My sweet new friend, Handsome & Brave, brought me a three-pound bag of blueberries, that he'd frozen last season. They were vacuum packed and perfectly round, sweet, berries.
I'm making batch of Blueberry Jam. The recipe comes from Alton Brown;
24 oz frozen blueberries
1 packet (1-3/4 ounce) fruit pectin
1/4 teaspoon ground star anise
1/4 teaspoon ground (fresh) nutmeg
2 Tbsp lemon juice
5 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup water.
Heat berries on medium heat. Sprinkle pectin, star anise and nutmeg on top. Mix thoroughly. Heat until the liquid begins to rise. Mash with a potato masher (I suppose a stick blender would also work). Add sugar and water, continue to mash. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
That's it. Jam has been made.
Yield: 6 cups
Cool and store in the refrigerator.
Or, preserve the jelly -- processing it for five minutes, sterile jars, fresh, sterile lids... blah blah blah. If you know how to preserve foods, go for it.
Now what?
I don't eat a lot of sweet foods, so why the heck would I make jam? Many reasons. Here are three things to do with jam off the top of my head:
1) 'French Toast' made with buttery brioche, smeared with this jam and topped with a fat slice of seared foie gras. FInish it with a pinch of Maldon (salt) and oh-my-god it's good.
2) As a glaze over ribs. Add jam to the pan drippings from seared then roasted pork or lamb ribs (see: Rhubarb glazed pork ribs replace jam with the glaze recipe), mount with butter, and spoon over the ribs before serving.
3) Slather it on a warm ham and swiss sandwich. Yowza.
Blueberries are packed with antioxidants and just plain delicious.
Don't be blue, be blueberry!
Ciao!
