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On Wednesday afternoon, I made four cups of strawberry jam, using my Bell jam maker and the Bell large electric canning pot (pot sits on a base and has a spigot for draining into the sink). I had about 1/3 Cup left over, so I refrigerated it, and I’m thinking it will go well with biscuits or scones tomorrow morning. As an experiment, I did my canning in the garage apartment kitchen. It worked well in that I was away from distraction. The downside was that due to some delays, I had dinner in the oven, so I had to do some running back and forth, and the meat got a bit overdone. These strawberries, maybe because they are so fresh, made absolutely magnificent jam (I licked a spatula), and my husband who walked in and sniffed said, "That smells amazing!"
The recipe I use is the lower sugar one from the booklet that came with the jam maker. I like the jam maker, although it only makes four cups or so at a time, because I do not have to stand over the stove and stir. Since we do not eat a massive amount of jam, small batches work for us.
I've not tried canning anything other than jam and blueberry pie filling. Perhaps the Farmers Market will inspire me. We do freeze a lot of blueberries.
One of my friends uses bay leaves to deter moths. I've also heard of using them to deter bugs in dried goods.
I mostly use them in stews, soups, and spaghetti sauce.
I don't know that I've used coriander more than once or twice. What do you put it in, Navlys?
For savory spices, I use a lot of rosemary.
On Wednesday evening, I baked a new recipe from the KAF website: Maple Millet Scones.
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/maple-millet-scones-recipe
I had inadvertently bought whole millet flour from Bob’s Red Mill instead of whole millet the last time that I ordered, so I need recipes to use it. I made two changes to the recipe. I do not have the KAF Six Grain Blend, so I substituted Bob’s Red Mill Five Grain Rolled Cereal. I also used buttermilk rather than regular milk, and so I adjusted the baking powder, reducing it from 1 Tbs. to 2 ½ tsp. and adding 1/8 tsp. baking soda. (Note: I accidentally used ¼ tsp. baking soda—oops.) I found the dough very sticky, even after letting it sit for 10 minutes to allow the millet to absorb the liquid, so I needed to use floured hands and surface to lightly knead it. I cut the circle into wedges, but they were too soft to separate, so I froze them for 10 minutes, then pulled them apart, then froze them for 20 minutes longer. The scones had great rise, and a lovely aroma. I let them cool for 5 minutes, then I spread the glaze over them. (Note: I used 1 tsp. heavy cream rather than milk in the glaze.) We will sample them for breakfast tomorrow, and I’ll add a note about taste and texture.
Note: The scones have a surprisingly light texture. They do not have much maple flavor, even with the glaze, and are not overly sweet. These will probably not become part of my scone repertoire, but I might make them again to use up more of the millet flour, and to see if that extra 1/8 tsp. of baking soda is part of the issue.
