Gearing up for summer

Here at Jams Gone Wild,  we are gearing up for the farmer's markets of Summer 2012.. Wildharvesting this year, consisted of traveling south for prickly pears and north for wild plums and chokecherries from Colorado.  The plums did bloom in the Texas Panhandle but the caterpillars took over and obliterated them.. Peaches and apples were also toast after a severe drought, which is supposed to return this summer.  I am still shaking my rain stick I bought at Palo Duro Canyon in hopes of more rain or snow..Shake..shake..shake..

The advantages of a drought are other trees in the wild, such as the mesquite, really produce beans in abundance.  The mesquite tree was as important to early Native Americans, who once inhabited the Panhandle of Texas, as corn was.  Magically, during a drought, the mesquite tree produces beans and more beans, and more beans.  Within the bean are seeds, which many animals love during periods of drought and depend upon.  The Mesquite is 30 percent sugar, which when boiled for several hours, produces the most beautiful honey-colored juice you have ever seen.  The juice can then be turned into Mesquite Honey or Honey Mesquite Jelly.  There are several types of mesquite trees, but the major tree in the Panhandle of Texas is the Honey Mesquite.  The bean ripens in late August and September and must be picked from the tree and not from the ground.  Once on the ground, insects find them a delightful treat, so we only pick our beans from the tree.  Last year, was my first experiment making Honey Mesquite Jelly to decide whether we would offer it as one of our products for Jams Gone Wild.

In the summer and fall, I work as a National Park Ranger for National Park Service, an agency of the Department of Interior.  This May, I will begin my second season as an Interpretive Park Ranger.  I lead interpretive hikes at Alibates Flint Quarries and Lake Meredith Recreation Area.  I have made many new wonderful friends at NPS and the rangers have agreed to be my taste testers for jellies and other products we make at our company.  Last year, the big hit was Honey Mesquite Jelly and of course, Wild Chokecherry from Southern Colorado.  Harvesting at 11,000 ft,  I also picked rose hips along the Continental Divide.  The Chief of Resources and Conservation loved the Continental Divide Rose Jelly, which is very sacred.  The reason it is so sacred, is it takes so many rose hips to make one jar of jelly.  If you are lucky enough to purchase this rose jelly,  it tastes like liquid sunshine because of the elevation and mostly because it is labor intensive to make it.  I climbed the Los Lobos Trail on the Continental Divide to pick these rare babies.. The rose hips stay on the bushes year round and are food for deer, bears, and other animals during the winter.

When you spread your jelly or mesquite honey on your biscuits, toast, bread, or whatever, think about the process to bring these fresh "from the wild ingredients" for you to enjoy.  The Continental Divide Trail was very steep in some areas and takes several hours to complete.  The view from the top is so beautiful and you can see where the eastern and western watersheds are divided by the Continental Divide.  You can see for miles and the air is so fresh and clean.  I think the berries and rose hips picked at higher elevations, closer to the sun, are so much sweeter than berries at lower elevations.  The wilderness is wonderful and wild harvesting is an adventure!! See ya in the wild!

There's something about canning...

Canning History

Canning began its illustrious history with Nicolas Appert of France who in 1795 discovered that food sealed in glass bottles under heat was an effective food preservation method. However, it was Englishman Peter Durand who patented the tin can packaging process in 1810.   At the time, Napoleon, knowing that his army marched on its stomach, offered a handsome cash prize for anyone who could come up with an improved apparatus for preserving food. Appert won the competition with a system of precooking, air-tight sealing and final processing in a newly designed glass canning jar. His wide-mouthed pint "bottles" were filled with hot cooked foods, stoppered with hand-cut corks fitted to the irregularities of the blown glass, sealed with a compound made of lime and skim milk and then finished in a boiling water bath. Appert declared that the meats, vegetables, fruits, soups, and gravies thus prepared would last for at least a year in the same excellent state. And he thus inspired a new industry. Did you know canning is all new the rage among food lovers?  There’s a host of canning blogs, including my blog, jamsgonewild.blogspot.com, and new cookbooks to choose from, including “Put ‘em Up” (Storey), “Canning for a New Generation” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) and “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” (Andrews McMeel). Late last month, a new national organization called Canning Across America kicked off a series of demonstrations and workshops to help promote the art of “putting up.”  In the future, Jams Gone Wild, will present workshops and classes on canning.  In the last two years, I have learned so much to share with all of you.  It will be fun!

