One of the problems with making a lot of jam is you end up with a lot of half bottles of jam in your fridge, and if you’re any good at making jam, you’ll want to eat them.
Now, I’m not a toast-in-the-morning kind of person because of the whole gluten thing, so I’ve discovered that jam with a spoon is delicious. Too delicious. So delicious that I’ll scoop out the chunks of fruit that are particularly fresh since I didn’t process the half jar. I’ll do this at night, as dessert, and subsequently be up half the night riding a sugar high and watching bad television in between sessions of being more productive.
Fortunately, I work from home and 1am is a perfectly acceptable time to write about dairy-free gelato and centrifuges. Unfortunately, even though I don’t necessarily need to get up at 8am, I usually don’t end up getting enough sleep. I’m also not a good napper. So I turned to my roommate for help:
Me: I’m so tired. I really need to go to bed earlier.
Roommate: It’s hard.
Me: Do you know any tricks for napping? I’m really not a good napper. Even when I force myself to try, I usually don’t sleep.
Roommate: …Poo…
Me: …What? Poo?
Did I mention my roommate is Dutch? I spent a good 30 seconds trying to figure out what he meant. I mean, I have a poor digestive system, but maybe in Europe this is a common cause and effect relationship.
Roommate: Oh! You don’t say that here? (It dawns on him what he said.) In Holland that’s like saying, “Well,” or “What are you going to do?” or “Too bad.” Kind of a toss-off word that doesn’t mean much but acknowledges that I spoke and commiserates with my complaint.
We laughed. It made much more sense now. And I fortunately don’t have any canning classes coming up, so I won’t have too much fruit in sugar sitting in my fridge…once I get through the 3 jars there are now. A few more sleepness nights lie ahead of me, I think. As my roommate would say: Poo…
Apple Pie in a Jar
yield: 5 one-litre jars, adapted from All Recipes.com. It needed way more lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Especially lemon juice. Start with 1/4 cup, then taste and add more if necessary. I don’t think I messed it up…
- 4 cups white sugar
- 3/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 7 1/2 cups water
- 1/4-1/2 cup lemon juice
- 6 pounds apples (any kind, really, but sweet and sour macIntosh or something like them are good)
- Sterilize canning jars and rings by boiling them in a large canning pot of water for 10 minutes.
- In a large pot, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add water and whisk again. Bring to a boil and cook until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Adjust to taste. Don’t add more sugar unless it’s really, really bland, because the apples will be very sweet.
- Peel, core, and slice apples. Pack the sliced apples into hot canning jars, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Shake jars to stuff in more apple slices.
- Add canning lids to hot water (do not boil).
- Fill jars with hot syrup, and gently remove air bubbles with a chopstick or other non-metallic long, thin utensil.
- Wipe rims, put lids on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.
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