WHY LIMIT LOVE?

I'm sitting in my Berkshire Preserves kitchen seeking warmth on a rainy, cold, almost-summer, Berkshire kinda day.  The blackberries and strawberries are in a strainer waiting to be made into my sensational Mixed Berry and Port Wine Jam.  Andy loves this one and says that I'm the "Queen of Preserves". Thank you, Andy, but you haven't yet tasted my Apricot Jam!  Although really, when it comes to love, why limit ourselves? 

With citrus season officially over, at least for the exotic varieties that go into my fabulous, on-the-way-to-being-famous Berkshire Preserves marmalades, I've turned my attention to the more seasonal berries and tree fruits. Let me first say this: you've never tasted jam as good as mine. Even little James can tell the difference between let's say, Smuckers, and grandma's Berkshire Preserves Strawberry Jam with Saba. When his mother tried to put one over on him recently (having run out of the good stuff)  James put down his bread and said "This IS NOT grandma's". Smart lad. 

My Mixed Berry Jams have nothing but berries, sugar, lemon and occasionally Port Wine. Although, often as not, I make it without the wine. The berry mixture depends on what's fresh in the market.  The Strawberry Jam sometimes has the addition of Saba, and sometimes not. Saba is the juice of the must of the grape, or the unfermented liquid from the first pressing, boiled down to make a syrup. It is not at all like balsamic vinegar which, for those of you who know me, know that I strongly dislike that stuff. Balsamic vinegar has become as common as those guys who wear their pants with their bums half showing crummy underwear, while Saba is smooth and elegant. 

Last week's experiment was Pineapple, Mango Lime Jam. I didn't chop the mango fine enough. I put in more lime than necessary and I probably need to add more pineapple. So, while it tastes divine - like a touch of the cool Caribbean breezes - it isn't quite a preserve. Neither is it a jam or even a salsa. It really is a "...whatever" and will be quite wonderful with the addition of a small amount of finely minced jalepeno served with grilled pork. Or as a jam on plain rye toast (no seeds and definitely no multi-grain bread). I don't think it'll work in yogurt because the pineapple will curdle it. It should be awesome on vanilla or ginger ice cream or any fruit flavored sorbet. So, it is definitely still a work in progress.

The Apricot Jam on the other hand is magnificent. It is everything an apricot jam should be: full of the apricot's tangy sweet goodness, thick with fruit, a splash of lemon for good luck and just enough sugar to hold it together. Nothing more than that.  The Apricot Jam ranks

up there with the marmalade in flavor, texture and pleasure. You should try some!

Life up here in the Berkshires is damn near perfect. Even with today's cockamamie weather. The book I was reading, Donna Leon's Death in A Strange Country, borrowed from my friend Mary Ellen, was outside and got so wet that I decided to just toss it into the compost heap. I'll buy her another copy. It is one of about 14 Leon books that I'll work my way through this summer. This is definitely not the time for heavy reading. 

Two weeks ago I planted lettuces, swiss chard, 3 kinds of basil, rosemary, chives, oregano and lemon thyme. Oh, and chocolate mint which my friend Natalie the gardener says I should rip out because it is an invasive plant and will soon be all over the garden. Last night I harvested the chives and basil to sprinkle on my room temperature pasta and sausage salad. And, I sprinkled some of the rosemary on a Castagnaccio that I'd made earlier in the day. Castagnaccio is a wonderful, very flat (one half inch), savory chestnut cake. It uses chestnut flour, milk, olive oil, walnuts, pine nuts and rosemary. Some recipes call for plumped raisins, but I don't use them.

We're heading off to a performance tonight of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Gondoliers  which is a benefit for the Corridor Project, part of the Egremont and Sheffield Land Trusts. http://gailsez.org/2010/06/sheffield-egremont-land-trusts-bring-blue-hill-torupe-gondoliers-to-the-mahaiwe/. I love Gilbert and Sullivan, and this is a very worthy project, so tonight will be a success on both counts.