I  have a hunch, newbie canners are seeking guidance because with canning, the casual approach doesn’t work. Canning is time-consuming; mess up a batch of jam and you’ve wasted an afternoon. It also can be expensive. Sugar is expensive and if you are using fruit from the farmer's market, you might be paying out the ear for fresh peaches and berries.   In the old days, people canned because they had an abundance of crops and because they had to.  You could waste an entire afternoon if you don't have your mind on your canning.  It is a very labor intensive process and things can go wrong, such as:  runny jam, jars that don't seal, or adding too much sugar.   My next advice is you will want to can according to the United States Department of Agriculture rules on canning and preserving foods.  I purchased their book from Amazon.com to make sure my methods were precise.    I use these methods in this guidebook, which are also the methods taught to me by my mother and my grandmother.  I am sure the methods taught to me have been handed down for at least 4 generations.  Canning is sorta like a science experiment.. Screw it up, you could blow something up and end up having to repaint your ceiling because the prickly pear juice stained it.:)

How did I learn to can?

I have always wanted to preserve foods since my grandmother taught me as a little girl. I loved the meditation process she seemed to possess in the making of beautiful jams…My memories of my grandmother, Lovie Jewell in her Oklahoma kitchen, are of gazing up at her canning all kinds of vegetables and fruits.  She seemed so tall to me and I loved the smell of fresh fruits boiling in her big copper pot.  Lovie Jewell was the mother of seven children and canning was not a luxury for her but a necessity. Don't you just love my grandmother's name?  Her family would eat the canned goods all winter and even into the spring.  I especially remember the beautifully canned pickles and green beans and her shelves were full of peaches, corn, tomatoes, sauces, beets, peppers, apples, strawberries, cherries, and many other fruits and vegetables in her garden.  I can see them now lined up in rows on those wooden shelves.

When I am cooking my wild grape jelly I am reminded of my Aunt Geneva's house in California.  She lived near a Kraft canning and manufacturing plant and I think this plant mainly produced jellies and jams.  The whole neighborhood smelled of grapes cooking and the air was like none I have ever smelled.  Those smells of jams and jellies cooking, well, it feels like home and really heaven to me.  As a child, my mother also canned grapes and wild plums and those smells, again, would take me back to California and to my grandmother’s house in Oklahoma.  Today, each time I cook a new batch of jam or jelly, my soul becomes very happy and I feel like I am with my grandmother and my aunt, who have now passed on. Canning is a dying art, but with companies like Jams Gone Wild, perhaps we can preserve the traditions of our grandparents and pass on to others.  Beautifully decorated jars of jams remind me of days past and sweet, fond memories of my family.  I hope our jams bring back fond memories for you as you are covering your biscuit with some caramel apple butter.   My future plans are to host workshops to provide future generations with skills to can and preserve foods. Since I am a former educator, I want to inform and educate others about canning and preserving foods for their families.  We are wild about canning at Jams Gone Wild.

Recipe for Wild Cactus Margarita

San Antonio

I first tasted a cactus margarita on the riverwalk in San Antonio and I was impressed.  This beautiful purple drink is made from the juice of the prickly pear.  Jams Gone Wild will be adding syrups next year, which will include cactus syrup made from the juice of the prickly pear.  This drink would be a hit at your next party and surely impress your friends.  It is packed with Vitamin C as well as lots of spirit!! 

 Wild Cactus Margarita

(Made with Prickly pear syrup)

In a cocktail shaker with ice, add:
————1oz Premium silver/blanco tequila
————1oz Fresh squeezed lime juice
————1/2oz Cointreau® Orange Liqueur
————1/2oz Organic agave nectar
————1/3oz  Prickly Pear Syrup or Liqueur
Shake & strain into half-salted margarita glass, with fresh ice. Then, garnish with a lime wheel.

