My Family Tree Must Have Knotts

This was the year we weren't going to jam.  Last year - we couldn't possibly duplicate that effort.  Over 40 flavors and more than 420 jars ... *whew*.  Sure, we raised something like $2,300 for the Parkinson's Disease and Movement Disorders Center - I'm VERY proud of that - but still, 2013 was gonna be our year off.  We even booked two weeks of travel that involved the weekends we traditionally jam.  2013 - Travel.  NOT Jam.

I blame the visit to the open air market.  And the plums that were there.  They were ... perfect.  Deep color, no soft spots, amazingly fragrant.  I can't speak for the Amazing Husband but that's when I started to crumble.  My own mother was of no help.  "The Blackberry Vanilla.  Definitely my favorite.  Looking forward to more of that next year."  Terrific ... THANKS Mom.

We returned home (after astonishingly good AND not-so-good meals, overwhelming kindnesses by total strangers and a renewed friendship ... I'll write more about those experiences in due time) and unpacked.  The plums weren't foremost on my mind, as there was plenty to be done that DIDN'T involve jamming.  Like - sending jams to old dear friends.  The packing, wrapping, labeling .... all second nature really.  And heck, we HAD jars still from last year.  We had flavorings.  We had everything but fruit.

"Ok well", I started, "we can make Blackberry Vanilla and ... and ... maybe Strawberry something.  Nothing overly detailed or messy.  Strawberry Pomegranate, maybe."

And then there was the purchase of more jars.  "I picked up 7 more packs", said the Awesome Husband.  I was just as bad, managing to buy 6lbs of cherries when I went to the store (forgetting the lemons I had intended to buy in the first place).

Soooooo this last Saturday, in the year we WEREN'T gonna jam at all, we made 5 flavors packed away in 52 jars.  And today?  Today when I was gonna lay low and try to let my body adjust to new medications and crappy sleep cycles and boring days at work?  Today I purchased 12 more packs of jars (plus 2 packs of quart-sized ones ... ya' know, just in case).  And I noticed my local farm has announced the arrival of peaches.

I think I should research my family tree ... see if there are any "Knotts" or "Smuckers" in it.

I Am Jam. Jam I Am.

I've gone through a *L*O*T* of changes in the past few years.  In fact, it would be accurate to say that changes - both big (my job, home, relationship status) and small (radio-listening habits, wardrobe, beverage go-to) - have been a constant for me.

I forget, though, that quite a few of these changes go largely unnoticed, especially by my friends who are based within my previous hometown.  Many are surprised at my living on the East Coast, or my not working in the sales technology sector.  And most have had NO idea that I have Parkinson's Disease.  As I've written here before, it's not the kind of thing one can just mention as an "oh by the way" sort of conversation topic.  If I knew someone who was diagnosed with PD (or something similar) and they shared the news with me, I'd have follow-up questions and I guess I presume that's true of others, too.  I could be wrong.

I was reminded not of what's changed but what hasn't changed in my life just last night, in a very wonderful way.  We sent a box of FMD jams to Shari, an ex-colleague of mine.  Shari and I worked in the same company on the same floor of the same building - and in the same department - for 3 years or so.  I eventually transferred into another division based in another city and, due to our different locations and job demands, I hadn't been able to keep in contact with Shari as much as I would have liked.  And then I moved and ... well ... we lost touch.  She sees Tim on occasion and, I guess, gets brief updates on me via him.

So it seems Shari's box arrived yesterday, and the receptionist alerted her to the delivery via email.  Shari forwarded me the entire email train, copied below.

*****************

From: Christina B/Reception
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:14 PM
To: Shari; Richard; Amber; Lindsay; Jeremy; Jack
Subject: Package in the lobby for you

Hello.

You have a package in the lobby.  Please come to pick up at your earliest convenience.

Thank you,

Christina B

*****************

From: Shari
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:15 PM
To: Christina B
Subject: RE: Package in the lobby for you

Hi Christina,

I am leaving for Korea and be back on Monday.  Can you hold it for me until Monday?

Thanks

Shari

*****************

From: Christina B
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:16 PM
To: Shari
Subject: RE: Package in the lobby for you

Hello,

Yes of course. We will hold it in our locked closet till then.

Have a safe trip!

Christina

*****************

From: Shari
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:20 PM
To: Christina B
Subject: RE: Package in the lobby for you

Thanks.  Do you know what it is?

