Lemon and mint vinegar, mixed berry jam, banana butter & blueberry honey jam
I've done a little canning this week, nothing crazy, and wanted to record some of the recipes used to make things easier on myself next season. I didn't get very many berries picked this year so had to work with what I had on hand.
The lemon mint vinegar came from the Ball book. I started it steeping late last month. It tastes just ok. The lemon flavor is very good but the mint is kind of odd. We'll try it this winter and maybe at some point I'll just do a lemon white wine vinegar.
The mixed berry jam with pectin came from the Ball website. I used blueberries, blackberries and red currants in this one. It set up wonderfully. (4 cups crushed berries, 4.5 tbsp pectin, 3 cups sugar). Made a half batch, so 2 jelly jars.
The recipe for the blueberry jam with honey and nutmeg came from my copy of The Complete Guide to Small Batch Preserving. It is also just ok. I mean, it's a great blueberry jam but I just don't taste the honey. Or the nutmeg. made 2 jelly jars of this.
And here's the winner:
This is the best surprise since making tomato jelly. Oh my goodness. Banana butter! I was staring at a bunch of 5 bananas that had gotten shoved to the back of the refrigerator and were starting to brown and wanted to do something different. Wow! Where has this been all my life?! It tastes like banana pudding. Which, when put on a peanut butter sandwich or warm toast... well... heaven.
The recipe is here on the Kraft Sure Jell website. 4 cups mashed bananas, 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1 tsp produce protector, 1 box liquid pectin, 6 cups sugar. We had 5 bananas so I made a half batch; 2 1/2 jelly jars. Two and a half jelly jars of this bliss. They won't last long around this house.
Up for this week: I still need to can the garlic that's curing in the garage. We'll see what other trouble we can get into. A blueberry basil vinegar, maybe.
Most of them sound so very tasty, I don't eat honey so I would pass on that one. I have not made any preserves this summer, my small harvests were down on last year due to our long dry spell.
ReplyDeleteBanana butter sounds great. I've been looking for a recipe that didn't use bottled lemon juice as I allergic to the sulfites in it. I'll be trying this one.
ReplyDeleteMarlene; our harvests are down this year as well. It is so dry the weeds are starting to droop.
ReplyDeleteTheresa; I hate bottled lemon juice although I know it is recommended for canning. It just tastes off. I hope you try the banana jam, it is AMAZING!