"Tastes like Pie in a Jar"

What makes Jams Gone Wild Products Unique?

SECRET RECIPES:  My aunt sent me an 1874 cookbook from my great grandmother and I found several recipes for butters, jams, jellies, etc.  My great-grandmother was named Mary Susan McClure.  I didn’t know her, but I have a picture of her and I love to look at it.  I wonder what she was like, what were her dreams, and did she live a great life?  I believe my butters, salsas, and jams are different because I use the recipes from 4 generations of canners.   I think it is cool to be able to say:  “ I have "secret recipes" just like Coca Cola..”  Will I have to lock these secret recipes in a lockbox?  Somehow, I feel these grandmothers are guiding me because I am trying to preserve a dying art, that of canning and preserving foods.  I hope to teach my granddaughters or grandsons, for that matter, to can.  It is really fun and kids would love the process.  I take so much time and care in the development of the recipes and am constantly studying new ones or creating new ones myself. One of my new customers gave me a great compliment at the Farmer’s Market.  She said, "Your Caramel pear butter tastes like a pie in a jar."  My mother passed on some of the recipes for these fabulous butters!   Today, there aren’t many canners left to carry on the traditions.  I feel it is up to me to pass on secret recipes of my ancestors for future generations to enjoy.

YUMMINESS FACTOR:  A product that is really, really yummy is hard to come by these days.. So many products and foods I buy, just aren’t that great. Most companies are focused on profit, not quality, in my humble opinion.   The time I spend making these jams is worthwhile, because the customers love the taste.. I can see it in their expressions.. Like MMMMMMM…I decided to give taste tests of my products directly to the customers at the farmers market.  After tasting the products, most all of them purchased something.  It was the taste selling the product.  A yummy, yummy taste.  This test made me very, very happy and to see children love the jams, well, what an awesome experience.  One little boy came back three times for samples!  Of course, I told his dad, “Hey, he needs a jar of his own.”

CARAMELIZING SUGAR:  I believe another factor which makes my jams different and unique is I spend hours on some of the products, such as the butters.  They bake about 4 hours and I add the ingredients gradually as they are baking.  Have you ever caramelized sugar?   This scientific process takes about thirty minutes of constant stirring and you have to be really careful not to spill any of hot, hot sugar on any part of your body!  The caramelizing process turns the sugar into a caramel, which is carefully added to the products during the baking process, along with top secret ingredients.    My caramel pear, peach, and apple butters will melt in your mouth!!  Talk about thick, rich, creamy and natural, these butters are to die for.. You have to try some on a buttery hot biscuit!

THE WILD FACTOR: Jams Gone Wild, literally means, we harvest in the wilderness.   I harvest my prickly pear cactus down by Abilene on my brother's ranch.  I believe these prickly pears are like the Vidalia onion, or Hatch Chile's, secret is in the soil.  The cactus jelly is so sweet, tastes very much like wild plum or wild blackberry.  For people who are tired of basic grape jelly, this jelly is a real hit.  I sold out at The Farmer’s Market last week and the week before, so cactus will be a main ingredient for some of the jams.   I will soon make another harvesting trip to Abilene to pick fresh prickly pear tunas for the cactus jellies and butters.. I also harvested fruit and berries from the wild most of the summer, which was quite an adventure.  Last week, while picking pears, I was stung by a tarantula wasp, which wow, packs a huge amount of venom in its bite.  My arm is still swollen, and it is now, about 5 days later after the bite.  On the pain scale, 1-5, it is a 5 in the insect world.  So not only am I delivering you a great jam, but I have stories to bring back to you from the wilderness.  While picking prickly pears last year, I slipped on a hillside and fell right into the cactus.  I received some lacerations, cuts, and a few bruises.  This mishap was my first prickly pear outing, so this year, I am more experienced, more careful. It gives me great pleasure to find the ripest berries, fruits, and cactus for our jams and jellies out in the wild.  I love the thrill of the hunt!