*****************

From: Christina B
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:22 PM
To: Shari
Subject: RE: Package in the lobby for you

Not really - there's a sticker that says “homemade jam”.

*****************

From: Shari
Sent: Monday, September 17, 2012 3:27 PM
To: Julie
Subject: FW: Package in the lobby for you

Hi Julie,

You are the best!  Did you send me jam?  I am not in the office and asked the receptionist to hold it for me.

Thank you so much!  I am sorry that I didn’t get to see you when you came by.  I always ask Tim about you.  I hear that you are engaged!  Congrats!  I am very happy for you.

I really appreciate you always thinking of us.  Hopefully we’ll connect next time.

Take care,

Shari                                                                                                                                                                               

*****************

Yes, much has changed.  But, comfortingly, I still = "homemade jam".

FMD ... Arriving NOW Across The Country!

Whelp, it's that time of year again.

Over the past couple of days week, we've shipped out 14 22 boxes, each with 6 flavors of FMD goodness.

We have at least a dozen more boxes to assemble and/or ship - some we're waiting on to confirm addresses, others are being held while late-Summer vacations come to an end.

While we've managed to ship out 86 132 jars, we still have more jars in inventory than we even created in all of 2011 ... which is a little crazy to think about.

Just think ... FMD will be arriving to homes in over 20% 27% of the 50 states in this week alone.  That's also kinda crazy to consider, since I'm 50% of the FMD employee base.

I mean - did you even figure there WERE 41 flavors of jams?  And heck - there's still a few fruits we haven't tried yet ('tho, honestly, there aren't too many ... but there's a few).

 Thanks to the other 50% of FMD's employee base, recipes have been diligently kept, so if there are any "out-of-the-ballpark-homerun" flavors, we'll be able to recreate them in the future.

But, for now anyway, we'll keep shipping out the 2012 creations.  Since taste is a subjective thing, I know a few of our creations may better received than others but, overall, I'm a fan of the work we did this year.

 

For now, all we can do is just wait and see what the rest of the country says.

{Updated on Friday 09/07/2012}

More FMD 2012 Fruit Pics

I've already posted a few pics of the fruit we're using for jam (link).  Well, as is often the case, I should have ended that post with "... but wait - there's more!"

Those are yellow cherries.  No, not Rainiers, which always have some blush on them but these are straight-up yellow.  I've seen them referred to as "Stone Harvest Gold" cherries, but who knows.  They're a nice balance between tart and sweet and they made GREAT jam.  I hope we find them again next year.

These are, of course, blueberries.  See how some of them have stems?  Yeah, well before we jammed them, we picked through each berry to remove those stems.  There were over 20 pounds of berries, by the way.  Ponder that when you're enjoying this on toast, ok?  We didn't just slap these guys together - each berry gets inspected.  THAT's why I don't "sell" FMD jam.  I'd have to charge way too much.  (Note "sell" is in quote marks there.  This year, there will be a way to donate anything you'd like to contribute to a worthy, fully tax-deductible cause very close to my heart.  More on that later ...)

Raspberries.  I just love 'em - maybe even more than strawberries.  The ONLY drawback are the seeds.  So these are also inspected piece by piece to make sure that there are no leaves or cores and then I split the quantity in half and remove the seeds of one pile by pushing them through a sieve.  Or, at least, that's what I *used* to do.  This year, thanks to The Awesome Fiance, we used the Kitchen Aid mixer with a strainer attachment and geez - it did the task in just under an hour (and yes, that's a huge improvement).

Unfortunately there is no such shortcut for blackberries.  See how those raspberries above are hollow?  And see how these lovely blackberries aren't?  Well, while there's no reason to de-seed a blackberry, I do take the time to remove those cores.  It's just for looks, mostly.  If ya' don't remove the core, they can look like little white worms and ... well ... yeah, that's just not cool.  So we purchased close to 19 pounds of blackberries and once again, each one was inspected and cores were removed.  It's ok, really.  I don't mind.  I don't like creating something half-way great so if it means a few extra hours, so be it.

There will be more fruit pictures soon ... but that should cover things for now.

Good Enough Isn't

Out of all the different ingredients that can be added to a batch of jam (and there are a TON of available options if you're willing to get creative), the one that makes the biggest difference to the end result is the fruit being used.

If you can talk to the individual who planted or watered or weeded or picked the fruit you're planning to use for jam, it's the closest thing to getting a guarantee that your end result will be pretty great stuff.

