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News and Views:
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Best Raspberry Jam
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In her excellent little book Summer in a Jar (Williamson Publishing, 1985), Andrea Chesman makes a good argument against using commercial pectin to make jam thicken. The problem with the commercial products is that you have to use a great deal of sugar, often as much as one part sugar to one part fruit, to activate the pectin. This so often makes jam that tastes more of sugar than of fruit.
She offers an alternative: peel, core, and chop up several tart apples, which are naturally high in pectin, and add them to the fruit as it cooks. The apples do not contribute noticeably to the taste or texture, but help the intensely flavored jam to thicken nicely. She uses honey rather than sugar, but either one works. Here is her recipe. |
Raspberry Jam
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4 quarts fresh (or frozen) raspberries, or a combination of raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries
3 tart apples, peeled, cored, and finely chopped
1 cup honey
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Crush a layer of berries in the bottom of a large kettle. Add the remaining berries and the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil and boil vigorously until the jam thickens, about 30 minutes. Stir frequently. The jam is ready when it begins to hold its shape when dropped onto a cold plate.
Remove from the heat at once. Skim off any foam. Ladle the hot jam into hot, sterilized half-pint jars, leaving 1/2" headroom. Seal. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes. Let cool undisturbed for 12 hours. Store in a cool, dry place. Store opened jars in the refrigerator. Makes 8 half-pints.
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Why California Needs More Cheese Factories
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You may think of cheese in terms of flavor, but researchers at the University of Wisconsin are looking at its thermal mass. When cheese is made, it is shaped into 40-pound blocks and stacked in large refrigerated warehouses for the critical aging process. It takes between 3 months and a year (or more) at an average temperature of 40°F to 45°F for cheddar and other cheeses to develop their characteristic flavor and texture.
Research has shown that when cheese stored in large warehouses is chilled to below the average temperature at night, thereby drawing electricity during off-peak demand (and when rates are lower), its thermal mass holds temperatures in the 40’s the next day even when the refrigeration is turned down or off during peak demand hours. Warehouse owners save money on their electrical bills, the entire community benefits from energy conservation, and best of all, flavor of the cheese is not affected by the swings in temperature.
If only California had as many cheese warehouses as Wisconsin, perhaps they could reduce their energy crunch this summer and age their cheddar at the same time. For more information, go to the University of Wisconsin College of Agricultural and Life Sciences’ Web site, www.cals.wisc.edu/media/news.
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What If You Had a Picnic and Only the Yellow Jackets Came?
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| It could happen, if the exploding population of aggressive wasps becomes much more severe during late summer. In Washington and Wisconsin, entomologists are studying ways to control the German yellow jacket, a type of wasp that packs a wallop and can sting repeatedly. A nest that starts in spring with a single queen can number 3,000 foraging workers by late summer, all intent on scavenging for protein and sugars.
What should you do if you identify a yellow jacket nest? Probably nothing. Destroying the nests, many of which are underground or in cavities and eaves of buildings, can be tricky and dangerous. Ray Cote, publisher of Another Bite, offers two suggestions for destroying ground nests. The first, performed on a dim, cool evening, is to bury the nest with wet, manure-heavy hay, pitching the first forkful over the exit and following up with 4 or 5 additional forkfuls. The wasps will be unable to dig their way out in the morning. The second method is to invite a skunk to dinner! A large ground nest in a field near Ray’s house was destroyed one evening by a voracious skunk, who dined on the wasps, nest and all.
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Massfood and Classfood
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| A recent issue of The Futurist magazine predicts that new food technology and changes in cultures and values will revolutionize the way we eat. Food expert Art Siemering takes today’s energy bars as the basis for a line of tasty, uniformly sized, nutritionally packed edible goodies that could be stored indefinitely at room temperature. Siemering thinks governments will subsidize "massfood," freeing millions of people from the worry of going hungry.
On the other hand, he also foresees the demand for "classfood," tasty, trendy specialty foods that only the rich will be able to afford. (Knowing human nature, it wouldn’t take long for the K-Mart version of classfood to trickle down to the rest of us.)
Siemering also predicts meals that will be ready in 5 seconds, dry soups that will be packaged with encapsulated liquids that are released in the microwave, and new drugs to induce people to be moderate in their eating and drinking habits.
For more information, we predict you will find it at www.wfs.org.
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