Life is and adventure at Jams Gone Wild.  If you are looking for adventure, you will love our products!

Baby Boom to Jams Gone Wild

Baby Boom 1987... An idea is born...

Do you remember the 1987 movie, BABY BOOM?  This popular movie inspired me to think about starting a canning business someday.  Not long after I received my MBA, I received surprising news I would be having another son, Joshua, and I would not be able to enter the corporate world as I had planned.  A superintendent of schools hired me for a marketing job at our local high school instead.   I couldn't live the life of a high flying  MBA, work in a metropolitan city, and raise three boys now could I?  Therefore, I chose my sons, because they were more important than climbing the corporate ladder, plain and simple.  The life I had been planning for three years, suddenly took a different path.  Leaving my beautiful, young boys to work and commute for a 14 hour day would not be feasible or safe for them.   Teaching was actually a very rewarding career and suited my new lifestyle.  I would be a business teacher during the day, mommy at night.. And so it would go for around 27 years.  I have no regrets because life is as it should be! There is a plan..

During this period of change for me, the Baby Boom movie premiered with Diane Keaton as the star.   She inherited a baby from her two cousins, who died in a plane crash.   J.C., Diane Keaton’s character, was an MBA on Wall Street and suddenly acquired this baby, changing her life immensely.   She tried to maintain her executive job, but back in the day, in the 80's, no one cared about a woman with a baby, especially a single one. So finally, J.C. was demoted because of her distraction with the baby from her normal 80 hour a week job.  Eventually, she quit and bought a farm in Vermont with an apple orchard.   Little did she know how brutal living in the country would be and how a cold, lonely, winter would affect her lifestyle.

J.C. had a huge adjustment from a NYC lifestyle to a slower pace in the country where it snowed often in the winter. She had many problems to deal with because she bought a money pit of a house and  really didn't realize this fact when she bought the house.   One day, she was so bored, she began picking apples from the orchard and more apples, more apples, until she had so many baskets, she didn’t know what to do with them.  Consequently, she made applesauce for the baby from the apples and the baby loved it.. She began canning applesauce jars by the dozens and tried to sell these beautifully decorated canned goods to some neighboring stores..  She wasn’t having much luck and one day, some New Yorkers were in the store and saw the baby food.  They ordered a lot of it, so J.C. thought, “BINGO,” she was on to something.  Not only did babies love her product, but adults loved them too because of the yummy and organic factors.

J.C. immediately went to the library and began researching markets, demographics, and marketing techniques for selling baby food.  She began selling her organic baby applesauce all around the state, marketed it, and eventually, had to hire people to help with distribution of the products.    She hired retired women in the community to help package and ship the baby applesauce all around the country. Because J.C. was an MBA, she knew how to run the business end very well. Her new business, Country Baby, became a huge success, and later, her former Fortune 500 Company tried to buy her little company.  J.C. thought about it, had a meeting with her old bosses, but in the end, she wouldn't sell it. She embraced her new lifestyle and slower pace of living.  The movie ends as the baby looks up at J.C. and says, “MAMA.”  I remember watching the last scene in the movie where she is rocking the baby and thinking  about my sons.

This movie made a huge impression on me in 1987 because I knew exactly how the character felt.   I was living J.C.’s life, in Texas, instead of Vermont or New York City.   I was also an MBA, who actually had a real baby and two more sons, instead of  inheriting only one child from a cousin.   I saw this movie again one Sunday afternoon on TBS.   I was bored and in need I had 4 peach trees in the backyard with loads of peaches on them.   I started to can fruit just as J.C. did in the movie from 1987, Baby Boom and was actually having a lot of fun.

I had used this movie as a teaching tool in my business classes as an example of how to start your own business.  Well, if it worked for J.C. and my students, why wouldn’t it work for me?  First, I started canning all types of jams, and began test marketing them with family, friends, and neighbors.   I was canning everything including peaches, pineapples, crabapples, etc.  I tested recipes, created new ones, and eventually needed to narrow my brands and focus on the best and most popular brands. It was wild!  I needed help and advice.  So, I arranged a meeting with my brother, a former business executive, about our company’s direction. Following his advice, we decided to concentrate on berries, fruit, and cacti from the wild and whatever is grown in our backyard. The customer would know exactly the ingredients used in the jams because we would harvest or grow it.  I liked this great idea and trusted my brother's business sense. He and his wife helped me launch the business.

