It's the Berries...

Once again our Friday CSA box was full of magic! Apricots, green onions, corn, squashes and RASPBERRIES! I am having a love affair with raspberries this summer. I really want to have enough jam this year to last for a few months. The last raspberries I used were local and I purchased them right off the "fruit" highway, but they weren't organic. Sometimes you have to make concessions.
Well...bonus! The raspberries this week were fresh, local and organic. Woot Woot! They really were lovely and clean and smelled like warm summery perfume. I didn't get enough in the CSA to make a whole batch of jam so I contacted the farmer. I asked him if I could get more of those luscious berries. People...get to know your local farmers!  Make friends with them. Not only do I learn all kinds of helpful stuff from this guy...he hooked me up with more of the berry bounty. Now, I've also learned that the farmer likes good, clean, healthy food, too. Occasionally I will offer him a dozen of our beautiful brown eggs and in turn he will usually throw in a few extra egg plants or a bag of cherries. I like this system and I like sharing what we have to offer with someone that will appreciate and enjoy it the way we do. Friday I took him a bottle of the dandelion flavored vodka I made last fall. I always appreciate his feedback and interest in my offerings. He said he'd never tasted anything like it and wondered if I'd added vanilla. Nope...I didn't. Dandelions just have an amazing flavor unlike anything else. It's hard to describe. It's like sunshine and nectar and it's light and airy. No wonder the bees like them!
Anyway, I went on my way with my box of raspberries and headed home to make jam at the peak of ripeness and freshness.

Really, aren't they amazing?

I wish I could share how they smelled in my kitchen. Intoxicating!

I have decided I like just using berries and sugar for my jam. I seem to have better luck without the pectin. (That's just me, it's perfectly fine to use pectin).

My standard recipe is for most any kind of berry. You know, raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, etc.

6 cups of sugar to 9 cups of berries...how easy is that? No, you can't reduce the amount of sugar. Yes, you need to use cane sugar!

I actually got 8-1/2 pints from this batch and a little bit leftover to top some ice cream. Delish...

When measuring out my 9 cups of berries I ended up with a few extra containers of raspberries. I think my farmer friend threw in a couple extra because he liked the dandelion vodka. See, this was a win win for both of us. I was eyeing my kitchen for ideas for the rest of the berries. I did keep one of the little containers to snack on, but still had a couple more. Hmmmm...I happened to spot that leftover brandy I used for the cherries...the brandy was sitting next to a partial bottle of vodka!

Don't be afraid to experiment! I mean, how can you go wrong with raspberry flavored brandy and raspberry flavored vodka? I muddled the berries with a potato masher gently and divided them between a jar of vodka and a jar of brandy. I did add 1/4 cup of sugar and then stirred it all together. It will now sit in a cool, dark corner for a month or so. I will shake it whenever I think about it. After a month I will taste it and decide if it needs more sugar and if I think it should sit a bit longer. At that point it's just about personal preference. I will strain the mixture using a fine sieve and coffee filters because of the pesky raspberry seeds and bottle it in some pretty little bottles. This kind of stuff makes very popular gifts in case you were wondering!

I have a random assortment of these bale jars. Never know when they'll come in handy!