When something, no matter how seemingly insignificant, turns out just right it lifts us up and makes our day.

Monday night my friend came over to make to make apple jelly. I had picked up some tart green apples at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. Sunday night I cut them up and boiled them with some water and let the juice drain off overnight. I read in several books to expect 1 cup of juice from 1 pound of apples. We started out with a little over 3 pounds of apples and ended up with about 11 cups of juice. I was certain the juice was too watery. I wanted to add just enough water to cover the apples, but of course the apples floated to the top (duh!) so I ended up with more water in the pot than I had intended.

We cooked some of the juice down some more and had 9 cups when we started making the jelly. We divided it into two batches and decided to make one batch plain and one batch scented with lemon verbena. We used three cups of sugar and one lemon per batch. Each batch yielded four jars of the most delightful jelly, with a perfect set and just sweet enough to bring out the fresh slightly tart apple flavor without overpowering it.

And the lemon verbena is so wonderful and subtle. I think the flavor of the verbena has changed over the summer. When I tried it earlier in the season (I used it for tea and for flavoring ice cream) it a somewhat coarser, more herbal flavor. Now its aroma is very light and heady. Some of that may be due to boiling it with sugar in jelly, but I noticed a difference even when I used it in tea.

I am so amazed that the jellies turned out so beautiful. It was easy and everything was just right. The hard part is reproducing the experience. It is impossible because there are so many unpredictable variables involved: how ripe are the apples and how much pectin do they have? How acid are they? How tart? How easily do they release their juice? And my lemon verbena will never be precisely the same.

With all of these variables, recipes can only be guidelines. I try not to use commercial pectin anymore, not only because I like a challenge and because, on a lucky day, the end result is superior, but because, paradoxically, using a jelling agent gives you less control over the process. You have to rely more on the recipe more and less on your instincts.

Instructions for Apple Jelly (with Optional Herbal Flavor)

Quarter or chop apples coarsely. Do not peel or core but cut off any brown spots. Put in large pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes or until apples are soft and the skins come off. Pour apples through a fine sieve to collect juice. Let juice drain freely, do not push down pulp. Moisten four layers of cheesecloth or jelly bag. Fill remaining pulp in cheesecloth or jelly bag and find a way so that the bag can be suspended bag over a bowl and the juices can drain. For example, you can hang the bag from a cabinet handle and put the bowl under it. (There are also commercial stands for jelly bags you can buy.) Let juice drain overnight.

The juice you last drained will be thicker and has more pectin. If you have enough juice for several batches, make sure you mix all the juice together before to dividing it into different batches.

(The pulp that remains in the bag can be pushed through a food mill or strainer and used as applesauce. You may want to add some apple juice to it, or sweeten or season it, e.g. with cinnamon.)

Get canning equipment and jars ready. Put several small plates into freezer.

Measure the juice into a large heavy saucepan. Preferably, don't work with more than 6 cups of juice in one batch. Add a two-third (2/3) cup of sugar for each 1 cup of juice. Add strained juice of one lemon. If you want to flavor the jelly, tie about 3-5 large sprigs of herb (e.g lemon verbena, lemon balm, mint, lavender, rosemary etc.) into a bundle with kitchen twine. If using dried herbs tie ca. 2 tablespoons in a piece of cheesecloth or cotton tea bag. Add to the juice.

Bring juice to a boil over high heat. Stir and watch it closely. It should boil vigorously. When it gets thicker (it may take anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes) pour a small spoonful on one of the plates from the freezer and put it back into the freezer for a minute or two. Stop cooking when jelly on the test plate is only slightly runnier than you would like it (It will continue cooking in the pot a bit as it cools off). It should wobble a bit when you shake the plat and when you pull a finger through it it should not run together anymore.

Discard herbs if there are any. If there is a lot of foam you may want to skim it off and save it for immediate use. Pour jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Let jars cool off for at least twelve hours. The jelly should be jiggly but not totally firm. If it seems too soft give it some more time. It may take up to two weeks to completely set. Putting it in the refrigerator may help. If a batch is really too soft you can either use it as sauce on pancakes, ice cream etc. Or you can cook it again to a firmer consistency. It is better to err on the soft side though, because there is not much you can do if it is too hard.

Please familiarize yourself with basic canning procedures and food-safety guidelines.  10:29:06 AM    
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Yesterday's harvest was not bad at all. Lots of eggplants. I almost waited too long and one had some brown spots inside. I made Moussaka (without meat). So good! But a lot of work since it involves so many steps before you can finally put the pan in the oven: broiling peppers and peeling them, broiling eggplant, frying potatoes, making toamto sauce, assembling the whole thing. But it was worth it. And we will still have leftovers tonight.

