Just Do the Jam Thing

It was my intention on Saturday morning to go to the Sweet Berry Berry Farm and pick some fresh strawberries. But it seems I was about a week too late - when I checked their website they warned that picking might be slim, not a lot of berries were ripe this week. I decided it was not worth the risk nor the hour-plus-drive to get there. I ran down to the farmer's market instead, where I found a farmer happy to sell me several pounds of fresh, ripe, picked-just-this-morning-berries.

Incidentally, I also found some tiny green garlic, a few greenhouse tomatoes, and a fresh baguette, to which I added some basil from my garden for the best darn bruchetta I think I've ever eaten. I also saved myself enough time that I was able to visit a few of the stops on the Funky Chicken Coop Tour. But my bruchetta and my fascination with urban hens are different stories I shall save for another day, or not.

I needed the quantity of super-fresh berries because I had reserved Easter Sunday for jam making - my first solo effort at jam making. I've been wanting to learn to can for just about as long as I can remember, or at least as long as I've been gardening.

I have tons of fond memories of the canning process. My mom used to preserve the harvest, as did my aunts and my Grandma Ruth. My dad still does. I can remember the kitchen getting steamy from all the boiling water, and the deep sweet smell of the berries cooking, or the sharp savory smell of dill, depending on the harvest. I remember the "pop, pop, pop" of the lids as they sealed themselves and the tiny thrill I got as a kid counting all the "pops" to be sure the whole batch had sealed. It was my job the next day to press the center of each lid and make sure there was no failed jars.

I love those memories. I also love the taste of samples I get when I visit home - hot pickled veggies, salsas, raspberry jams, and old-school dill pickles. There are so many memories in each and every bite. Not just the distance memories of my childhood either. But also the fresher, more recent recollections of summer in Minnesota - when the weather was perfect and the garden overflowed.

Nostalgia is a big motivator for me, as is my new kitchen garden. The time has come for me to learn to can. This past week I did what I almost always do when I want to learn something new; I get a few books, read like a maniac, and give it a go.

That's how I spent my Easter - in the kitchen with a pile of fresh strawberries giving it a go.

The results are fantastic - 9 half pint jars of strawberry vanilla jam and 7 half pints of strawberry lemon marmalade. Both recipes are from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (see link in the sidebar). My first endeavor into canning was wildly successful. I had just one jar that didn't seal of the marmalade, which of course I started eating today. It is a brilliant shade of red, and the tiny bits of lemon peel give it a bright, sunny taste. And while it was delicious this morning, I can only imagine how delicious it will be come December.

Greenling - Organic Food Delivery

I have a new love in my life. I recently signed up for a grocery delivery service —Greenling.com. They bill themselves as “a home delivery service of local and organic food”. While it is not an exclusive arrangement, I am pleased to say I have made a firm commitment to this new grocer in my life. What follows is our story, thus far.

I have been increasingly dissatisfied and desired something new in my grocery life. Because I eat almost exclusively sustainable, organic, and/or local foods I shop at the local high-end natural food market. When I lived in Minneapolis that meant Whole Foods. Now that I’m in Austin, TX it means Central Market. Ironic I suppose since Whole Foods is an Austin based company, but Central Market is closer to home. I like Central Market. It has nice selection, and the people are friendly. But it’s also expensive and huge, and they make my meat buying difficult. I sought change.

I had fantasies of saving money on my monthly grocery bill. Let’s be honest shopping at a high-end natural food mega-mart isn’t cheap. I admit that some items on Greenling are also expensive, and perhaps slightly more expensive. However, I theorized that by limiting my choices to those available at Greenling, and staying away from the store I could avoid the temptation, which is sometimes strong, to buy the impulse items — the plethora goodies that aren’t on the list, but look delicious nonetheless. I could avoid the prepared foods as well, which while convenient are both very expensive and not all that good for a person.

My more-than-once-weekly trips to the giant grocery store take a ton of time, time that I covet, and never seem to have enough of. In the past I didn’t think about it much, I would just begrudgingly cruise every aisle of the market. Then I started paying attention to just how much time it was really taking me to shop, and was stunned to discover I was spending on average 3-5 hours grocery shopping every week. That’s practically a part-time job. And it wasn’t a fun part-time job. These grocery errands were repetitive and getting rather dull — trip after trip of the same old staples, aisle after aisle of the same old same old. A change of scenery was what I needed and I was hopeful that Greenling could be just such a change. I also believed that by leaving my grocery runs behind I would be reducing my carbon footprint. Although I admit I have not done the necessary research to determine by exactly how much, though I assume that every bit helps.

