Fruit and Honey Sweetened Strawberry Freezer Jam = YUMMY!

Three weeks ago I spent a lot of time getting ready for our family trip to Winnipeg's Victoria Beach. Someday I will write a post on how to get ready for a family road trip (something I get better at all the time) but this post is about how I was foraging through the fridge, deciding what to take in the car and what needed to be eaten or frozen, and what I need to save from being pitched in the garbage. Last week they had a sale on strawberries at our local shop (no pick your own farms near here) and I got 4 pounds for about $8. It has been ages since I even thought about canning anything, although I used to do some of that when I lived in Maine and had a large vegetable garden. However, I mentioned the amazing strawberry jam my friend's mom made in this post. It got me thinking about making freezer jam, which is easier than true jam. It also tastes really fresh, since you don't cook the berries. My daughter could live on jam and bread so I currently buy Crofter's organic jams. It appealed to me to make some jam for her that didn't have a ton of sugar. Thanks to some research I was able to find an alternative to sugar laden jam.


I found this well written and researched post on a blog called Sarah's Musings. It also includes this helpful link that answers many canning questions. The recipe she used for her jam is fruit and honey sweetened. In order to make a jam without sugar we both used a "no sugar" pectin. This method requires the fruit juice to be cooked with the pectin but the strawberries are not cooked. In the end, it took me less than two hours from start to finish, to make 8 half pints of jam.

HONEY AND FRUIT JUICE SWEETENED STRAWBERRY JAM
What you will need:
8 half pint jam jars
8 rings
8 lids
8 cups of strawberries
1 3/4 cup 100% juice
3/4 cup honey
1 package of "No Sugar Needed" fruit pectin


Your first step should be to get a cute and adorable buddy to keep you company while you make jam. I was supposed to have my three year old helping me, but she decided to go and play with her neighbor friend after we cut up all the berries. But Raggedy Andy stuck around to help me in her absence.


- Wash and sanitize your jars before making the jam. I used half pint jars. I boiled them for ten minutes in a stock pot but you can also use the sanitizing cycle in your dishwasher. Place your lids in simmering water at this time. Do not boil them or they will lose their sealing properties.
- Wash, hull, and cut up about 8 cups of strawberries. Crush them down for a couple of minutes using a potato masher. You should have about 4 cups of crushed berries.
- Put 1 3/4 cups 100% juice into a sauce pan. I used apple and a bit of kiwi strawberry, which is what I had one hand. Add one package of "No Sugar Needed" fruit pectin. Heat to a boil, stirring frequently. Once at a boil, boil for one minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat and add fruit, stirring constantly for one minute, before adding honey. Stir to combine.


- Ladle into prepared jars. Make sure that you use freezer-safe glass jars and leave 1/2-inch space on the top to allow for expansion.


- Place lid on immediately and press around the edges with your fingers. Place ring on and tighten until fingertip tight.


Allow to cool and refrigerate overnight, then store to the freezer for up to eighteen months. Once defrosted and opened, use within three weeks and keep it refrigerated.

In the end, my jam was a bit loose. I will try this recipe again, both with berries and with other fruits. We really don't mind it being more like "sauce". It is still good on peanut butter toast and is excellent on ice cream. Jam makes a great gift for friends and loved ones, who will be sure to return your jars and ask for more. Enjoy! And if this post helps to make jam, please let me know. I welcome your comments and would love to know how you may have tweeked this recipe. Special thanks to Sarah of Sarah's Musings for her inspiration!

Hummus or as MY Cookbook says...Hommos

Hummus and I have a long history. I love the stuff but when I have tried to make it, it has usually been a flop. Not that it doesn't come out as edible, it just has a strange texture or doesn't taste quite right. One recipe was too coarse, one too lemony, one too oily... I could had kept tweeking the same recipe but instead I kept looking for a new one. A local take out restaurant, Barpa Bill's, has delicious hummus, and they even gave the recipe to a writer from a publication that they have hung on the wall in the restaurant. I wrote it down one day, while waiting for my veggie pita, thinking that this would be the one. No. In fact, I almost feel they gave the newspaper a decoy recipe. Well, it is time to announce, my search has finally lead me to THE ONE. It is in the same cookbook I mentioned in this post, a cookbook that has yet to let me down, and is on the way to becoming a favorite.



As you can see, Hummus is not very photogenic. I should have out it in a bowl and laid out a nice spread of pita chips, olives, cheese... but I photographed the before and after instead. I like the idea of anything you can throw into the blender, push a button, and have complete and ready to eat. This recipe is very open ended, with quantities of ingredients being left up to the maker. This made me a bit worried about the outcome, given the past flops, but it is really, really good. My husband admitted to me when he started eating it that he was ready to quit eating the store bought hummus, that he was sick of it, and he was thrilled that I found a good recipe. It's a hit around here. The recipe follows, and I will use a * and paranthesis to let you know what I did.

Hommos (Middle Eastern Chickpea Puree)
Serves 6-8
Recipe by Martha Rose Shulman
From the Cookbook "Gourmet Vegetarian Feasts"

Ingredients
- 1 cup chickpeas, washed, picked over, and soaked for several hours or overnight in three times their volume water *(I used Eden Organic canned chickpeas, which is 2 cups, so I doubled the recipe)
- Sea salt, to taste
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup lemon juice, or to taste *(I used 1/2 cup in my doubled recipe, the minimum)
- 2 large garlic cloves *(4 for me)
- 1/4 cup good olive oil *(1/2 cup extra virgin for me)
- 6-8 heaping Tablespoons tahini *(I used 12 T for the doubled recipe)
- 6 -8 Tablespoons plain low fat yogurt *(I used 12 T of organic 3.25% fat)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin *(1 t for me)
- Freshly chopped parsley and halved black olives for garnish

1) Combine chickpeas with 5 cups of water in a large pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer one hour. *(I probably didn't have to do this for my canned chickpeas, which are already quite soft, but the last time I just added them to the recipe, it had a coarse texture. So, I did do this step.)
2) Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt and continue to simmer another hour, until chickpeas are soft. Drain, retaining some of the liquid. *(I removed mine from the stove after an hour. I added the 1 teaspoon of salt to all the ingredients in the blender, and I did add a bit of the cooking water so it was nice consistency.)
3) In a blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle grind together cooked chickpeas, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, tahini, and yogurt until you have a smooth paste. Add more yogurt or cooking liquid if you want a smoother puree. Add salt to taste and ground cumin, and blend in.
4) Transfer to bowl, sprinkle with parsley, and garnish with black olives. Serve with bread, crackers, or rounds of cucumbers. This can be frozen. *(Since I doubled the recipe, I had a HUGE amount, so I gave some to a friend, but am happy to see hummus can be frozen. We like to eat it with carrots, pita chips, and cheese, as well as the items listed...)

Enjoy!