Raspberries & Garlic

Not in the same recipe, but all in the same week.  Two recipes, put up for the year ahead.  Berry Jam & Garlic Scape Pesto.  It felt so good to get back into the canning groove.  To dust off the water bath, to sterilize the equipment, to put on some James Taylor and happily work in my kitchen.  

This is my second year canning, and getting back to it felt refreshing.  Summer is truly here.

I wanted to do the usual batch of strawberry jam, but that didn't happen.  The big juicy red fruit came and went within two weeks.  I totally missed it, and i was so bummed.  Looking back now, I'm glad it happened, because it forced me to try a different jam.  I didn't pick quite enough berries for the jam, so i improvised with some blueberries off of our own bushes, and that did the trick. 

Raspberry Jam:  1 quart & 3 pints of fresh raspberries, along with 1/2 a pint of blueberries.
Yield: 8 jelly jars along with 1 small jelly jar i found in my stash.

Garlic Scape Pesto:  30 garlic scapes, 1 cup Parmesan cheese, dash of pepper, some toasted pine nuts and some olive oil.

Yield: 2 jelly jars & 1 pint.

I had never tried this before, but boy, do i love a new recipe!  Suroweic's farm had garlic scapes so i tried it out.  Next year i will try adding a bit of basil in, as i didn't realize how intense the garlic would be.  The great part about this?  We can use it in place of minced garlic.  Yes!  Yet another item i can take off our grocery list :) 

Happy Monday Friends