Over the summer and early fall, I put up something every two weeks on average, depending on what was in the farmers’ market or in the field at the Farm. I made jams and pickles, some consumed right away and others put up for gifts: strawberries in balsamic vinegar, pickled asparagus with garlic, rhubarb stewed with ginger and rosemary, hand-picked sour cherries in vanilla syrup and red cherries in red wine, apricot jam from rosy organic orbs and larger yellow ones, a medley of raspberries and blackberries, jam from fresh South Jersey figs, peaches in vanilla syrup, green tomatoes with ginger and vanilla, curried corn relish, tomatillo sauce, quince paste and orange marmalade, plus some other stuff that I can’t remember right now.  Sadly, no canned tomatoes or tomato sauce, salsa, or chutney this year, or dilly beans or cucumber pickles.  Every batch was small – two to four jars except for the tomatillos that I blogged about in November.  Luckily, there was enough variety to hand out as gifts from the pantry.  My family begrudged the gift of any tomatillos, so I guess that was a local hit. Here’s a photo of some of the haul… team-style, before I labeled and decorated the jars.

Categories: PreservingTags: Gifts, Thanksgiving