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It`s time again for the can jam.  Heeehaaaaw!

The mystery ingredient (picked by the most fabulous Dorris and Jilly) was carrots.

Carrots present a small problem – can jam rules state we have to stick to hot water bath canning.  Water baths are intended for high-acid foods (such as most fruits) and won`t work for low-acid foods (such as most veggies).  With 120 canners looking for high acid recipes it will be interesting to see how many varieties of carrots we can come up with.  So far we`ve seen some exciting stuff (an update will go out next week with all of the recipes – check the link above or we`ll post an update here).  Options were not as plenty as with high-acid foods.

Our second problem is that our pantry already contains spicy pickled carrots (a family favourite – they sound odd to the uninitiated and are a secret love of most of the indoctrinated).  They are some of my favourite preserves – our present supply is ample…

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This entire section between the dashes can be absolutely skipped if you wish – it`s a side story to explain a bit about my thought process for this month and a few anecdotes about my approach to food in general.

February 4, 2007.  It was my Mother`s birthday.  It was also the Superbowl.

I awoke early and jumped into the kitchen.  I felt a little silly as I cubed pieces of filet minion into small pieces and seared them in a white-hot pan.

I fired up the BBQ and scorched peppers of many colors.  They leaked on the stairs as I carried the sweating flesh in grocery bags up our 46 steps into the heart of our apartment.

When our homemade tomato sauce hit the slow cooker I knew things were coming together.  When the moose burger began to cook, I knew there was something magical happening in the pot.

12 hours later our house was full.  There were many people over to talk, hang out, and kind of see the game (a few of us actually watched).  It was an excuse to cook and to get together and have a few beverages with friends.

Our friend Tracey filled her bowl and had a bite.  Tracey`s face lights up when it smiles and I saw her glow from the other side of the room.  She summoned me and then she said it; `This is the best Chilli I`ve ever had.`  I smiled.

To properly tell this story, I need to explain that I woke up at 5am on Saturday the 3rd.  I went to the Market with a single mission: I was going to buy the ingredients I needed to make a chilli.  I didn`t want to make any chilli – I wanted to make a chilli that when friends ate it they would, unprovoked, offer that it was the best they ever had.  Tracey was the first of 3 to offer that judgement that day.

I adore food.

More than food, I adore people.  There is nothing, for me, more fun than making someone smile, laugh, moan or react with some form of pleasure while consuming something I have made for them.  I like cooking and hosting friends more than going to most restaurants.

When I cook for others, I try to find something that will connect to them in a way they may not expect.

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We had pickles.  It was time to look around and check for other options.  I found some great ideas from cultures around the world.  And look as I may, my journeys kept travelling through my personal history and to 2 camping trips to Prince Edward County this summer.

One trip brought us to a roadside stand named Pat`s Jams.  Pat jarred over 2,000 jars of preserves last year.  She sells them from a shed on her property.

We came home with 7 jars including an odd concoction called `Carrot Cake Jam.`  We haven`t tried it yet but we did find a recipe for it in the Bernardin (Ball in the USA) cookbook.  I believe several others in the can jam have made it this month.

The idea of the recipe left me a little cold.  I love carrot cake but something just seemed wrong to me…

And then I remembered our first camping trip to the county.  We camped with another couple (dear friends) and their children (including my God Daughter).  That trip brought so many memories back – my first camp fire, sleeping in a tent, eating dinner cooked over a fire and many more.  Of the many things I own, these memories are some of the dearest I possess.

I remember camping with Boy Scouts.  We were shown how to cut the core out of an apple, stuff it with brown sugar and cook it in the fire wrapped in tin foil.  It was stunning and something I often think of when staring at a camp fire.  There was something magical about the entire experience and I am sure it changed, in part, how I relate to food.

All of these memories blurred together just as a moment of utter brilliance as I remembered PIE IRONS.

A pie iron is a simple device.  Place something between two pieces of bread, butter the outside, stick it in a pie iron (think sandwich maker) and heat over a fire.  Apple pie filling was my favourite – we got to cook our own magical pie over the primal source of flame.  We would inevitably burn our tongues on hot filling and squeal with delight as the sweet contents teased our taste buds.

It was that moment that I knew my mission – it was time to make carrot cake jam so we could fill pie irons with friends (young an old) around the fire.  It would be a great way to introduce some to canning (especially kids) and explain to them that the carrots had stayed in the can for 8 or 9 months (`ewwwwwwwww`).

Sometimes I make preserves for me.  Lemon Squash was all about my personal love affair with lemonade.

Sometimes I make them to make others smile.  I make a wild blueberry and maple syrup jam that is designed for my Uncle John (though many adore it).  My pickled garlic was designed for Pat, Jessie and Sherwin (he is still missing his jar).  Carrot cake jam – this one`s for the kids (young and old) who I will share campfires with this summer.

The recipe:

1.5 cups of carrots (we used a food processor with a grater attachment – from past experience we cut the carrots into small sticks so the shreds would be small – whole carrots made long, awkward strings in previous cans)
2 cups chopped and pealed pears (the finer you chop them, the more ‘carroty’ this jam will look in comparison)
1.75 cups canned pineapple (and juice)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
.5 teaspoon cloves (in a cheesecloth sack)
1 package pectin
6.5 cups of sugar

Boil everything but the sugar and pectin for 20 minutes before adding pectin (off heat) and return to a boil.  Add sugar at once, stir and bring to a hard boil for 60 seconds.  Can in 8-ounce (250 ml) bottles, process for 10 minutes.

The fruit increases the acid in the preserve which allows us to can this safely.  It was fairly liquid at first – it is continuing to thicken in the 24 hours since.

6.5 cups of preserves cost us less than $6 (not including cavities ).

Shaeffer wanted to remind everyone that some dogs adore carrots.  I think he was mostly worried about himself but I suppose his point is still relevant.