Day 49: I took a fit of domesticity today, stopping at the grocery store on my way home from town to pick up the fruit for my all-time favorite preserve, cranberry-orange marmalade. A friend had given me her canning supplies earlier in the summer when I complained of not being able to fit nine half-pint jars into my small kettle easily, donating to my kitchen several boxes of jars in various sizes, lids and rings, and assorted equipment. My intentions had been good when I accepted the gift; I'd already made one batch of blackberry jam and was planning to do another, but life got in the way, and the rains fell and ruined the berries. I felt guilty every time I saw Jean's granite cookware sitting in the corner. Briefly, I toyed with the idea of pear-tomato chutney, but pears were prohibitively expensive and I had "dinosaur chutney" ("Abdul's Brigadiere chutney") on the shelf. I don't eat much meat. It takes a while to go through a batch of chutney.
A couple of weeks ago, I started thinking about cranberry-orange marmalade, my mouth watering at the mere idea: thin slivers of orange peel and lemon rind in a sweet-tart base, whole cranberries giving texture and color to the jam. Mmmmmmm! Delicious on English muffins, the marmalade also goes well on homemade bread, particularly those made with nutty-flavoured specialty flours. It is utterly scrumptious on "birdseed bread," my daily staple which is made in part with millet flour. Are you drooling yet? Come on over for breakfast!
No comments:
Post a Comment