Making Jam

Yes, Canola/Rapeseed should be suitable.
When you say toast, do you mean heat up but so they are still moist, or to more "roast"?

 

in this instance Toast = light roast... it gets the essential oils released... its best in a non stick pan, med high heat - with room temp oil, so the oil warms up and removes the oils from the herb / spice.

I made Tomato oil from the tomato skins that way - roast them on a sil pat at 300F for 1 hour... till they are crunchy... put in a bowl and cover with warm olive oil... let sit for a day covered. strain & voila... great on mozzarella cheese ( fresh ofcourse) ...

with fresh herbs - its better to warm the oil, to about 250 F take off the heat and add in the lighly chopped herbs - green herbs will release cholorophyl so you dont want to much of that to come out.

 

Well trying something new for me today. My Grandma used to make watermelon rind preserves. Pretty simple so far. Peel the green off and put in a pot with some water and sugar. Simmer for many hours until translucent. Been about 5 hours so far for me but I turned them way down for a couple hours while I ran some errands. I also added a bit of star anise and a coule cloves inside a little stainless tea infuser. We shall see how they turn out.

 

I've had them down south and they're surprisingly good. Interested to see how they turn out...T

 

Well I have a few pints of these things if anyone wants a taste. Almost sickeningly sweet. Too sweet for me that's for sure. Although I did see a recipe tonight from Alton Brown that uses only 3/4 cup of sugar and includes vinegar. I may try that next time I get a watermelon. Here is his recipe Alton Brown's Watermelon Rind Pickles Recipe

 

Pics?
T

 

Not much to see but here you go....
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Looks like pics I've seen. With most jam jelly recipes and the like I always use half the sugar the recipe calls for....T

 

Same here. I think the fruit taste comes out better with less sugar that numbs the taste buds!
Here on Island they used to boil Water melon rinds in salted water, and eat like a vegetable.
I guess it was nice with the roasted Iguana.......?

 

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4SddMI3NdI[/ame]

 

Yeah they look like Grandmas used to. I seem to remember hers being way too sweet too. I did cut the sugar a bit but it was still way too much. Live and learn. Will try the other recipe next time.

 

Inspired by this thread, and my previous effort with peach jam, I tried making strawberry jam for our visiting friends. This time I went with a smaller batch size, didn't puree fruit as much, boiled more & in a skillet instead of a pot, kept pectin the same relatively. VOILA! Good taste and consistency. Pic below is the remainder after we slathered it on homemade French toast.
T

 

My mom used to make a Strawberry jam where she boiled the fruit very shortly. Tasted more like mashed fresh strawberries. Delicious on creoes!
But it had to be kept in the freezer, or it started to develop mould.

 

My grandma called that a compote, although I'm not sure that's technically correct...T

 

It was sweeter than a compote, and used in lesser amounts. Kind of inbetween a compote and jam.

I used to hate the compottes my mom forced me to eat. The standard one was Apple compote, made from apples that were starting to dry out and shrink.
This is before the world wide shipping of fruit and veg.
Apples with raisins and a Cinnamon stick, that is what she tried to poison me with!