The next step was to name the business and the name needed to be catchy, classy, and easy to say and type. First, I suggested wildjams.com, however, this domain was already taken.  My sister-in-law suggested jamsgonewild.com.. I thought to myself.. catchy, trendy, and the name fits the product.  Hmmm I like it.  We registered the name and Jams Gone Wild was born..  Funny, how a business gets started, like Apple was started in a garage.  In 1987, my fantasy was to actually start a business like J.C.’s in the Baby Boom movie involving some type of canning someday when my boys were grown.  Well, my boys have all grown up now and left the nest and Jams Gone Wild has grown from a simple idea to something very real!

Moral of this true story, my story:

 It is never too late to follow your dreams, even if you have to get out of the rat race to do it.   The teaching world, the business world, the rat race, will just have to survive with one less rat! Me.. I love my new life and I have such passion for making great organic jams!

Big Pharma.. Big Jamma... Actual Jam Taste Tests

Changing lifestyle:

The last several years, we decided to live a more sustainable lifestyle and only eat organic foods.  Also, when we are ill, we have tried to use herbs and natural medicinal products for our healing regime.  Big Pharma, as Jim Cramer from Mad Money named them, is so involved in our health system these days and I am concerned.   Have you noticed the warnings on your medicines??  Most of the time, a medicine from Big Pharma has so many wild side effects, why would you want to take it?  For instance that medicine for restless leg syndrome, which is advertised heavily on TV, I am concerned! First it came on really loud and on the commercial, at the end, a man talking really fast blasted me with:  "Side effects include becoming obsessive-compulsive and gambling.." Conclusion: So you have a leg ache, you take Big Pharma medicine, you wake up in Vegas gambling like a maniac.  Side effects gambling?

Unless you win, just say no to BIG PHARMA.. I am just saying...

Big Pharma.. Big Jamma.

Same song, different company..   At Kraft, Smuckers, or any large jelly and jam company, the products are made in huge batches, which spoils the wonderful flavors of the fruit.. Plus most people making jams at markets are using frozen fruit, which again, spoils the flavor.  Last year, I visited two jam factories, no names mentioned.  One factory was in Branson, Missouri and this company sold a lot of jams, jellies, and butters each year.   I purchased a jar of jam from this company for my own taste test and comparison.  At the factory, I quizzed one of the workers to ask them where they purchased their fruit and if it was organic.  The answer was shocking:  He said,

" At the local grocery store and no, it is not organic." After I returned home, I opened this jar of $7.99 jar of jam..After the first taste, I concluded I had wasted my money as I tasted very little fruit, a lot of sugar, and lots of water.  This company informed me they sold $600,000 dollars of this jam last year at Christmas.  I was amazed anyone would buy this liquid, tasteless product after my taste test.  I decided I would only use fresh organic produce we grow or produce grown organically at my new jam company.  Another solution to produce the yummiest jams possible was to utilize wild berries, fruits, and cacti available in the Southwest to use in our products.  The wild berries and fruits are packed with flavor.  At the Farmer's Market last week, my biggest request was for Wild Plum Jelly, which was quickly sold out.  Next year, I have to beat the birds and animals to those plums, as most of the plum trees were picked clean by July.

 From other research on grocery store fruits and vegetables, I learned most of the produce is sprayed with chemicals.. The apple you eat from the store, unless it is from an certified organic farm, is laced with chemicals.  Pesticides are detected in 7 of every 10 fruit and vegetable samples.  The 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables (the “Dirty Dozen”) are contaminated with an average of 10 different pesticides, with many tainting more than one type of produce.  These facts motivated me to quit buying fruit or vegetables at the grocery store unless it was organic.  With the growth of the Farmer's Markets in this area, I discovered it is much easier to find really great produce.  Borger's Farmers Market was very small, yet many vendors sold impressive produce, meats, and cheeses.  I am excited!

