Raspberry Jam!
Jul. 1st, 2023 09:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickAfter I told my mom about the bumper crop of raspberries this year, my mom specifically asked for raspberry jam. She does not ask me for many things and she's 81. And while I don't have the world's best mother-daughter relationship, certainly raspberry jam is not beyond me when I am literally awash in raspberries.
I do not particularly like jams. They are lumpy. Not a fan. I like preserves that spread evenly in a thin layer on whatever bread-like item I want to spread them on. I mean, I can and will do jam, but it is not MY jam.
In particular, raspberry jam is not only lumpy, it's very seedy. Nature of raspberries, but still, ew. Mom does not care that it has seeds. She is wrong, but it's what she wants. I follow the Sure Jell Box directions for black raspberry jam because I don't have a dialed-in product like I do for my jellies. *sigh*
Fwiw, Mom likes my preserves, of all types. In the past she has said things like 'You make excellent jellies. Like, better by far than any others I've ever had. You should enter them in the farm show.' (Mom lives in Harrisburg, about six blocks from the Farm Show Complex. Farm Show prizes are on her radar.)
I am not into making jelly that will "score well" at the farm show judging. The judges there are looking for things that are not what I am looking for in my jellies... notably clarity* and jiggly-ness** of firm set. Directly from the farm show rules: For example, a jelly is made from fruit juice; the product is clear and firm. I DO NOT LIKE "clear and firm" jellies. I just don't.
Can I make perfectly clear and firm jelly that tastes outstandingly good? Yes. I do know how to do that and I could 100% do the thing if I wanted to do it. I think the primary disconnect here is that mom does not understand why I don't want to make unacceptable prize-winning jelly so that I can win prizes.
I do not give a shit about winning prizes. I do not give a shit if the farm show people like my jelly or not. It is for me and it has been carefully dialed-in over the years to be exactly what I want out of a jelly.
I do not want to waste a jar of perfectly good just-the-way-I-like-it jelly on asshat judges who will not appreciate how fucking delightful it is. Pursuing this course of action when I know up front that my product does not meet the fucking criteria for prizewinning is just asking for unhappiness.
If my mother truly wants my jelly to be entered in the fucking farm show where it will not win and thereby be wasted, she is free to take her gifted jars, unopened, and sacrifice them to the farm show judges. I note for the record that she does not do this. SHE EATS HER JELLY. I'm supposed to waste DIFFERENT jars than the ones she gets. Yeah, not gonna happen.
If I wanted to win prizes at the farm show for my jelly, I would already be doing that. Prizes at the farm show are not super-motivating for me. Don't care. Not aiming at the farm show and their completely incorrect guidelines for judging jellies.
I carefully explained all of this to my mother. I don't know if it made a difference or not. It's hard to tell with her.
* I do not produce clear jelly because I squeeze the hotted up fruit to extract juice. Squeezing the fruit makes the juice-for-jelly cloudy AND you get more juice, faster. Cloudy jelly has particulates which provide places for the jelly to break and spread smoothly. In my world, squeezing the hotted up fruit is a better way to render your juice for jelly if you choose to prioritize taste*** and spreadability over clear & jiggly.
** I do not produce jelly that sets exceptionally firmly ON PURPOSE because I hate large globs of jelly that sit unspreadably all over my toast like vile sugary Portuguese man of wars (Portuguese men of war? I'm honestly not sure, here. Also you do get that it's because they're roughly the same shape and color as the unspreadable blobs of jelly, right? On a sand colored beach which is like toast color? Ruining everything? This is the sort of kwalidy craftswomanship I bring to the table here. Don't want you to miss it.). The slightly softer set of the cloudy jelly I make spreads out thin and even on all appropriate food items. I like evenly-spread cloudy jelly a lot better than than I like big jiggly lumps of perfectly-clear jelly adjacent to jelly-free areas.
