Labeled and Unnamed
Right on time for delivering jam this week, the stamp for label-making arrived in the mail. Nova Askue and I conferred and confirmed the last changes and details on the design just two weeks ago. She sent the finalized design off to a stamp-maker, someone who could etch it in rubber and affix a wooden handle to that rubber. Thanks to a gift from my sister last Christmas I already had an inkpad. (The inkpad came with a sweet potato into which she'd carved the shape of a flower, you know, a vegetable stamp). I've also been collecting paper for years. Now I know why.
I still have no name for this honey and fruit project of mine. I wanted a look for it first. Cherry blossom, the working honey bee, and the preserves jar. I have this hope that honey and fruit can marry in a jar because as the blossom needs the bee to form fruit so too the fruit needs honey to persevere as a preserve.
This past weekend, in an anticipation of my first delivery for the jam subscription, I made five more jams. Some of them were repeats, more Tayberry and Black Currant. Currants have so much pectin and the jam sets hard so the changes that take place in the cooling of the jam differ wildly from the cooling of a raspberry or apricot jam. This weekend I tried improving upon the textural issues I encountered with my first round of Black Currant Jam. Judging from the feel of the small amount left over in the kettle, I don't think I managed to nail it. It tastes delicious but it's still just a little too thick. Black Currants might be done for the year too so I might have to wait until next year to figure out the Currant and honey equation.
After juicing upwards of twenty lemons for jam making this weekend I had marmalade on the mind so I dug out the Meyer Lemon and Strawberry Marmalade I made in May. I think the texture is all I could ask for from a honey preserve. The strawberry is just an accent but Meyer Lemons are so singular I think it's hard to feel like anything's missing when you're eating them. Along with the Marmalade I chose the Tayberry (talk about singular flavor!) Jam for this round of the honey fruit subscription. Let me know what you think. Happy tasting.