The really big news is that Berkshire Preserves is available for retail sales. Information will soon be posted on this site,(or on a website if I ever get around to creating one) but in the meanwhile, if you want to purchase directly from the factory, please contact me for price and availability. The phone number is 413-528-2824 and the email is berkshirepreserves@gmail.com


The available products are

Seville Orange
Blood Orange
Pink Grapefruit
Mixed Berry with Port Wine
Mixed Berry (thinner, can be used as a sauce)
Strawberry with Saba
Strawberry
Pineapple, Mango, Lime
Apricot

Barbara

PLEASE SAY IT'S ALMOST BERRY SEASON

OK, here's the story. Food making, like anything-else-making, can grow repetitive without variation and numb the brain. Which has happened to me here at BERKSHIRE PRESERVES. Now, I make the best marmalade probably anywhere in the known universe, at least east of the Mississippi and perhaps stretching farther west than that, but really, if I see one more pot of bubbling oranges and grapefruits I'll go crazy. I don't care how demanding my customers are. I need a break from the color orange. This said, please note that I have at least 50 pounds of gorgeous, ripe oranges in my chiller, direct from Sicily, waiting to be canned. Uh huh!

So, to break the pattern, I've been working on recipes using strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. I'm practicing on those woody, tasteless giants knows as Driscol's and those overgrown,hard bulbous things that pass as blackberries and figure that if I can make a wonderful jam using those ugly things, then I can make a wonderful jam using amazing fresh berries. So, in a short while, look for BERKSHIRE PRESERVES exceptionally marvelous Strawberry Jam with Saba and Mixed Berry Jam with Port Wine. My two severest food critics (Jessica and Andy) have claimed them a success.

I'm hoping to  be out selling my products at the Sheffield Farmer's Market (Sheffield, MA) starting on May 21 if I can get my application in on time, buy the canopy, outfit the table, have fliers ready, and produce enough of the preserves to sell to a voracious crown of locals, summer renters, tourists, restaurant scouts and friends. If you're up in the Berkshires this summer and if I can get all of this accomplished, please come and visit me on Friday's from 3:30 to 5:00 in Sheffield right on main street.

I've also just donated a "Special Edition" to the Egremont Land Trust to be auctioned off at their annual meeting in September. I'm hoping to create a preserve using one of the fine liquors from Berkshire Mountain Distillers. 

In the history department, BERKSHIRE PRESERVES had a very successful tasting last Thursday at Guido's in GB where, in just a few hours, I sold 39 jars and last Saturday at Bizalion's where I sold 36. My stock is way down and it would make sense to quit chattering here and go cook.

Oh, and Terry at The Old Mill, has created an amazing dessert for his special menu; BERKSHIRE PRESERVES and whisky bread pudding with creme Anglaise.  So, even if I'm determined to not eat sweets, how can I be seen turning down my own products?

Barbara

Food Artisans in the Berkshires

One of the things that makes me so happy about living and working in the Berkshires is the level of commitment I find to producing good, fresh, wholesome food on the part of so many local food artisans. It is the reason that I named my jam company BERKSHIRE PRESERVES.  I celebrate the warmth and generosity of these artisans, often people who may be in direct competition with each other, and with me, for a place in the market.

Word gets around up here faster than lightening and by now everyone who eats has heard about the great success I'm having at BERKSHIRE PRESERVES. Today I received messages from two shop owners (directly across the street from each other) with requests to carry my amazing marmalade. In addition to that, Guido's in Gt. Barrington informed me that their Lenox/Pittsfield shop wants to stock it as well. And, I have scheduled two more tastings for later in April and early May. As we head into spring, then quickly followed by glorious summer, I look forward to bumper crop of berries and jars and jars of berry and stone fruit preserves. Pretty soon I'll need a change from the smell of orange, as intoxicating as it is.

