Blackberry Perserves

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Blackberry Preserves

Preserves, made from fresh, ripe blackberries, sugar and lemon.

Blackberry Preserves

Pick your own blackberries have pretty much played out down here in South Mississippi, though you may have a little more luck if you live in the northern part of our state. Of course, you'll still find California berries in the markets everywhere on through early fall, and probably even some from Central or South America too. Local, or as local as you can get, are always going to be the best.

I'm determined to get some plants put in the ground this fall, just so I can grow some blackberries right in my own backyard, although I do think it takes a few years for them to bear fruit. Guess I'd better get busy, don't you think? I don't exactly have my Grandma's green thumb, but it sure doesn't stop me from trying. I have planted and killed more things that I care to admit, but my Grandma actually used to win those "Yard of the Month" awards because of her green thumb. Anybody else remember seeing those signs plastered around town in all the pretty yards?

Since slowly venturing into canning a few things here and there, while I'm enjoying the process, I do find that I have a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to jams and preserves. I can tell you that I am much more fond of jams and preserves than I am of jelly or butters. Jelly completely extracts out the fruit and uses only the juices. Butters are like a thick sauce of pureed fruit really.

Preserves and jams are more closely related to each other, both preserving the integrity of the fruit, one a little more than the other, and both are my favorite way of putting up fruit. By the way, blackberries, like figs, don't continue to ripen once they're picked, so make sure that you use ripe berries, although, if you manage to get a portion of underripe berries mixed in with them, those are higher in natural pectin and well help the syrup set.

I followed the basics of a Ball's recipe, which can be used with both blackberries and raspberries, making some adjustments in the preparation of the berries along with the addition of lemon. I weighed the berries on a kitchen scale for 2 pounds, but apparently forgot to measure out in cups the amount of berries for y'all. If I had to venture a guess in my memory banks, I'd say it was around 8 cups of berries, although berries do vary in size according to species, so you're really better off weighing them to be honest.

In my canning research, I have seen sources across the net that suggest simply washing jars in hot soapy water is sufficient when canning. Personally, I've only ventured into fairly small batch canning, so I feel better sterilizing them in the boiling water I'm preparing for canning with anyway.

If you're interested in moving slowly into canning like me, you'll probably want a basic water bath canning set. While it isn't completely necessary, as you can make due with other things you may already have, it sure makes it easier to have the right tools. I also recommend a good book such as Ball's Blue Book Guide to Preserving, although the recipes in their newer editions, are becoming a lot more about promoting all of the convenience products they now sell, than about making basic canning recipes. Fortunately, there are a multitude of other resources available today besides Ball.

As always, before proceeding with any recipe, I suggest you consult a professional canning resource for complete details on how to safely can foods, from start to finish, to make them pantry stable.

http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2012/07/blackberry-preserves.html#more

cake with Edible Flowers..

Edible Flowers: How To Use Them and Where To Get ‘Em!

They always look so nice on a cake or cupcakes....

 Flip through a few vintage copies of Good Housekeeping—mostly from the 60’s and 70’s—and you’ll see plenty of dishes garnished with edible flowers. A scattering of pansies on a plate might as well have been a neon sign blinking, “Look at me, I’m fancy!” which often came off as “stuffy” to the home cook. It’s understandable, then, that edible flowers lost their appeal somewhere along the line in food history. But I’m telling you they’re on their way back! And I couldn’t be more excited. Here’s why: The right edible flower (especially fruit, herb and vegetable blossoms) can add the flavor of a well-known ingredient to a dish but in a more subtle, colorful and texturally interesting way.  Chive blossoms, for example, taste delicately of chives but have pointy pink-purple petals that stand out beautifully in a green salad. Possibilities abound! Here’s a little info on what flowers to look for, how to care for them and what to do with them…

FINDING AND BUYING:
 

• The best source for edible flowers is your local farmers’ market—that’s where I shop for mine. The options are often more interesting than what’s available at grocery stores and you can talk to vendors to make sure they grow their flowers in a way that’s safe for you to eat (you should not eat flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals.)
• If you don’t have a famers’ market near by, look for edible flowers in the produce section of your grocery store. Do not look for them in the florist section, since those flowers are usually not safe for eating.
• You can also order edible flowers online. Shops like Gourmet Sweet Botanicals, Marx Foods and Melissa’s will ship edible flowers to you overnight (so they’re as fresh as possible)!
• Keep in mind that not every flower is edible. Only buy flowers you can identify and know are 100% safe to eat. I’ve listed a few of our favorites (below) but you can visit the The Chef's Garden website for a list of popular flowers that are safe to eat, too.