Next Taste Test locally:

 I traveled to Big Texan last week and purchased a jar of cactus jelly, no names mentioned.  On the ingredients of this cactus jelly, the last ingredient listed was malic acid??? Here is the research results I found on Malic Acid: Malic acid, when added to food products, is denoted by E number E296. Malic acid is the source of extreme tartness in USA-produced confectionery, the so-called extreme candy. It is also used with or in place of the less sour citric acid in sour sweets and Salt & Vinegar-flavor potato chips. These sweets are sometimes labeled with a warning stating that excessive consumption can cause irritation of the mouth.  Oh my goodness!  Check labels.. it is important.

When I tasted this 4 oz. jar of jelly, which was $7.99, it tasted like jellied, sugared, watery, chemicals… YEP.. Some friends also did a taste test for me, and Jams Gone Wild cactus jelly won hands down.  I believe the difference in taste comes from making small batches and using quality produce in the products.   If you have a jar of commercially prepared jelly, please look at the ingredients to see what you are eating.  I believe some of our health problems are directly related to the chemicals in our processed foods.   At Jams Gone Wild, we use only the freshest organically grown ingredients and prepare our products 7-10 jars at a time.:) They are YUMMY!

Don't forget to wear Snake boots

Harvesting Prickly Pears

I first tasted Prickly Pear Jelly in Red Rock Canyon near Las Vegas and I knew I wanted to include this new brand in my jams and jellies.  First of all, I asked myself why United, Whole Foods, or other grocery stores did not carry Prickly Pear Jelly??  I searched on the Internet and only found a few makers of prickly pear or cactus jelly.  WHY?  If you try to harvest the prickly pear, you will understand very quickly why there is no prickly pear jelly on your grocer's shelf.  The reason is:  It is very, very labor intensive and there is danger involved.. Danger being.. RATTLESNAKES.. Yes, Rattlesnakes. 

We have prickly pears in the Panhandle and they have a small red tuna.  The tuna is the fruit of the plant and the pad is called a nopale.  The tunas are harvested for the jams, jellies, and butters at Jams Gone Wild.  The Native Americans used the prickly pear for dyes and also for eating.  Today, the prickly pear is gaining in popularity because of it's medicinal qualities, which I will go into detail in another blog.  The tuna's are packed full of vitamin C and full of antioxidants.  For these reasons, I decided I wanted to add cactus jelly to my products.  First of all, it is very unique and I liked the jelly when I tasted it in Las Vegas.  If you create new, unique products, customers usually respond

 I ventured out in the Panhandle Wilderness in search of ripe tunas last September.  I wore Dr. Marten boots, cowboy hat, jeans,cotton gloves, but no snake boots.  At that time, I did not know about snake boots, let alone, where to buy them. So off we go and it was close to sundown.  I started towards a huge patch of prickly pears and suddenly, rattle, rattle, rattle to the 10th power.  It was the first time I had ever heard that rattling noise.  I saw the 6 foot snake coiled around the prickly pears and slowly back away..Luckily, I made it back to the car safe and sound.  Native Americans believe you must My brother, an experienced sportsman, told me I could not harvest prickly pears unless I purchased some snake boots.  He showed me his and they were really very cool looking.  This year, I will purchase these boots when I harvest near my brother's ranch in Abilene.

So if you do pick prickly pears this is the attire you need:
If you don't want to pick them, just let me do it for you..:)

Hat
Welding Leather Gloves
Long Sleeved Shirt
Long Pants
Snake boots
Tongs
Water
Sunglasses
Tweezers or Duct Tape to pull out the thorns...
Bucket

My naturalist friends told me the best time to pick prickly pears when the snakes wouldn't be there is the heat of the day.  So when you are eating my cactus jelly, think about the process of harvesting these prickly little suckers out in the wild. In conclusion, part of the process is the adventure and I enjoy it.  In the next blog, I will include some recipes using the cactus jelly and some Native American Recipes.