For many years, I was fearful of canning or even making small batch jam to eat on the spot. As profound a baker and cook as I am, I was positive that I would surely kill someone or land them in the hospital. Jennifer Perillo’s postings on Facebook of her jams and marmalades finally pushed me to pull out all my jam related cookbooks and give it a go.
In 2010, Rachel Saunders published her first book The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook, a stunning book jam packed (pun intended) with jams, jellies, marmalades and more and I had to have it. 370 plus pages of gorgeous photos and recipes. Rachel owns The Blue Chair Fruit in San Francisco — she named it blue chair to represent an old timely kitchen feel – a trip back in time when our grandmothers and mothers made preserves and canned. This has become one of my favorite go to jam books.
Rachel’s recipes combine unique flavors such as pear-lemon marmalade with cardamom, which happens to be one of my favorite spices and meyer lemon marmalade with mandarin and lavender. You could make a different recipe a week for two years and not have a repeat — so many wonderful ideas.
I did make the pear-lemon marmalade with cardamom right after I got the book and it was delicious. At that time I wasn’t taking so many photos of everything I made — it was tangy, sweet and had a warmth from the cardamom. I had given a jar to a neighbor and the jar was returned in hopes for a refill.
In October, I was thrilled to learn that Rachel recently published Blue Chair Cooks with Jams and Marmalade
These sound wonderful, Jenny. I have yet to dip into the realm of canning, but your review has me thinking I should finally give it a try. These books sound fabulous!
I grew up with both my Grandmothers making jams, jellies and marmalades on a regular basis. Loved them, nothing better than a homemade jam on toast. But I myself have never delved into making jams etc myself…it’s kinda in that yeast category, a bit of fear for some reason.