Kitchen Chick

Homemade Strawberry Jam & Preserving Traditions

Emily (center) leads a basic canning class while participants cook their jam

As a child I always thought of canning as that dangerous old-fashioned way to preserve food that was no longer necessary in the era of the modern grocery store, but now I'm a bit sad that I never learned to can while growing up. My grandmother used to can, but she never taught her children, and by the time I was old enough to notice, she was no longer canning. But this winter I bought a Ball home canning kit, and I'm really excited to give it a go this year, especially with jams and pickles. To get myself started, a few weeks back, I attended the introductory canning class run by Emily of Preserving Traditions in the Pittsfield Grange.

One of the most notable things I learned is that strawberry jam does not get botulism. It's a risk for low-acid foods, but not high acid foods like strawberries. What a relief to know that my top canning fear is not relevant for strawberry jam! The jam can still go bad, but it's pretty obvious when that happens — the seal is broken, or when you open the jar it smells fermented or looks moldy. I think that makes strawberry jam an excellent choice for a beginning canner.

I'm not an expert on canning, so I'm not going to describe the whole process less I leave out something important. Please consult an expert or a time-tested trusted source such as Ball Blue Book of Preserving, which will tell you how to water bath can and which foods are safe for water bath canning.

That said, you don't need to actually do the whole canning process to enjoy homemade strawberry jam. You can still make the jam, but refrigerate or freeze it. 

Emily prefers to not use pectin for her strawberry jam. Pectin is what makes jams and jellies gel, and strawberries naturally contain a lot of pectin. Adding pectin means that you can guarantee that your jam will gel, but it also means you'll be using a lot more sugar, which will make the jam more sugary and less intense on the strawberries.

Basic recipe from Preserving Traditions

3 cuts strawberries, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice (bottled is better because of its consistent acidity)

Put a few small plates in your freezer. They'll be used for testing how the jam is gelling.

Stirring constantly, bring all ingredients to a boil in a large pot over medium flame. Once it starts boiling (it'll foam a lot), start timing. After, about 10-12 minutes, test your jam for gelling: take one of the cold plates from the freezer and drip just a 1/4 tsp of so of jam on the plate. Let the plate sit for 30 seconds, then hold the plate vertical. When the jam is properly jelled, the drop will ooze slowly down the plate, clinging like, well, jam. :-) If the jam is running, continue to cook and test again in a few minutes using a cold plate.

When the jam is jelled, you can eat it as is (pour into a sterilized jar and refrigerate. Will keep for four to six months in the fridge without canning) or can it in a hot water bath for long-term non-refrigerated storage. (Refrigerate once opened.)

Preserving Traditions is a local club focused on sharing knowledge on how to preserve our own food and on supporting our local "food shed." On July 12, they are holding a cherry pie class, and in August, you can learn how to make pickles. Check out their calendar of upcoming events.

Emily showing how to properly and safely pick up a hot mason jar.

Gâteau à l'orange (Tunisian olive oil orange cake)

I first learned about cakes that use olive oil instead of butter when I saw an orange cake recipe sample in a catalog promoting this book, and I gave it a try and found it quite tasty. So I was delighted to see an olive oil orange cake as one of the demo items at the recent Zingerman's Tunisian Cooking Demo class. I was intrigued to note that the recipe I tried long ago was attributed to a "Madame Mahjoub", and Onsa Mahjoub was sharing her recipes for the demo class. Are they same Mahjoub? Or perhaps related? The recipes, while very similar, have just enough differences (such as almond extract in the other one) to cause me to wonder if they are by the same person (though, of course, people vary their recipes over time). Or did Nancy Jenkins, author of Essential Mediterranean, adapt the recipe when she wrote it up? All very intriguing. Perhaps one of my readers will know.

Anyway, this is the recipe as we tried it in class, and it was quite delicious, with hints of bitter orange cutting the sweetness. By itself, some tasters felt that it needed a glaze, but I personally think that if you serve this with sweetened mint tea (North African style!) it doesn't need a thing.

