Preserves

Sage and Late Harvest Wine Jelly

Since we've had some favorite repeats (Baked Callaloo and Sweet Sesame and Melon Salad) for dinner the last two nights, I thought I'd post about some preserves I've made recently. The sage and wine jelly recipe I found in our '65 Years of Gourmet' cookbook, and can be found online here. Printed as Sauternes and Sage Jelly, it's 1947's favorite recipe. Since I already had a bottle of Wollersheim Very Late Harvest Wine that I'd been saving since 2003, I decided to substitute it for the Sauternes. We've already sampled a bit because I had a little left over after filling my canning jars. It's very nice, the sweetness tempered slightly by the sage undertones. It will be tasty with cheese and crackers.


Drunken Fig Jam

The fig recipe I found here. I was scared a bit because the recipe did not call for any pectin. Then I remembered that citrus peels contain tons of pectin, and this recipe uses lemon peels mixed in with the figs. I used Cointreau instead of brandy because we didn't have any brandy and because I thought the orange flavor would work nicely with the figs and lemon. This should also be lovely with the aforementioned cheese and crackers, as well as on sandwiches with cured meats and apples. Something to look forward to this fall.