A Love Affair With Southern Cooking_ Recipes and Recollections - Jean Anderson [238]
6. Process the jars for 15 minutes in a hot water bath (185° F.). Lift from the water bath; complete the seals, if necessary, by tightening the lids, then cool to room temperature.
7. Date and label each jar, then store on a cool, dark shelf for about a month before serving.
Breakfast was on the table…grits, ham and eggs, and red-eye gravy. Grandpa had spread butter and Aunt Everleen’s homemade blackberry jelly on hot biscuits as soon as he took them out of the oven.
—DORI SANDERS, CLOVER
MUSCADINE JAM
MAKES 6 TO 7 HALF-PINTS
As a child, one of my greatest joys was to lie atop our next-door neighbor’s grape arbor reading a good book, plucking the occasional muscadine and sucking its honeyed flesh into my mouth. What I didn’t know then was that the muscadine (Vitis rotundifolia) and its bronze cultivar (the scuppernong) were found growing wild here by early European explorers. Discovering them along the North Carolina coast in 1584, Arthur Barlowe, one of Sir Walter Raleigh’s scouts, wrote of their flourishing “on the sand and on the green soil, on the hills as on the plains…in all the world the like abundance is not to be found.” Unlike other varieties, muscadines and scuppernongs do not bunch; indeed the grapes often seem to grow singly. They are tough-skinned, blessed with intense grape flavor, and make superlative jam (my childhood favorite for P, B, and J sandwiches). People often confuse muscadines with scuppernongs because the two can be used interchangeably, but to Southerners the black-skinned grapes are “muscadines” and the bronzy green are “scuppernongs.” Tip: This recipe calls for peeled muscadines—not as tedious a job as it sounds. Simply whack the grapes lightly with a cutlet bat or the broad side of a chef’s knife and the flesh will pop out of the skins.
4 pounds stemmed muscadine or scuppernong grapes
¾ cup cold water
6 cups sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1. Wash the grapes in a sink full of cool water and drain well. Peel the grapes (see Tip at left), then place the skins and the ¾ cup cold water in a large, heavy nonreactive kettle and the grapes in a second large, heavy nonreactive kettle, this one broad-bottomed.
2. Set the two kettles over moderate heat and bring each to a boil. Adjust the heat under the grapes so that they bubble gently; cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the grapes are mushy. At the same time, cover the grape skins and boil 20 minutes or until they are tender. If they threaten to boil dry, add a little additional water.
3. Force the grapes through a food mill or fine sieve, extracting as much pulp and liquid as possible. Return the grape pulp to the kettle, then mix in the grape skins and any remaining water, the sugar, and lemon juice. Insert a candy thermometer.
4. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves, then cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches the jelling point (218° to 220° F.).
5. Meanwhile, wash and rinse 7 half-pint preserving jars and their closures and submerge in a large kettle of boiling water.
6. Ladle the boiling jam into the hot jars, filling each to within ¼ inch of the top. Tip: To avoid spills, use a wide-mouth canning funnel. Wipe the jar rims with a damp cloth and screw on the closures.
7. Process the jars for 10 minutes in a hot water bath (185° F.). Lift from the water bath; complete the seals, if necessary, by tightening the lids, then cool to room temperature.
8. Date and label each jar, then store on a cool, dark shelf for about a month before serving.
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TIME LINE: the people and events that shaped Southern Cuisine
2003
R. C. Bigelow Tea of Connecticut buys the Charleston Tea Plantation but continues to produce its famous American Classic Tea.
With North Carolina First Lady Mary Easley on hand for the festivities, A Southern Season