Category: Vegetarian Dishes

Cranberry Raspberry Jam

Wild raspberry jam is one of our favorites. Most years we have picked enough to make two or three batches plus plenty of fresh berries to top ice cream on hot days. But when summer rains fail to arrive on time, picking enough berries for even one batch can be a challenge. The situation was particularly dire a few years ago. We picked a cup and froze the berries, then another from the same small patch near the brook, but we never got enough for a full recipe.

Since we usually send jams and jellies in goody boxes to our siblings for Christmas, we needed to do something. I was so desperate that I even considered buying tame raspberries. However, since we had a lot of frozen cranberries, I decided to experiment with the few raspberries we had collected. The result was a resounding success.

This year our problem was scheduling visits to the cabin when the berries were ripe. We were saved by a friend who invited me to pick all the raspberries I needed from his garden. I made two batches of raspberry jam and Jerri froze two cartons of crushed raspberries ready to make cranberry raspberry jam when cranberries came into season.

Last Sunday we stopped at a cranberry marsh west of Stone Lake, Wisconsin, and bought ten pounds of beautiful berries. Tuesday we made twenty-three jars of cranberry raspberry jam. And again it was delicious.

Here is how to do it.

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups chopped cranberries

2 cups crushed wild or tame raspberries

7 1/2 cups sugar

1 pouch Certo fruit pectin

1/2 tsp. butter

Paraffin wax to seal the jars

PROCEDURE:

First wash and sterilize enough jelly jars to hold ten cups. Stand the washed jars upside down in a nine by thirteen-inch cake pan on the the range. Pour about an inch of hot water into the pan and bring the water to boiling for five minutes. Use canning tongs to remove the hot jars from the pan and allow them to drain on a rack.

Be sure that all the berries have been washed and picked over. Measure the sugar into a bowl. Open the Certo pouch and stand it in a cup or glass where you can reach it easily when the time comes to add the pectin.

Chop the cranberries. I use a small hand chopper. Do not purée the berries. Crush the raspberries. Put the prepared fruit into a Dutch oven and add the sugar and butter. Stir the sugar into the fruit and turn the heat on low. As liquid is released, raise the heat. Keep stirring and bring the jam to a full rolling boil (a boil that keeps bubbling when you stir it). Stir in the pectin and return the jam to a full rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly.

Remove the jam from the heat and skim off any foam. A gravy ladle works great for this. Put the sterilized jars on waxed paper and use a dipper and funnel to fill the jars, leaving a one-third-inch head space. If necessary, use a piece of moistened paper towel to remove any dribbled jam from the tops of the jars.

Close the tops of the jars with screw caps or plastic wrap tied in place.

NOTES:  You can use unsweetened frozen raspberries from your local supermarket. Thaw and crush the berries before making the jam.  If the cranberries are frozen, you will find them easier to chop.

Isolde’s Rotkohl (Red Cabbage)

Last week I used some of the green cabbage I bought at the Farmer’s Market the previous Saturday to make John’s Haluski.  There were some beautiful red cabbages for sale that also tempted me, but Jerri’s observation that “We can only eat so much” killed that impulse before I even picked up the particularly good-looking head that had caught my eye.

But seeing that red cabbage got me thinking about a weekend we spent in Washington, DC with Gunther and Isolde, our friends from West Germany, when I was a student at the University of Virginia and Jerri was teaching high school in Charlottesville.  Gunther was working on a doctorate in economics and had a fellowship in Washington.

Like most Germans from that era, they liked to walk.  We were young then and managed to keep up as they guided us through the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and on trails along the Potomac River.  They were neat people who enjoyed good wines and good food.  Gunther picked out the wines and Isolde was a gourmet cook.

Isolde’s red cabbage is the best I have ever tasted, and Jerri does a great job with it.  This recipe complements any roast, but it is especially good with pork.  It’s easy to make, inexpensive and delicious any time you can find a good head of red cabbage.  But it is also a festive dish that will make your holiday dinner special.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. of red cabbage (1 medium head)
2 T of butter or oil
1 medium onion (about 2” in diameter)
1 cup of apple cider
3 or 4 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
3 or 4 cloves
2 or 3 T sugar
1/8 to 1/4 tsp. salt to taste

PROCEDURE:

Prepare the cabbage by removing any wilted outer leaves and the stem.  Wash it thoroughly and chop it, but not too finely.  Remove the outer layers from the onion and chop it fine.  Heat the butter or oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion a minute or two until it is transparent.  Add the chopped cabbage and allow it to cook a few minutes uncovered.

Add the apple cider, vinegar, bay leaf, cloves, sugar and salt.  Stir and cover.  Turn down the heat and allow the cabbage to simmer for 70 to 90 minutes.  Properly done, the cabbage will be soft but not mushy.

This is a side dish that you can prepare a day in advance, if you wish, or serve it proudly as a leftover, for as Isolde wrote at the end of her recipe:  “Der Kohl schmeckt besonders gut, wenn er aufgewärmt ist.”  Or, “The cabbage tastes especially good when it is warmed up again.”