Summer in a Jar

Anise Hyssop and Borage

Like all other living things, humans depend on the environment to sustain them.  That’s why nature is often referred to as “Mother Nature” due to its provision of our survival needs.  Mom Nature is a bit capricious though—one minute providing us with a giddy feeling of joy and fun, the next minute hardship and even tragedy.  It would be putting it mildly to say she takes a bit of accommodation.  One way of handling this is to “go with the flow.”  Nature’s treasures flow generously and regularly if you tune in.  There is so much bounty to be had, the difficulty lies in noticing it and taking advantage of it.  Tuning in can be difficult for humans when so many other things tug at our minds and schedules.  This is evident when it comes to the summer harvest; it is both a blessing and a curse.  There are pleasures to be enjoyed like slipping a sprig of mint into your summer lemonade and scarfing down some pasta with fresh pesto.  But that is just the beginning, because all of a sudden, everywhere around you is some plant spilling out fruits and blossoms that you can eat.  As far as “going with the flow,” you should be advised that six months from now all this will have faded into memory, and you will be hunkered down trying to keep warm and Mom Nature will be taking a slumber from which she cannot be disturbed.   

If you want the joys of summer year-round, you need to preserve it somehow, and there are a myriad of ways.  One of my favorites is canning. 

I think I like canning because I am not one for finessing things, I’m neither patient or dexterous.  With canning, all I have to do is smoosh the things I like together and stick them in a jar, which is just about right for my skill set.  Rather than me waxing poetic about the joys of canning, here’s a little tune written by one of my favorite homeland artists, Greg Brown.  It’s called “Canned Goods.” 

Here are some of the lyrics, good food for thought right now when we seem to be bombarded with so much petty and negative stuff, which is given way more importance than it deserves.  Yes, survival can be a bitch, but sometimes if can be a beautiful, easy-peasy fun thing.

Canned Goods

“Peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin, supper's ready, everybody come on in.
Taste a little of the summer, taste a little of the summer,
You can taste a little of the summer, my grandma's put it all in jars.

Well, there's a root cellar, fruit cellar down below. Watch your head now, and down you go.
Maybe you're weary and you don't give a damn, I bet you never tasted her blackberry jam.
Ah, she's got magic in her - you know what I mean, she puts the sun and rain in with her green beans.

What with the snow and the economy and everything, I think I'll just stay down here and eat until spring."

Jalepeños and Lime Basil that needs pruning

So here is my story of how I preserved this glorious summer day “in a jar.”  I started out by noticing they had Michigan blueberries on sale for dead cheap at the local market, and I had a garden full of basils, including lime basil.  It needed to be pruned or else it was going to seed and that would be the end of it for the summer.  But I wanted more for teas and recipes later on.  So going with the flow, I decided to make my favorite blueberry lime jam with some lime basil that I had pruned.  I also noticed I had jalepeños ripe and ready to go but no tomatoes for salsa.  But lots of peppers also on sale and I found a recipe for basil pepper jelly and remembered my work colleague telling me how much he liked hot pepper jelly.  Plus I had a ton of dried basil also left over from a winter herbal cheese spread making activity.  So more going with the flow and the basil pepper jelly was next on the list.

Tomatoes are still green

The recipe for the lime basil blueberry jam is below.  It is an adapted recipe from the “Ball Blue Book of Canning” for blueberry lime jam.  The only difference was that I included 1 TBLSP of minced fresh lime basil to the recipe.  I also did not have my zester, so I just stuck the lime rinds in the pot of jam along with the remaining basil sprigs to cook along with the jam.  I took that stuff out when I canned it up.   

I searched the Internet for some good information on the safety of adding fresh herbs to tested recipes, and there was not much out there.  It’s not a safe practice to change tested recipes, and fresh herbs don’t always look that great when canned, they can turn an unappetizing brown color and basil is notorious for losing its flavor when cooked.  But this was blueberry jam, which was dark to begin with, and after I minced one large sprig of basil leaves, it was about 1 TBLSP which was a similar quantity found in the recipe for strawberry basil jam.  I am confident it is safe, it is within published guidelines for adding fresh herbs.  I would not advise more than that, since more is not necessarily better when it comes to canning.   

The recipe assumes you know safe canning practices, which can be found on the USDA’s National Center for Home FoodPreservation’s Web site.  A free government service coming out of a government-funded teaching and research center, provided to us and paid for by our tax dollars.  There’s even a free self-study course you can take, educational materials, recipes, videos, slide shows, canning for youth, etc.  What an amazing country we live in!

Blueberry Lime Basil Jam
Start with a bright summer day at the Slayton Arboretum Children’s Garden.

Pick some lime basil and fresh jalepeños.

After thoroughly washing them and setting them out in the sun to dry, clean three pints of blueberries and gather the rest of your ingredients.  You are now ready to make your jam.

Blueberry Lime Jam recipe from “BallComplete Book of Home Preserving” page 32, with slight modifications.

• 4 ½ cups crushed blueberries
• Grated zest and juice of one large lime
• 1 TBLSP finely minced fresh lime basil leaves
• 1 package of regular powdered fruit pectin (1.75 oz.)
• 5 cup granulated sugar

Instructions: Prepare the canning jars and lids by washing them and boiling them for ten minutes.  Mash and macerate the berries, lime juice and zest and lime basil leaves in a heavy saucepan.  You can add the stems of the lime basil but count them so you remember to take them all out at the end!

After the jars are ready, add the powdered pectin to the mashed fruit and bring this mix to a boil over high heat.  Then add the sugar all at once and bring it to a boil again.  Stir frequently to avoid burning.  Once it has come to a rolling boil, time it for a minute.  It is then ready to ladle into the prepared jars.  Leave ¼ inch of headspace in the jars and then put on the lids and rings.  Place the filled and sealed jars back into the boiling water bath and bring to a boil again.  Boil for ten minutes to seal the jars.  Allow the water to cool slightly before removing the jars, to avoid cold shock that could shatter the jars.  Then remove the jars from the boiling water bath.  After the jars have thoroughly cooled, check to see that they are all sealed.

Voilà!