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originalpinkmountain

Condiment cookoff/cookalong/challenge

l pinkmountain
8 years ago

As I mentioned in a previous thread, I have a condiment moratorium going on in my fridge. No new condiments allowed in until the ones that are wasting away get used up. Last weekend I successfully used up half a bottle of dry cream sherry that I found leaking in the garage of my folks place in the wine rack. Made one of my best batches ever of strawberry preserves. Today I got rid of a half package of chocolate chips and about 1/8 cup of coconut, as well as some dried out brown sugar that I had successfully revived. For that I just halved my usual oatmeal cookie recipe and added the chips and coconut.

So how about it folks, I challenge you to use up at least FIVE languishing condiment bottles/jars out of your fridge, and share the results. My five are:

  1. the rest of the sherry bottle

  2. a half jar of Smuckers caramel sauce

  3. a half bottle of maple syrup that I found in a box from two years ago. I don't think it has turned into rum yet.

  4. a big honkin' jar of mincemeat. This is going to be the toughest challenge. I am open to suggestions, bearing in mind I hate all doughs that must be handled in any way!!

  5. Some raspberry vinegar salad dressing that I don't like.

I am open to suggestions and also want to hear about your brilliant POOFs! (Pull it Out Of the Fridge).


The preserves tasted good but are runny as all get out so I would say they are a half fail. The recipe I used called for liquid pectin, which I don't get good results from. Here's the recipe I will use next time I can get strawberries. The biggest culprit was my berries were watery. I think you could use other tart low pectin fruits for this, like cherries or peaches.

Tipsy Strawberry Preserves

  • 5 C Strawberries (whole small or large cut into chunks)

  • 4 C Sugar

  • 3 TBS Lemon Juice

  • 1 Box Powdered Pectin (I think you can use either type here, but I would start with the low sugar kind)

  • 1/2 C White Wine (or sherry)

Mix berries with sugar and lemon juice, set aside to macerate for at least four hours. See how watery it gets and play it by ear. Here's where I am going to deviate from now on. Strain out the berries. Put the sugar solution in a bit pot and bring to a boil as fast as possible. If it seems watery, boil for 5 to 10 min, stirring constantly to evaporate the water and prevent burning. I wouldn't go more than 10 min or you'll have taffy. This takes some finessing to know if your berries are watery, so if in doubt, leave this part out and just bring the berry/sugar/lemon juice/ mixture to a boil, add the pectin and boil for two minutes. If you follow my straining and boiling the syrup suggestion, add the berries and pectin back in after you've reduced the syrup, and continue to boil for 2 more minutes to dissolve the pectin and mix in the berries. Stir in the sherry and take off the heat. Fill canning jars up to 1/2 inch head space and then seal and process 5 minutes in a boiling water bath. This recipe assumes you know and will use safe canning practices in preparing the jars and lids and jam for processing. If you don't know what those are, here's the official web site of the USDA, http://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can7_jam_jelly.html


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