No matter what experts say, I don't believe that there's a substitute that tastes as good as "field fresh" fruit.

It's true that you CAN make jam from frozen stuff where you don't have to remove stems or seeds or pits, it's also true that it's that frozen taste you're gonna be preserving - and since there will always be more bags of frozen berries available, why would you need to "preserve" that??

For me, it's the difference between a garden tomato and a supermarket tomato.  They're the same thing, but they taste like they're barely related to each other.  So for everyone who says "Well heck - I can BUY jam at the supermarket" - yes, yes you can.  But it's never gonna taste like this.

FMD 2012

Healthy pets (and humans).
Sunny mornings.
Sharing something I think is tasty ... and having others say so, too.

It's June (at last!) and the weather is encouraging the ripening of fruit as you read this.  "FMD" HQ, which is to say our home, has been stocking up on jam jars, tasty ideas, new methods of incorporating flavors, and contacting local farms to warn them we'll be placing fairly decently-sized orders of various fruits as they become available.  (What's a fairly decently-sized order?  How about "Hello Ryan?  Yeah - any chance we'll get those 20 pounds of cherries this week?  Great!  See ya' then.")

Having recently completed creating 7 different strawberry-based flavor combinations (resulting in 75 filled jars), we're planning on moving on to cherry-based jams this weekend.  I'll post pictures of the fruit we're using (because I think the first pic I took looked great - I just need to upload it so I can add it here) and, as the batches are done and stored, will share some of the 2012 new flavors.

I WILL say now that the two taster-jars I brought into work today were overwhelmingly approved.  I don't let anyone just say "nice job" or "mmmm" as I would much rather know what is working - or not - for each flavor (and each taster).  As much as "mmmm" is nifty to hear, it doesn't really inform me much and I'd almost rather hear "uh - yeah - that ... that's too bitter" than just get "mmmm" as a review.

It's nice to create good-tasting things.  It's pretty damn cool to hear others say things like "I know you won't officially SELL these but *oops* this $10 just fell onto your desk."

In short, making jam that folks enjoy makes me smile.  Lucky for them, I like to smile A LOT.

FMD 2012.  Coming soon, to a mailbox near you.

Fabulousness Made Deliciously

While I typically make jam alone, in July, and in a few basic flavors, it's safe to say that this has - in so many wonderful, tragic, stretching, learning, loving ways - NOT been a typical year. So it makes sense that I made jam in August, with The Awesome Boyfriend, in 12 mostly new and vastly different flavors.

I had no intentions of making jam this year. For one thing, I didn't need another distraction to take away from the things I really SHOULD be doing. Also, it's never clean or neat. And ... finally ... it's ALWAAAAYS expensive. It's true ... next time you're in a grocery store and you find yourself rolling your eyes at the price tag associated with that "high-end" jam concoction, stop and consider: the cost of sugar, the cost - and time limitations - of large quantities of good fruit, the cost of containers, and my word the cost of the TIME it takes to go from "nice strawberries ... we should do something with them" to "good heavens, would you just look at the deep red color inside that jar of tastiness?" Honestly, I don't think anyone who has never made jam ... seriously made jam (as in "more than three batches in a day") ... has a clue as to how expensive a project it can be.

And then there's the distribution aspect of it. After all, now you have a large quantity of awesome flavors that you wanna share with friends and family, right? So you go to the office supply store and buy two ginormous rolls of bubble wrap, packing tape, some boxes (when using the USPS boxes aren't the cheapest option), and you spend time picking out which flavors go to which person, and you wrap and label and tape and ship and pretty soon, you're easily into this fun little hobby for (no fooling here, folks) about $500. Easily.

I've never charged for my jam. Ever. I've accepted just ONE order ... from a co-worker who was making boutique-style baskets for her Christmas list ... and it honestly took all the fun out of it for me. This is a hobby. A fun little tradition. For it to be a money-maker, I'd have to charge about $12 per half-pint and I just can't bring myself to do that.

So what do I ... and now we ... get outta this deal? Well, there's knowing that we can make different flavors next year and bring back the ones we really liked making this year. There's randomly surprising our friends and family with occasional jars of yumminess. There's the satisfaction of shelving 107 jars of jam that was made over a four-day period and using it throughout the coming year in various delicious ways. And there's also the kinda cool feeling of knowing that the jams we made have been shared with - and hopefully enjoyed in -16 homes (thus far) in 9 states throughout the US.