CLEANING AND STORING:

• Shake flowers to remove any insects or excess dirt.
• Gently wash in a large bowl of cold water; drain.
• Let flowers air-dry on a paper towel–lined tray.
• Use immediately or store in an airtight container, lined with damp paper towels, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

HOW TO USE:
 
For the most part, edible flowers taste like they smell. My advice: Buy a few different kinds and experiment! That’s the only real way to decide what you like. Here are some of our favorites to incorporate into dishes…

• Arugula Flowers: Peppery flavor, just like arugula leaves. Use in salads or other savory dishes. (Recipe below.)
• Chive Blossoms: Delicate oniony flavor. Use whole flowers or separate the individual petals.
• Hibiscus: Tart and sweet. Often used in teas, cocktails and salads.
• Jasmine: Very sweet, floral fragrance and flavor. Use in teas or desserts. 
• Johnny-Jump-Ups: Minty, almost bubblegum-y flavor. Serve on cakes or with soft mild cheese, like goat cheese. (Recipe below.)
• Lavender: Floral flavor that’s perfume-y and faintly citrusy. Use in cocktails, teas, desserts or other baked goods.
• Lemon Verbena: Light lemon flavor that’s well suited for sweet or savory cooking.
• Marigold: Faint citrus flavor. Try it in a salad.
• Nasturtiums: Peppery flavor and golden hue. Try them on crostini with olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Pansies: Use these as garnish—they’re so pretty! Faint grassy flavor.
• Squash Blossoms: Mild raw squash taste. Usually cooked before eaten. Lightly dust with cornstarch and deep fry.
• Violets: Sweet and floral. Use in dessert or freeze into ice cubes for decorative drinking!

JOHNNY-JUMP-UP ANGEL FOOD CAKE WITH SOUR CREAM GLAZE
SERVES: 10 to 12

Whisk 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, 2 Tbsp. sour cream, 1 Tbsp. milk and 1 tsp. finely grated lemon peel in a bowl. Pour over the top of 1 store-bought or homemade angel food cake. Sprinkle top with Johnny-Jump-Ups

Read more: Where To Buy Edible Flowers - Recipes with Edible Flowers - Good Housekeeping

Blueberries everything you would every want to know..

http://www.ehow.com/blueberry-plant-care/


If you like blueberries check this link out all you will want to know... enjoy... Blessings...

Devotion For The Day

Luke 1:46-49 (NIV) 46And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me– holy is his name.

The angel Gabriel shared a secret with Mary. He told her that her cousin Elizabeth was six months pregnant. Mary, now pregnant herself, went to see her. As soon as Elizabeth heard Mary's voice, the baby in her womb jumped. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke a word of revelation. She knew that Mary was the mother of her Lord! She told Mary she was blessed among women.

Then Mary uttered her song of praise. She acknowledged the blessing God had given her, the greatness of the miraculous conc...eption. Then she added that God's name is holy. Yes! He is utterly apart from creation and yet He is imminently present. He is completely pure, and yet He even became physically present to redeem fallen man.

In the womb of Mary, tiny hands were forming. Those hands had designed Mary. They had set the earth in motion. They had thrown the stars in space. This was the miracle of all miracles, that God could become physically manifest. It was the greatest expression of love ever seen. It would culminate in the cross and ultimately resurrection. If you can accept this miracle, all the other miracles are only natural results of this one. Either this story is the greatest lie the world has ever known and Christmas is a total distortion of history, or God became a man to redeem you and me. If it is true, and the life of Jesus verified it, then we had better heed the words of the God who physically manifested Himself for our sake.

In a metaphoric way, the baby growing in Mary's womb is like Christ being formed in us. As time marches on, more and more of the life of Christ should be formed within us, until He is manifested in our lives.

Consider: Let that life in you be expressed in all His fullness.

 

Mark 15:21-23(NIV) Devotion for the day

Mark 15:21-23 (NIV) 21A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross. 22They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means The Place of the Skull). 23Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.

The beatings and Roman scourging had so weakened Jesus that He could not carry the crossbeam to the site of the crucifixion. Jesus was at the end of physical ability. A man who had journeyed from North Africa to celebrate the Feast of Passover, Simon, was forced to carry the beam. His children later became well known in the early church. This encounter with Jesus would change his life.

There is some debate about where the crucifixion site is. Two popular on...es exist in Jerusalem, but no one can say for sure which, if either, is authentic. It would have been near a gate and beside a road. The Scriptures tell us He was brought to a hill, not on a hill. It was probably a place used regularly for executions.

