I like to keep busy even when I'm not off gallivanting, so I figured I'd take a stab at blogging about some of my hobbies, interests, and opinions.
If you know me, you know that I like to make jam. I prefer making flavors that you can't just go buy at the store -- peach-ginger, nectarine-orange blossom water, cherry cabernet, peach cardamom. Last week, some plump blackberries and crisp mint caught my eye at the farmers market. The internet's best suggestion for combining the two seemed to be stuffing mint into a tea ball and throwing that into the pot with your fruit and sugar. That sounds like a hot sticky and inefficient mess to me! I thought about using cheesecloth instead, to let me squeeze all the flavor out of the leaves. I burned my fingers enough in my early jam-making days to reject that option too.
And then it hit me -- jam already requires a ton of sugar, why not add some of that sugar in the form of a simple syrup? That way, I could infuse that syrup with my mint, strain out the soggy mint leaves, and get just the minty goodness into my jam. It worked marvelously. Flavor is great. Softer set than usual due to the added liquid used for the sugar syrup, but well within acceptable jam range. And no finger burns or sticky tea balls to clean out.
My other experiment that evening didn't turn out so well. While nectarine-basil sounded like an intriguing filling for an Italian polenta cake, the jam ended up with a displeasing wilted greens flavor by the time it was done. The basil-infused simple syrup actually tasted perky and green, but by the time it had boiled a second time with the fruit and pectin, the bloom was off the rose. Still brainstorming options for avoiding that overcooked basil flavor next time.