And you know something? That "knowing we done good and shared with other people" part? Well, while making jam may be costly, that last part is just priceless.

Sweet. Tart. Flaky. Tender. Warm. Nourishing.

There were a very few things I needed to accomplish today - coffee run, grocery run, get some stamps for now-overdue thank you notes (oh - drat - that too - write the overdue thank you notes) but mostly I wanted to stay put.

A recent adjustment to a prescription has caused my body temperature to drop even lower than usual, so while it is beautiful and sunny outside, I'm in sweaters and under blankets just trying to stay warm. This isn't completely unusual for me and it's not dangerous but it also isn't comfortable. It'll pass, and I'll adjust, but until then ... brrrrrrrrr.

While I was running my around-town errands, I received a call from a business I used to be involved in with a request to please stop by. I had dropped off some "vintage" jam to the cafe about a month or so ago, on a whim. I gave about a flat of various berry-filled jars from 2006 to the bakers and told them to please make whatever they wanted for their holiday feasts. The only rules were that they absolutely, positively could NOT sell any product with the jam in it, and they positively, absolutely could NOT use the jam in the bakery or cafe kitchen. (I have insurance, and the cafe and bakery has insurance, but we'd both rather not have to use it, I'm sure.)

So that's the set up.

I gave them this ...

... and they gave me this.
The scent from this plate of drool-inducing amazingness has already caused my body temp to rise. My heart is for certain beating a bit more quickly than it was just a little while ago. (Granted some of that increased heart rate isn't because of food ... but *blush* anyway ...) Y'all go right on ahead with your champagne toasts at midnight and whatnot. I have a raspberry shortbread tart that I can warm up in the oven and serve with just a bit of additional jam on top while we ring in the new year.

In keeping with the above "gonna be scarfed at midnight" snack, I'd like to offer this toast:

May 2009 be sweet to us all, with enough "tart" to keep it interesting and may the occasional flaky moments be firmly balanced with true tender times. May warmth, comfort, and nourishment come in all forms, from places and people far and near, from the friends we've always had and those we've yet to meet, and from family we inherit at birth and family we choose with our heart.

Take fun.
Have care.
Be good.

... and then some.

ok FINE ...
and I also made Raspberry. Couldn't be helped ... they were easily available and CHEAP at a local farm.
11 1/2 pint jars
7 full pint jars

Seriously though ... that's IT now, dammit. Geez - to make 127 jars of jam in less than 10 days is enough. (If I put this much energy into looking for a new gig, or even updating my resume, I'd already have a job lined up.)

FMD Count

Ok, since my vacation is officially over, below is the official the FMD July 2008 Jam Inventory. (I may make more this weekend, buuuuut I think I've had enough "fun" for now.) I made 109 jars of jam - with only 1 jar that would NOT seal properly. (I'll use it on ice cream tonight or on toast this weekend.)

I used a full flat of strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries, 3 pounds of lemons, and 7 pounds of apricots. I ... I don't even wanna think about how many pounds of sugar I used.

I made Apricot, Strawberry, Doubleberry (which is a Blackberry/Raspberry mix), and Tripleberry (which is 2 parts Strawberry, 1 part Blackberry and 1 part Raspberry).

Jar Count:
12 pints and 27 1/2 pints Apricot
28 1/2 pints Strawberry
1 pint and 8 1/2 pints Doubleberry
16 pints and 16 1/2 pints Tripleberry

If I hear of any family members or friends buying jam, I'm gonna be pissssssed ...

I be jammin' ...

The background story ...

It started with cheesecakes. I don't remember why ... I suspect that I had been watching the flavors the bakery sold the most of and thought "well hell - that's alright, I guess, but what if we made X too ...". Knowing that my little bakery would never be allowed to alter the menu, even to make something BETTER, I decided to make cheesecakes for my own fun out of my home kitchen. I'd bring in my various offerings to work, and come holiday season, was surprised to get requests for them to be served at people's tables, for their "official" desserts. It wasn't long before I was also making flavored truffles.

Now there are food laws to be observed when you sell a home-made product, especially when you also have a business that's in the food industry - and heaven help you if you want to create an at-home business creating food. Doing so, in my county anyway, means my home kitchen would be available for inspection at any time, for any reason and I'm just too private of a person for that kind of invasion.