I went into town earlier today to check out a new baking company, Barrington Bites, www.BarringtonBites.com  that I'd heard about yesterday. Owned by Sherri Gorelick and Wendy Weinberg, the cupcakes they had on display (at the Chef's Shop www.thechefsshop.net) are small and simply beautiful to look at. But, they're not just another pretty face. They're wonderfully tasty and fortunately, small enough to enjoy without feeling guilty. The one I had, chocolate with a salty creme caramel swirl on top was a rich chocolate cake base and icing with just the right amount of sugar that never overpowered the salt and caramel. Barrington Bites is new on the scene and I wish them great success.


This has been an exciting week for  BERKSHIRE PRESERVES since starting in our new (rented) commercial kitchen. It is so much easier to cook up batches of Marmalade on a 10 burner Vulcan range with gigantic natural gas output than it is on my 4 burner GE stove with liquid propane. I simply want to put my arms around that Vulcan and hug it. I'd take it home but it is way too large to fit in my car. Not to draw too fine  point on it, but it wouldn't fit into my home kitchen either.

So today I was in the commercial kitchen and was told to expect to share the space for a while with some children who had an appointment to cook a "pot of soup" for the local soup kitchen. Well, in came 13 strapping, large, gorgeous high school seniors, with their adviser, and more friends in tow and they spread out over the entire (quite spacious) kitchen and got busy making huge pots of vegetarian chili. Now, I like to experiment with food as well as the next guy, but sauteed onions flying into my BERKSHIRE PRESERVES sweet-sticky marmalade doesn't cut the mustard-to keep the references entirely food-related.... So, I quickly took my pans off the heat, covered them and ran out of the kitchen. When I returned hours later the place was quiet, very clean and all mine again.

Here's a recipe for a citrus glazed salmon that even a teenager might enjoy.

CITRUS GLAZED SALMON

Ingredients:
4 portions of salmon (6 to 8 oz each)
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
 1 tbsp. rosemary, finely chopped
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup BERKSHIRE PRESERVES Blood Orange Marmalade

Preparation:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees 
2.  Mix vinegar, olive oil, garlic, rosemary, black pepper and marmalade in a large bowl.
3.  Marinate the salmon in the mixture, in the refrigerator, for 30 minutes.
4.  Remove salmon and place on baking dish.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness of the fish.

Barbara

SPRING THINGS ARE BREWING

Spring things are brewing here at BERKSHIRE PRESERVES in anticipation of a wonderful crop of berries this summer.I've been testing recipes for assertively flavored strawberry jam since I'm really tired of spreading pink sugary stuff on my crumpets. Problem is that all that's available in the market at this time of year are those Driscoll things that more closely resemble lumps of reddish coal than strawberries. And taste like wood. So, really, I can't get a completely accurate idea of what the taste might be when I use the divine local berries found on nearby farms. And then, if this season's berry crop turns out like last year's, there will be nothing available because of frost, hail and other goodies from Mother Nature's basket of disasters.

I've had requests from many people to create a yummy Apricot preserve and I'm up to the challenge, but the only tasty apricots I've had in the last decade or more are the dried Turkish ones and that's cheating. So, if anyone knows a reliable source for tangy, juicy apricots, please tell me. 

It is time to spread out on the shelves where BERKSHIRE PRESERVES is now found and add to the product line. My "marmalades are flying off the shelves" to quote the gourmet food buyer at one of our venues. But, the locavore movement is strong one in Berkshire County and really brings home the idea of eating local - which means buying and producing local. And, the fabulous Seville and Blood Oranges and Pink Grapefruits that so marvelously fill my jars are local only if I moved to California and Florida.


I'm starting in my new (rented) commercial kitchen this week and can't wait to wrap my arms around the 10 burner Vulcan range. If it would fit into my handbag I'd take it home.

I'm scheduled for another BERKSHIRE PRESERVES tasting at Guido's in Gt. Barrington on April 29th and at Bizalion's, also in Gt. Barrington, on May 2. As before, if you're in the neighborhood, please stop by.

Remember, marmalade marries well with Worcestershire Sauce and Soy Sauce. That salty/bittersweet combination is terrific. So, don't use it just on bread....try it on pork, poultry and even on vegetables such as butternut squash and cranberries.

Barbara







BERKSHIRE PRESERVES