It’s time to hit the canner!

So despite the fact that I should be concentrating on purging my house of trash and start getting a packing order planned, I just had to can something. I saw an ad in our local paper that pickling cucumbers were available- and that got me excited about making my Kosher Dill Pickles. So I whipped out the recipe and made my shopping list. Surpirsingly I only needed mustard seeds and dill heads- and of course the cucumbers. Then I tagged a recipe for Curry Dills which sounded unique, so I headed off to my local grocer to pick up the mustard seeds before heading to the farmstand.

Well, they were out of mustard seeds. Apparantly someone beat me to them. I was not about to drive 20 minutes one way for seeds, so I put my plan on hold. I was sooo disappointed. Well. When I got to the produce department I found that they had blueberries on sale for 99 cents a pint!!! So I changed plans and picked up some pectin for blueberry jam. I also had a bunch of limes that needed to be used, so I made some blueberry lime jam. It’s setting up as we speak- and tastes pretty good. Next time I will up the lime zest a bit- but it’s a nicely sweet jam with a bit of tang from the lime.

Anyway here’s the recipe if anyone’s intersted. It’s from the Ball Blue Book

Blueberry Lime Jam

Yield: about 6 half-pints

4 1/2 cups blueberries
1 package powdered pectin
5 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon grated lime peel
1/3 cup lime juice

Crush blueberries one layer at a time. Combine crushed blueberries and powdered pectin in a large saucepot. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Stir in grated lime peel and lime juice. Return to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll do some driving so that I can make some pickles. I will share those recipes too when I get a chance.