*** When rendering juice for jelly, I do not add any water at all to the grapes or elderberries. All the juice is juice, without any added water. It should not come as a shock to any of us here that 100% fruit juice with ZERO ADDED WATER makes a better jelly than fruit juice that's been diluted with water. Water is not known for its flavor content.
I do not particularly like jams. They are lumpy. Not a fan. I like preserves that spread evenly in a thin layer on whatever bread-like item I want to spread them on. I mean, I can and will do jam, but it is not MY jam.
In particular, raspberry jam is not only lumpy, it's very seedy. Nature of raspberries, but still, ew. Mom does not care that it has seeds. She is wrong, but it's what she wants. I follow the Sure Jell Box directions for black raspberry jam because I don't have a dialed-in product like I do for my jellies. *sigh*
Fwiw, Mom likes my preserves, of all types. In the past she has said things like 'You make excellent jellies. Like, better by far than any others I've ever had. You should enter them in the farm show.' (Mom lives in Harrisburg, about six blocks from the Farm Show Complex. Farm Show prizes are on her radar.)
I am not into making jelly that will "score well" at the farm show judging. The judges there are looking for things that are not what I am looking for in my jellies... notably clarity* and jiggly-ness** of firm set. Directly from the farm show rules: For example, a jelly is made from fruit juice; the product is clear and firm. I DO NOT LIKE "clear and firm" jellies. I just don't.
Can I make perfectly clear and firm jelly that tastes outstandingly good? Yes. I do know how to do that and I could 100% do the thing if I wanted to do it. I think the primary disconnect here is that mom does not understand why I don't want to make unacceptable prize-winning jelly so that I can win prizes.
I do not give a shit about winning prizes. I do not give a shit if the farm show people like my jelly or not. It is for me and it has been carefully dialed-in over the years to be exactly what I want out of a jelly.
I do not want to waste a jar of perfectly good just-the-way-I-like-it jelly on asshat judges who will not appreciate how fucking delightful it is. Pursuing this course of action when I know up front that my product does not meet the fucking criteria for prizewinning is just asking for unhappiness.
If my mother truly wants my jelly to be entered in the fucking farm show where it will not win and thereby be wasted, she is free to take her gifted jars, unopened, and sacrifice them to the farm show judges. I note for the record that she does not do this. SHE EATS HER JELLY. I'm supposed to waste DIFFERENT jars than the ones she gets. Yeah, not gonna happen.
If I wanted to win prizes at the farm show for my jelly, I would already be doing that. Prizes at the farm show are not super-motivating for me. Don't care. Not aiming at the farm show and their completely incorrect guidelines for judging jellies.
I carefully explained all of this to my mother. I don't know if it made a difference or not. It's hard to tell with her.
* I do not produce clear jelly because I squeeze the hotted up fruit to extract juice. Squeezing the fruit makes the juice-for-jelly cloudy AND you get more juice, faster. Cloudy jelly has particulates which provide places for the jelly to break and spread smoothly. In my world, squeezing the hotted up fruit is a better way to render your juice for jelly if you choose to prioritize taste*** and spreadability over clear & jiggly.
** I do not produce jelly that sets exceptionally firmly ON PURPOSE because I hate large globs of jelly that sit unspreadably all over my toast like vile sugary Portuguese man of wars (Portuguese men of war? I'm honestly not sure, here. Also you do get that it's because they're roughly the same shape and color as the unspreadable blobs of jelly, right? On a sand colored beach which is like toast color? Ruining everything? This is the sort of kwalidy craftswomanship I bring to the table here. Don't want you to miss it.). The slightly softer set of the cloudy jelly I make spreads out thin and even on all appropriate food items. I like evenly-spread cloudy jelly a lot better than than I like big jiggly lumps of perfectly-clear jelly adjacent to jelly-free areas.
*** When rendering juice for jelly, I do not add any water at all to the grapes or elderberries. All the juice is juice, without any added water. It should not come as a shock to any of us here that 100% fruit juice with ZERO ADDED WATER makes a better jelly than fruit juice that's been diluted with water. Water is not known for its flavor content.