I needed to create a seperate identity, completely untied to the cafe/bakery. I also decided that I'd never really SELL these products. I'd accept an order, request the individual wanting the product buy the cream cheese, or cover the cost of the chocolate, and beyond that, it was good by me. For the truffles, knowing I'd never be able to charge what they actually cost me to make, I decided to make them "charity chocolates". Donate to your favorite charity, educate me about it (if you'd like), and here ya' go. This was back in the 80's.

"Frankly, My Dear ..." Cheesecakes & More was born and the name was part of a nod to NEVER cutting fat, or sugar, or chocoate, or butter. My slogan was "The perfect answer to any diet" (which was a response to the silent rest of the title ... "I don't give a damn"), which was my way of saying "the Triple-Chocolate cheesecake that I make has base of 3 pounds of cream cheese. If this is a problem for you, then don't eat it. I will not make a diet version."

FMD has been around, in some fashion or another, for two decades. There were years when I skipped truffles completely, and I haven't made a cheesecake for about 7 years now, but the jams are my constant. With my company closing for the July 4th week, it's well understood by those I work with that I will return with FMD Jams. My "sales guys" would bring in bagels - without my saying a word - because they KNEW that I'd supply the spread.

Some years are better than others. One year I made two cases of what could, at best, be described as really good apricot syrup ... and sometimes my strawberry is too chunky for real "spreading" onto toast (which is how I like it) but that's part of the whole "home made" charm, I suppose.

So here we go ... the official FMD 2008 Jam Update:

I will have strawberry (which by the way were all this gorgeous looking)
and apricot (I needed to hold one, so they wouldn't look like peaches)


And there will be tripleberry (my fave - a strawberry/blackberry/raspberry combo)I realize that the raspberries were outstanding this year, but the costs are still too high to justify using them alone - they'll go father mixed with the other two berries. That being said ... just look at these guys!
So there ya' go. I'll be ready to ship by the end of this month and typically ask ya' let me use the "slow boat" shipping method, just to keep my costs down. I prefer getting two flavor requests at once, in case I can't come through on your "top" request. And, since these will be jars going out, I make no promises that there won't be breakage, but will re-ship if ya' just say so.

FMD is smoooookin'

Yikes, it's been awhile. Things here have been busy, but in a not totally crappy way, considering. It seems my entire state is on fire, ‘tho – so that’s a bummer. And speaking of things flaming, the “Big Gay Weekend” occurred in San Francisco and the world has continued to turn and sunrises still happen and all the uptight folks that are convinced that their marriages will somehow be made null and void by allowing “those people” to marry are still, in fact, legally wed. Show of hands - don't ya' think that those uptight folks are just a little disappointed? I mean, it'd be an excuse to get out of a not-so-great 30-year relationship, wouldn't it? "Sorry - we can't stay married 'cause guys can marry guys now so I'm outta here." Another romance goes up in smoke.

And my Aunt’s health is also going down in flames – another bummer, but not altogether unexpected. She DID finally get to go spend time at her lake home, which is where she is now … with my Uncle and all kinds of well-meaning guests. (You know the kind – lovely folks that wanna keep ya’ busy and make small talk to make sure that it doesn’t FEEL like they’re not just there to see if you’re still alive buuuuut … meanwhile there's a giant elephant in the room no one wants to talk about – and it is wearing your pajamas – and you’re busy feeding the beast peanuts. Annnnd I’ve officially killed the metaphor. Letsee what other mayhem I can cause ...)

Continuing the whole “fire” theme I’ve apparently lit here (get it? Lit? Fire? It’s a joke, son.), July 4th is just around the corner and, for the daughter of a firefighter, that means …

JAM!

Yes, true statement - “Frankly, My Dear …” jam is gonna be in full-force in a matter of weeks. I know that I’ll be making apricot, will likely make some strawberry and, if the local berry farm comes through for me, I believe raspberry and blackberry will also be on the menu. Like years past, I have a payment idea in mind, and wanna lay it down for ya’ ...

I’m gonna make big batches of jam until, basically, it’s no longer fun for me. I’ll post photos, or something, and will let you know the flavors available. You’ll find a local fire-prevention related charity in your neighborhood, county, city or state – and will donate some random amount of money to it. Then you’ll send me a note saying “hey – I sent money to this great place that does such and so, can you please send me some jam?” and I’ll do so.

Proof? I require none. Your word is good here. How will you know the jam will be worth whatever money you’ve donated? Heck, I have references. They will back me up like a house afire.

Wow – somebody stop me. I’m on fire. Seriously – I’ve exhausted my quips.

Ok, I'll stop.