sprinklefingers

oh my sweet preserved fruits, is it just me or are the timeless kitchen crafts of preserving & canning getting a major shout-out these days?

i, for one, am thrilled about it. for the last few seasons when i embarked on my jam-for-the-year* weekends, my friends would think i was completely nuts. not anymore. now that they see a book with a superhip cover sitting on the shelf of their favorite local grocer they’re all, “hey, i saw a book about canning at the grocery store - i guess you’re not my grandma afterall.”

now that it’s firmly established that i am no one’s grandma, i’d like to tell you about this method of preserving that i’ve been experimenting with.

i first read about it in the river cottage preserving handbook. basically, you prepare whatever it is you’re going to preserve or can, then instead of using a pressure cooker or water bath to seal the jars, you use this little thing called YOUR OVEN.

this may not sound like a big deal to you now, but once you make your first batch of preserved fruit or jam and you’re standing over a GIANT pot of boiling water for 4 hours, sweating like a pig while simultaneously receiving a steamy facial, you’ll truly appreciate the fact that you can fill your oven with many jars at a time, set the timer and walk away until they’re done.

and, because the oven method is so user friendly, it’s a great place for those who are new to canning & preserving to start. once you have success with this method you’ll have all sorts of confidence to go out and try other adventures in canning! yes!

now, let’s preserve some blueberries!
blueberries are a good place to start because they’re not easily bruised or smooshed. since you’ll be packing them into jars, you’ll appreciate this fact very soon.

preserved blueberries

you need:

• 3 sterilized 16oz canning jars with metal lids & rings

• 4 pints blueberries - washed, stemmed & dried
• juice of 1 orange
• 9 strips of thinly sliced orange peel

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups water

here’s how you do it:

preheat oven to 300.

1. in a small saucepan, bring the water & sugar to a boil.
2. once it reaches a boil, turn off the heat and stir in orange juice.
3. in a separate saucepan, put some plain old water on the stove to boil. once boiling, pour it into your jars to warm them up. let the water sit in the jars until you’re ready to fill them with berries. (then dump it out and proceed with the next step.)
4. pack the blueberries into the jars as tightly as you can without smooshing them. you want the jar to be as full as possible while still allowing the lid to sit on top of the jar without smashing any berries.
5. while packing the blueberries, slide three slices of orange peel (per jar) into the jars.
6. set the jars on a baking sheet for easy transporting into the oven.
7. once you’ve got your berries packed, return the sugar/water/juice mixture to a boil.
8. once the syrup reaches a good, roiling boil, remove it from the heat and immediately ladle it over the blueberries in the jars. you’ll want to completely cover the blueberries -  keeping in mind you’ll have to put the lid on.
9. the liquid will cause the berries to float, which will allow you a chance to see if you can pack any more berries into your jars. if you can still put the lid on without causing any damage to the fruit, then perhaps try to wiggle a few more berries into the jars.
10. once fully packed, take the metal lids (not screw bands) and set them on top of the jars. you can even press down on them a bit to get them to stay on the jar.
11. slide the baking sheet with the jars with the lids (and not the screw bands) into the oven. close the door and let sit in the oven for no less than 30 minutes. (sometimes, because i’m doing something else, they stay in for 33 minutes. i’ve even left them in for 35. but, really, it only takes 30 minutes.)
12. after 30 or so minutes, remove the tray & jars from the oven and screw on the screw bands (carefully because they’ll be hot!)
13. tighten the bands as much as you can, then let the jars sit overnight.
14. the next day, test your seals by pressing down on the top of the jar. if it’s wobbly, the jar didn’t seal (put the jar in the fridge for storage, you can still eat what’s inside!) if you detect no movement, then - success! those jars can be stored in your pantry!

these preserved blueberries can be enjoyed in any manner of special treats - stirred into yogurt, on top of pancakes, waffles or french toast - plopped with a bit of the syrup into a glass of champagne…and i also have a post coming soon where the preserved blueberries are used in a tart!

here’s a shot of some preserved blueberries in my very own pantry. oooh! what else do i see? honeyed hazelnuts!

*jam-for-the-year: using a tricky jam-eating equation, i figured out exactly how many jars of jam our family eats each week. to that total i added a few jars here & there for gifts or visitors or jam emergencies. i added everything up and it resulted in a (very large) number of jars of jam that i’d need to can during berry season so that we’d have homemade jam all the time (until next year’s berry season.) hell yes, i’m preparing an actual post on the madness.