Must be Jelly cause jam don't jiggle like that

99% of the time I'm a jam all the way kinda girl, bring on the bits and pieces of fruit I say! But when it comes to elderberry... jelly is preferred (too many hard seeds!!!). Have you ever picked elderberries? They are super tiny and take forever to destem so getting them prepared is a HUGE pain in the bum.

I swore I'd never make jam/jelly out of these things again, but a good friend of mine asked me to come over and help her make some jam. Of course I said yes! It wasn't until after the date was set she told me what kind we were making... elderberry... NOOOOO!! *cue scary foreboding music*

It all turned out well though, she did all of the destemming grunt work before I even walked in the door, so it was a total walk in the park! We used bal low sugar pectine to make this batch and although at first we didn't think it was going to set... it all turned out beautiful :)

Have you have had elderberries? Do you think they are worth the hassle?

Elderberry Jelly

recipe adapted from ball low sugar pectine

makes 6 (12 pint jars)

4 cups prepared elderberry juice

2/3 cup grape juice

1/4 cup lemon juice

4 Tbs ball low sugar pectin

1 cup sugar

PREPARE waterbath canner, jars and lids according to manufacturer's instructions, if preserving. Prepare and measure ingredients for recipe.

COMBINE prepared juice in an 8-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in Ball® RealFruit™ Pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.

ADD sugar. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.

PACK based on steps below.

1. LADLE hot jelly/jam into hot jars, one at a time, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rims. Center lids on jars. Apply bands and adjust to fingertip tight.

2. PLACE filled jars in canner, ensuring jars are covered by 1 to 2 inches of water. Place lid on canner. Bring water to gentle, steady boil.

3. PROCESS jars for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitute. Turn off heat, remove lid and let jars stand for 5 minutes.

4. REMOVE jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed. Clean and store jars according to manufacturer's instructions.

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Halloweenish Pie

Did you know that monday was pie day? Like the nerd kind of pie? News flash... in case you didn't know it... I'm part nerd. It's true, and I'm proud of it!! I fly my nerd flag high! And John pretends he doesn't know me... silly man. Well speaking of pie, I recently found out John likes jello pies... really?? Seriously would have NEVER guessed that one. So I went and made him an orange creamcicle pie, kinda looks like halloween... but that's ok :) I had bought a graham cracker crust and when he saw it he looked all sad

"what's wrong?? isn't a jello pie in a graham crust??"
"well it's supposed to be a chocolate one"
"really?"
"yeah.. it's ok though i'll still eat it" (looking even more pitiful)
"nah another trip to the store will solve this"

So a day later and chocolate crust in hand (the 0 trans fat variety... careful some of these things are FILLED with them) I made him his pie... and the man was VERY happy.

So easy it seems silly to write it out.


Jello Pie
1 package sugar free jello
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
8 oz cool whip
CHOCOLATE graham or oreo cookie pie crust

Make jello according to package, let set for an hour in the refrigerator.

Take jello out and blend in 8 oz fat free cool whip. Flop it into the crust and stick it back in the refrigerator. Serve cold about 4 hours later.

Jam Exchange

OK everyone it's the first annual steph chows jam exchange!!!!


It seems like a good number of you would be interested in a jam exchange, which let me tell you, makes me VERY excited!!!! So lets get this bad boy rolling already! Here are the "rules"

1. You do NOT need to have a blog to participate! Everyone is welcome to join in!
2. You must be willing to mail 2 jars of any kind of jam your little heart desires to your given person.
   
3. You must sign up with me so I can make sure to pair you with someone! Email me at stephchows (at) gmail (dot) com with the following:
   Your name and address
   Blog URL if you have one (see rule 1... you DO NOT need one)
   If you would be ok with mailing internationally or if you want to stick domestic (USA) (totally ok either way you choose) I know we have a few peeps from Canada who are in to do this... I checked with the post office here and they said we can ship jam to our Canadian neighbors! I know we have a bunch of AUS readers too... and the post office says no issues with shipping jam to you either! All my other international friends... email me and I'll check and see if it's allowed to your country or not :) As for your country to here or somewhere else... I'm not sure about that one...
   I figure if you agree to ship international, I'll pair someone international to send back to you so it's a fair trade. (I know the USPS has flat rate international boxes... probably the cheepest way).
   
4. If you would like your jam included in the final roundup email me a picture of it and a link to a blog entry if you have one up, or just email me to let me know what you sent/received.

Deadline to send me your info: July 19th
I will contact you with your jam partner by July 26th
You have until August 11th to mail said jam to said person (why the 11th... because it's my birthday that's why LOL) You can mail as early as you like though, so if you have your jam ready to go on the 26th when I email you... go for it and mail it! Or if you are a procrastinator... wait till the 11th to mail it... either way works :) Just please make sure to mail it so no one is left out!

What's that? You've never made jam before? Well then this is a darn good excuse to learn right? Read more about my adventures in jammin' here.

OH and feel free to grab the image above and blog about the exchange to get the word out there and more peeps involved :) Or you can tweet about it... I know, I don't tweet, it scares me... but you can all do it :)

Jam Exchange

My first batch of home made jam!
Beautiful, if I don't' say so myself :)

I love me some jelly (or i guess it's really jam)! I've never made jam before and have always wanted to. Even though I was in the middle of moving apartments I decided to join in on Batter-Splattered's Jam/Jelly Exchange!!! It was so much fun and I will totally do it again! Basically everyone is given a name of someone to send a jar of jam to. I received a jar of salmon berry jam from Valerie in Kodiak Alaska!! Ok first how cool is it that my jelly came from Alaska??? Second what are salmon berries??? Click on the link to wiki it :) I need to pick up a good loaf of bread so I can make some toast and try it! I can't wait and I"ll let you know when I do :) Look at how pretty it is!

salmon berry jam from alaska, mmmmm

As for what I made... I figured my first batch of jam had to be full on from scratch so my friend Anjali who grew up in my home town and now lives here in Rochester suggested we go raspberry picking at a local farm. The day came and it was gross and raining but we stuck it out and picked raspberries like a champ!

mmmmmmmmmmmm

Did I mention that my sister was off in DC going into labor as we were out frolicking in the raspberry fields?? Crazy.

This jam was very easy to make, equal parts crushed fresh raspberries to sugar, no pectin, no nothing, just berries and sugar, and let me tell you... this jewel colored jam was the best tasting jam I've had in a long time... amazing texture color. uggggg it was just so good!!! Bring berries to a rolling boil, add sugar, stir constantly for 2-4 minutes, take off heat and beat with a hand mixer for 4 minutes, pour into sterilized jars and boil to seal :)

I sent a jar of my jam off with an extra little surprise with it last Wednesday.. hopefully she has received it! I'll link to her once I know for sure she got it so I don't ruin the surprise! :D


chow!

Update: April got her package!! Read about it plus her surprise here. Bummer it melted though!!!!!!