I am getting the roof ready for my first attempt at fall planting. It seems a bit too hot still for anything tender to grow. But a late harvest of some beans, cucumbers, radishes and greens would be nice.

I am contemplating setting up a very simple passive hydroponic system. Nothing complicated or mechanical. That way I wouldn't have to schlepp so much soil up there, and since I would drain the system in the winter there would be less weight with the added snow-load.

I am still a bit skeptical whether it will actually work. I will set up a few very simple containers as a trial.

I got some new tart apples at the market. Tonight I will make some apple jelly. Maybe scented with some lemon balm or lavender. Or lemon verbena. I can't decide. Maybe some of each. Or maybe just plain.  10:43:22 AM    
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I took some pictures today. For now, I will just post them without much comment. I will write about some new ideas for the roof very soon.

Everyone says you can't grow pumpkins in pots. Around here they just keep popping up.

I didn't plan on these two ears of corn either.

These tomatoes will be harvested soon.

I ran out of pots. We had the first eggplant yesterday. There are many more.  11:53:44 PM    
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Inspired by food blogger Nupur we went to Jackson Heights last Saturday to check out the Indian neighborhood. I love to be a tourist in my own city! There was so much fresh and inexpensive produce, and of course I couldn't pass up the deal on mangoes by the box ... and then it was Mango Mania!

I made mango sorbet, mango habanero salsa, mango jam and mango chutney. And of course there was plenty of mango to eat.

I made the mango jam with 50% of sugar to the amount of fruit and added one cup of homemade juice from tart pectin-rich apples plus one cup of sugar and the juice of one lemon. The turned out fine. Fine, but not spectacular. I don't quite know what is lacking. Mango can sometimes be a bit one-dimensional. Maybe lime instead of lemon would have given it a bit more zing. Interestingly, the girls said that it was too sour. Lime zest might be interesting, too. And for some reason I keep thinking anise. Raspberries would definitely be great! Maybe I should go back and get another box. Or two.  5:44:00 PM    
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Coming back from a visit to Germany where I grew up and lived until I was 27, to me feels like a time of transition, and a good point to re-assess, think things over, and find ways to make adjustments.

One of my resolutions is to take myself more seriously professionally, and in that vein, I did my best to finish an assignment as soon as I had started up my computer.

And then there is summer. With the heat and the humidity came the bounty, and I am finally back to Pickles & Jams. However, after the jamming and jellying and by the time I have cleaned up my kitchen I am too exhausted to blog.

I will try to keep up in bits and pieces, and not always in chronological order. I am learning and documenting my failures and successes is part of the process.

So far I have made mulberry jelly and jam (I am not sure if it set enough, I may have to reprocess), cherry vanilla jam last night which came out great, pesto from the basil on my roof (this will be an ongoing project all summer long). Tonight I want to make some apple jelly from some "real" apples I picked up at the farmer's market. I need to look around for crabapples. I have a feeling there must be some apple trees on the campus of a nearby college.

I am off to deal with some paperwork on my desk. Hopefully I will be back later, writing about mulberries or cherries.  1:20:24 PM    
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We came back Tuesday night. The trip was good. We had quality time with friends and family. I will report more later.

Culinary highlight: elderberry blossom "champagne." I never made anything like that before. It turned out great!

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and on the way home I discovered a mulberry tree - with ripe berries that I could actually reach! I went back today and picked some, and later today clambered around in various parks with dog-owners. It turns out dog-owners know their parks! Now the juice is draining from the berries and hopefully tomorrow I will make jelly. I have no experience whatsoever with mulberries, but foraging for them is a lot of fun.

My "garden" is growing wild. I have lots of tomatoes ripening, basil, eggplants etc. I have to spend some time with tidying up and growth control.

I have to go to sleep now. I am exhausted. Jet-lag and mulberries.  11:10:45 PM    
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This blog will be on hiatus again (well, when is it not?); this time for three weeks as we will visit my family in Germany. I will not even attempt to sum up the goings-on of the past week. Instead I will post a few pictures from my "gardens," before they burst into bloom and hopefully fruit. Hey, if we had a webcam, we could watch things grow from afar.

One thing I would like to say though is, that my fast was the best thing I did for myself since I had my children. I feel rejuvenated, both physically and mentally. I am back to eating normal now, although more thoughfully and in smaller portions. I will definitely go back and fast again. I had some major detoxification happening on day six and I am not sure I got rid of all the nasty stuff since I broke the fast on day seven. I hope to talk more about it when I get back.

The windowboxes have filled in nicely.

In my backyard the lilies are just about ready to start blooming.

And here is my little rooftop farm:

  9:41:24 PM    
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