Tunisian Gâteau à l'orange
Onsa Mahjoub of Moulins Mahjoub

Zingerman's testing notes: this may need a pinch of salt and perhaps less baking powder, but you can't really tell until you've tried it with salt.

Kitchen Chick's notes: after measuring out the baking powder, I removed about a half teaspoon and put in a half teaspoon of salt. I didn't research proportions of salt or baking powder for cakes. It worked fine for me. Amounts are in metric, so you will need a scale that has a metric setting.

1 lb small organic juice oranges (get organic because you're going to use the peel)
4 eggs
400 grams sugar (500 if you like it sweeter — I used 450)
500 grams pastry flour (or all purpose flour)
200 ml extra virgin olive oil (or you can use 250, which is just over 1 cup)
20 grams baking powder
sesame seeds

Heat oven to 140 or 160 degrees Celsius (160 C = 320 F). Oil a 11x15 inch (or 12 x 15 inch) baking pan. (Or equivalent in multiple smaller cake pans.)

Wash oranges. Cut stem and blossom ends off of oranges and discard. Cut in half and remove seeds. Chop into large pieces then puree in food processor to a pulp or in food mill.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar until frothy. Sift the flour into the mixture. Add baking powder and olive oil. Stir to combine. Add oranges and stir to combine. Pour into baking pan(s). Sprinkle top with sesame seeds.  Bake until top is nicely browned and cake springs back when poked gently with finger tip (about 1 hour — less if you're using smaller pans, so be sure to check them).

5th Annual Rib-off

Yesterday Joe and I attended the 5th Annual Rib-off held on the North side of Ann Arbor. Mmm... ribs.

The event was open to all, with one simple rule:

You don't have to compete,
you can just come and eat -

but don't come empty handed!

The weather was perfect, the food amazing and plentiful, and the company and atmosphere relaxed and friendly. We hooked up with some friends we hadn't seen in years, met new people, and had a generally great time.

To keep the entries anonymous, ribs were assigned a letter of the alphabet. Judges got a portion from each one. I can't say I envied them all that much (okay, well, just a little), because that was a lot of ribs to get through! And here they are holding up their trays of rib samples. From left to right:

Jean Henry, former owner of Jefferson Market, now of Zingerman's
Pitmaster Frank, the BBQ guy for Zingerman's Roadhouse
Mike Monahan, of Monahan's Seafood
Bob Garardi, former Pioneer High School principle and food-lover
Chef Brendan McCall of A Knife's Work

Relaxing after feasting and awaiting the awards ceremony. Categories included People's Choice for  ribs, side dishes, and desserts, Chef's choice, and Judge's Choice.

Ken Thybault of Swartz Creek, Michigan, took home the grand prize for Judge's Choice in ribs. Congratulations Ken! Those were some mighty fine tasting ribs.

Kitchen Chick: now writing for Current Magazine

Joe and I are very excited to be writing restaurant reviews for Current Magazine. Our first article, an Ann Arbor summer patio/al fresco brunch dining guide, was in the May print edition and is now available on the eCurrent website.

With limited space, we had to make some editorial decisions on what to include, so we know we left out some great places. We'd love to hear your favorite brunch or lunch place with outdoor dining in the Washtenaw County area.

Bon appétit!

PSA: New Culinary History Reading Group

Gene Alloway, one of the owners of Motte & Bailey Bookshop, has just let me know that they are starting a culinary history reading group at Motte & Bailey Bookshop. The first book is Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors by Lizzie Collingham.

The first meeting will be July 15th at 7:30 p.m. at Motte & Bailey, 212 N. 4th Ave. They will have used copies in nice shape for sale at the shop, and in selecting the first books Gene made sure inexpensive used copies were also available online for those wishing to buy for themselves as well.

Future books will be Jennifer Lee's The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food and Ian Kelly's Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme, the First Celebrity Chef. Thereafter the group will have a chance to choose what is next.