Finally, I sought new kind of meat — cleaner, greener meat. While I abstain from eating meat, and have for 20 plus years, I cook meat, and I serve meat to my loved ones. I was seeking a source of local, organic, and most importantly pastured animal products. Not just “grass-fed”. All animals are “grass-fed” until sent to the feedlot. Not just “free-range” which requires only that the hens have access to the outdoors, but does nothing to enforce how much time they spend there. (I’ve always pictured something like a doggie door on the side of the hen house and the hens having no real idea of how to use it.) No I wanted animal products that were truly pastured and local. Animals that were being humanely raised and eating the diets they had evolved to eat.

These were the things my current market left me wanting. I had to face facts, Central Market just couldn’t satisfy me, just couldn’t be everything I wanted it to be.

Then I met Greenling. We met on the Internet, and at first glance it seemed to be just the thing I was looking for. I flirted with the idea of making a change for several months before I made my move. I was reticent. I approached with caution. I admit I feared that something would be missing from my grocery life; there was something sensual about the time I spent at Central Market. For all it’s faults shopping at Central Market was a sensory experience. There seemed to be something very impersonal and detached about shopping on-line. Would I miss the opportunity to weigh pomegranates in my hand, as if able to tell which will taste best by its heft in my hand? Would I miss pinching the grapes? Would I yearn to smell each hunk of plastic wrapped cheese, deciding which to buy based on a stinky-ness scale I had invented for my self and developed to a finely tuned sixth sense? If you can’t smell the cheese through the plastic, it won’t taste good.

And besides I don’t do well with change, neurotically clinging to the familiar.

But alas, I was smitten. Greenling had caught my eye. I was attracted by the time saving convenience, and the hope of saving a few pennies, and the meat. The thrill seeker in me was also attracted to the element of surprise. Greenling offered a certain sense of mystery and the unknown that I found thrilling and knew could be satisfying. I would replace the thrill of smelling cheese with the thrill of mystery and intrigue.

Ultimately I decided it would be worth it, I was ready to make my move. I created an account; I set my log in and my password, and filled my first virtual basket. I even included the “Surprise Me” item, which promised to be “…super fresh…and impressive”. I set the delivery date.

Then came the anticipation, a close second to mystery and intrigue on the thrilling scale in my world. I found myself looking forward to my delivery, like I look forward to the mail everyday. I was like a schoolgirl, waiting for the prom. I anxiously, and with enthusiasm, waited for the goods to arrive.

And when they did I could not have been more pleased. There on my doorstep, left by the friendly delivery guy, were my Greenling Tubs. And what they held within was beautiful. Inside my tubs was a bounty of organic, and local foodstuffs that I could feel good about spending money on, and even better about eating. It was more than I had hoped for.

The cheese arrived wrapped in paper instead of plastic. It was a sharp, fragrant, and crumbly cheddar made from the raw milk of pastured cows on a local farm by artisan cheese makers. It swept me off my feet.

The local, and organic mushrooms were packed in a paper bag, which is how it should be, allowing the fungi to breath keeps them fresher longer. As a bonus the bag was printed with recipes, a little quaint yes, but I appreciated the gesture. I found it charming.

The eggs were also a real treat. Some were tiny, and some were huge, and they ranged in color from a deep terra cotta to a light latte and just a few were the soft bluish green of turquoise. I haven’t seen eggs like these since I visited my Auntie’s farm as a kid.

I’d have my sensory experience after all.

I also had the smallest grocery bill I have had in some time. And I didn’t even have to leave the house.

I knew right off this wasn’t just any grocer. This was special. I wanted to make it a steady thing, and signed up for delivery dates on a weekly basis. I’m still friendly with my other market, and I’ll still visit for my frozen fruit, and my bulk dry goods. After all, I still need the stability of a well-stocked pantry. But I have traded the temptation of prepared foods for something more wholesome. I now have full access to cleaner, happier meat. I have left behind the daunting hours of cruising aisle after aisle for something fresh and new. I look forward to a long, loving relationship with my new local and organic grocery delivery service.