams with thyme, etc.

And of course there are old standbys like apple jelly with mint or scented geranium leaves.

Let us know what you're interested in. I'm sure the forum members can come up with a number of possibilities.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Milk Jam

You know, Carol, that might just be it. My father is the one who actually found it in a small road side stand, so it was canned (!!!). I was not aware of such issues as the safety of canned products then, alas. Mes confitures is not a book I have heard of previously, and I now have probably over 30 books dedicated solely to canning. Maybe I need to start a thread with your favorite canning book. I did some searching before I ask my questions and started reading back from the first thread to copy all the yummy recipes and once in a while, find an answer in an unrelated thread. I stopped writing here over a year ago cos too busy and this is addictive. At least I was up to date..........oh well! Cooking blueberries today, if I can find lime.

have a great day
marie

I bought a jar of milk jam when we were in France. I'm sure the commercial products are canned differently.

The ingredients in my little french confiture book (Le petit livre de confitures, gelees et marmelades) are:
500g powdered sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 liter whole milk
It says to use it within 20 days.

Marie, here I can get commercially canned Dulce de Leche in Latin markets. There are also recipes around that start with a can of sweetened condensed milk. The can itself is placed, unopened, in a pan of water and then cooked for something like 4 hours. That's supposed to be the "easy" way; however, I understand there are safety considerations. If the can isn't covered with water at all times there's a risk of explosion, so that's a kitchen experiment I've decided to forego!

Melly, I did find a similar Confiture de Lait, but I didn't post it because it calls for pectin sugar, which I know is available in Europe and the UK but I wasn't sure about Canada. (Not to mention the open-kettle canning suggestion.)

Here it is, if you want to compare.

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Confiture de Lait

That would give it more of a jell than just a thickening. The info on the silver spook (UK) brand is that one kilo of jam sugar is equal to 1 kilo of sugar plus one 13 gram sachet of pectin. Our pectin packets are 49 grams, but the ingredients are dextrose, pectin, citric acid. The silver sachets are apple pectin, sugar, citric acid. I'm not sure how the amounts of pectin they contain compare. Of course, right now I have german jam sugar in the house. But I wouldn't know how to substitute it since they have the 1:1, 2:1 and 3:1 sugar. I can get one size fits all jam sugar at the dutch stores.

I'm guessing that milk jam wouldn't freeze well so a smaller batch would be better than a bigger one.

Lots of good stuff here! Zabby, the blueberry-lavendar jelly sounds great. Must give that a try. And Daisy, that chocolate-raspberry jam... wow.

I just finished putting up a batch of rose petal jelly. (I saw an earlier post with a recipe; here's mine for those using US measures.) For what it's worth, I used a mix of white and pink blossoms today, since that's what the garden has to offer at the moment. And I go with less sugar than some recipes I've seen. More, and it seems too cloying to me.
Enjoy.

Rose jelly
Makes just shy of five 8-oz. jars

3 C. rose petals (unsprayed, just-picked)
2 C. water
2 1/2 C. sugar
1/4 C. lemon juice, fresh-squeezed and strained
3 oz. package liquid pectin
1 T. rosewater

Rinse petals well. Bring water to a boil in a stainless steel pan. Toss in petals and give them a good stir. Cover and let steep 30 minutes (stir once or twice in there somewhere).
Strain petals through a colander lined with a clean cloth and gently squeeze out the liquid into a clean 2-quart saucepan. You should have 2 cups of liquid. Add lemon juice and sugar and bring to a quick boil, stirring a bit.
Let it boil hard for 2 minutes.
Add pectin. Boil for 4 minutes.
Take off the heat; let it sit for 1 minute and stir in the rosewater.
Pour into sterilized canning jars. (If you like, place a few tiny rosebud petals on the surface of the jelly before sealing it up.)
Seal and process in boiling water for 10 minutes.