This is a small post about the violet jam and the tweaking of the recipe.... The jam on the left was made yesterday. A few points of note: The initial recipe called for the juice of one lemon. In my opinion, this jam tasted way too lemony, even with 2 1/2 cups of sugar. In addition, the lemon juice makes the natural violet color turn more pink than purple. Another point: the recipe asked that the violets be added at the start with the water/lemon juice. I felt this processed them down to something that was unrecognizable as a violet. The jam on the right was made today, with the recipe I listed on the last post...new tweaks included. I only used the juice of half a large lemon (seriously reamed, however, because you do need the lemon juice) and I only added the violets and pulsed them at the very end. The difference is obvious. One more point. I used raw organic sugar in both recipes. Had I used fine white sugar, it may have been a little less muddy and more crystal clear looking. But if I'm going to ingest sugar, I want to try and use the best. (Okay, this is probably an issue of blind denial on my part, but we won't go there today because we're making jam, for Pete's sake!) I really like the texture of the jam on the right...there are recognizable violet flowers in it and the color is spot on. I am going to process them in a hot water bath, too so I can store them in the pantry instead of my fridge. My fridge....yeah,that's a whole other post. The experiments and projects an herbalist keeps in her fridge are probably post worthy...another day.Oh, I forgot to mention that the recipe makes six sweet 4 ounce jars of jam.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
In a Jam....
This is a small post about the violet jam and the tweaking of the recipe.... The jam on the left was made yesterday. A few points of note: The initial recipe called for the juice of one lemon. In my opinion, this jam tasted way too lemony, even with 2 1/2 cups of sugar. In addition, the lemon juice makes the natural violet color turn more pink than purple. Another point: the recipe asked that the violets be added at the start with the water/lemon juice. I felt this processed them down to something that was unrecognizable as a violet. The jam on the right was made today, with the recipe I listed on the last post...new tweaks included. I only used the juice of half a large lemon (seriously reamed, however, because you do need the lemon juice) and I only added the violets and pulsed them at the very end. The difference is obvious. One more point. I used raw organic sugar in both recipes. Had I used fine white sugar, it may have been a little less muddy and more crystal clear looking. But if I'm going to ingest sugar, I want to try and use the best. (Okay, this is probably an issue of blind denial on my part, but we won't go there today because we're making jam, for Pete's sake!) I really like the texture of the jam on the right...there are recognizable violet flowers in it and the color is spot on. I am going to process them in a hot water bath, too so I can store them in the pantry instead of my fridge. My fridge....yeah,that's a whole other post. The experiments and projects an herbalist keeps in her fridge are probably post worthy...another day.Oh, I forgot to mention that the recipe makes six sweet 4 ounce jars of jam.
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3 comments:
OMG violet jelly. I have to make some. The violets have been good to me this year. I have an enormous amount in my back yard that I have kept my Landscaper Husband away from. No chemicals in my yard. They are in all my flower beds. There is just enough to make a batch of violet jelly. Thank you so much Sue for being there.
You have the recipe, Hon....get to it!You never know when that hubby is gonna get the urge to weed! Glad to 'see' you here. Come visit!
Nice tweaks on the jam! I like your version better too - much nicer to see the real violet in there.
Don't worry, they'll be back. The mowing will just make them easier to find :-).
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