A group of Jewish women regularly met those who were to be crucified to offer a pain deadening mixture of strong wine and myrrh. When Jesus tasted it, He refused it. He had promised not to drink the fruit of the vine until He drank it new with the disciples in the Kingdom. The women pitied Him, but He grieved for them; He knew they were rejecting their only hope. Their pity was a mere human sentimentality. His pity was that of both the suffering Jerusalem was about to endure and an eternal perspective. We would have welcomed anything to deaden the pain. Jesus met death head on, determined not to flinch but to conquer it for us.

There is a lesson in His determination. We often skirt our trials, looking for the easy way out. Jesus faced them with faith in His Father. He knew that total reliance on the Father would see Him through anything, even if it meant obedience unto death. That is faith!

Prayer: Lord, when we are faced with the trials that inevitably come from obedience to You, help us to face them with Your resolute determination.See More

So God Made A Farmer...

So God Made A Farmer"
By: Paul Harvey

And on the 8th day, God looked down on h...is planned paradise and said, “I need a caretaker.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to get up before dawn, milk cows, work all day in the fields, milk cows again, eat supper and then go to town and stay past midnight at a meeting of the school board.” So God made a farmer.

“I need somebody with arms strong enough to rustle a calf and yet gentle enough to deliver his own grandchild. Somebody to call hogs, tame cantankerous machinery, come home hungry, have to wait lunch until his wife’s done feeding visiting ladies and tell the ladies to be sure and come back real soon — and mean it.” So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody willing to sit up all night with a newborn colt. And watch it die. Then dry his eyes and say, ‘Maybe next year.’ I need somebody who can shape an ax handle from a persimmon sprout, shoe a horse with a hunk of car tire, who can make harness out of haywire, feed sacks and shoe scraps. And who, planting time and harvest season, will finish his forty-hour week by Tuesday noon, then, pain’n from ‘tractor back,’ put in another seventy-two hours.” So God made a farmer.

God had to have somebody willing to ride the ruts at double speed to get the hay in ahead of the rain clouds and yet stop in mid-field and race to help when he sees the first smoke from a neighbor’s place. So God made a farmer.

God said, “I need somebody strong enough to clear trees and heave bails, yet gentle enough to tame lambs and wean pigs and tend the pink-combed pullets, who will stop his mower for an hour to splint the broken leg of a meadow lark. It had to be somebody who’d plow deep and straight and not cut corners. Somebody to seed, weed, feed, breed and rake and disc and plow and plant and tie the fleece and strain the milk and replenish the self-feeder and finish a hard week’s work with a five-mile drive to church.

“Somebody who’d bale a family together with the soft strong bonds of sharing, who would laugh and then sigh, and then reply, with smiling eyes, when his son says he wants to spend his life ‘doing what dad does.’” So God made a farmer.

Devotion For The Day

Mark 14:70-72 (NIV) 70Again he denied it. After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean." 71He began to call down curses on himself, and he swore to them, "I don't know this man you're talking about." 72Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times." And he broke down and wept.

Peter, bold, blustery, confident Peter didn't run like most of the disciples. He followed Jesus to the home of Caiaphas. John was there too. John was known by the priestly family and not under the threat that the other disciples would have been. As Peter warmed himself by the fire, he could probably hear talk of taking this prisoner t...o Pilate for permission for execution. That was a dangerous place to be. Execution Roman style meant unspeakable pain, the most excruciating death imaginable. To sit there by that fire in the enemy's courtyard was really taking a chance. Peter had promised he would not leave Jesus alone, but then he was spotted. "Aren't you one of them? You have a Galilean accent."

The third denial came with curses, anything to get out of being caught right there and then. He denied any knowledge of Jesus. Then the rooster crowed just as Jesus had predicted. Luke wrote that at that moment Jesus turned and looked straight at Peter. Peter broke down. He was not as strong as he believed himself to be. Neither am I. Neither are you. Without Him we can do nothing. We can make all the oaths we want, but without His power we will never keep one of them.

Have you sat in that "courtyard"? I have. As I waited on a customer, they began to speak about the "born-againers". Would I remain silent and deny that I knew Him to remain in this person's favor? Silence is denial. When I stand to pray at the graduation, will I say the name of my Savior or give in to the demands that I use the generic "god". JESUS! What a name! It brings division. It stirs up emotions. If I remain silent, I should weep with Peter. The Lord turns to look at you and me also. Don't deny that you know Him. I hope our lives are a dead give away that we are one of His disciples. I hope there is enough evidence to convict us of being His.

Prayer: Lord, help us not to deny You!See More