A couple weeks ago I was invited by Stocker Farms to come out and pick some of their Early Blues variety of Blueberry at their Mountain View Blueberry Farms, before they opened to the public.  So I called up my friend Cristie (the Master Mixologist behind ThirstQuest) and asked her if she’d like to head out in the early morning to go pick some blueberries with me.  We headed out early, while the morning mists were still rising from the farmlands and fields in the Snohomish River area.  We arrived and we picked.  And we picked and we picked.  Between the two of us and a couple hours of picking we ended up with 18 pounds of Blueberries.

We also decided to head over to Stocker Farms Red Barn to pick up some Sunflower Honey and check on what other local produce offerings they had in store for us.  Mounds of Sweet Bing Cherries, glowing Golden Rainier Cherries, 1/2 flats of mixed Raspberries and Blueberries and punnets of the most delicious little Strawberries I’ve tasted all year.  So it wasn’t enough that I had 9 pounds of Blueberries, I had to pick up some Strawberries and Raspberries as well.

So when I got home and started looking at all these berries I started wondering what could I do with them all.  Pancakes, Cobblers, Crisps, Muffins, Scones, Ice Cream, Syrup, simply fresh out of the bowl… there were many days of berry enjoyment ahead to be certain.  The only problem with fresh berries is that they do not keep forever, and once a few days had escaped me I found that I still had an abundance of berries at hand and something needed to be made before they turned into penicillin.

That’s when it hit me… JAM!  Why didn’t I think of this before!?  I’ll make a bunch of berry jam and mix all the berry together for a taste that will be an explosion of summer sweetness in your mouth.  So I took my Blueberries, Raspberries and Strawberries and prepped them for the pot.  Now I’m an old fashioned girl, I like to make my berry jams without Pectin.  Why?  It’s because my Great Grandmother did it that way and her jams were spectacular.  The fruits were thick and caramelized with deep layers of flavor.  And it couldn’t be easier, no fussing with adding in things at the right time or risk screwing up your entire batch.  Just add everything in a pot, stir, boil down and stick it in a jam pot.  Done and delicious.

Summer Berry Jam

• 4 Cups Berries (Blueberry, Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry – any combination)
• 3 1/2 Cups Organic Cane Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cinnamon Stick
• 1/2 Lemon
• Pinch of Salt

Prep your berries by washing them.  Hull and quarter strawberries, others leave whole.  Put them into a large stock pot, add the Sugar and Vanilla and stir them all to combine.  Squeeze the lemon juice into the pot and toss the squeezed lemon in with the berries, add cinnamon stick and pinch of salt.  Stir again to combine, the berries should start releasing their juice and making the Sugar wet.

Place the pot on the stove set at Medium heat.  Stir it a couple of times, letting it roll to a slow boil while keeping an eye on it just until the mixture starts to foam.  Now turn it down to Medium-Low heat and simmer while stirring occassionally.  Your berries will go from a stage of a watery syrup like consistency with foam to a thicker syrup with less foam.  When you start seeing the foam disappear (about 20 minutes into the cooking) remove your lemon from the pot.

Now you will want to really watch the pot, stirring constantly to prevent it from scorching for about another 20-25 minutes, the stirring also helps to break up the fruit even more.  The surface of the jam will go from a glassy shiny surface to a satiny sheen on the surface, this means you are close to finished.  You can test the gel of your jam by putting some of the juice from the pot on to a saucer and sticking it in the fridge, take it out after a couple minutes and if it looks like jelly or jam and you can drag your finger through it and it doesn’t run back together you are finished.  Another method is to put a metal spoon into the juice and pull it out and if the mixture slowly sheets off the spoon leaving a thin covering of juice behind, rather than just quickly drizzling off leaving a bare spoon… you are ready.
Total cooking time is about 45-60 minutes depending on the juiciness and types of berries you mix together.

You can put the jam up into jars and use a water bath method to preserve it longer.  It keeps well in the fridge or freezer as well.

Berry Picking News Flash
Mountain View Blueberry Farms is open to the public starting today with their Big Blues ripe for the picking. Blue Rays and Concords!
No pets
Keep kids with you at all times
Cash only
Gates open at 8am, do not arrive before 8am – gates close at 5pm
Closed on Mondays – Open Tuesday through Sunday
617 E. Lowell-Larimer Road
Snohomish, WA 98296
(360) 668-3391 for recorded message

Full disclosure: I have received no compensation from Stocker Farms or Mountainview Blueberry Farms for this article.

Images by Kelly Cline ©2010 All Rights Reserved
All content, text and images are  ©2010 All Rights Reserved and may not be used or reposted without express written consent.

Summer is that magical time of year that heralds the arrival of colorful, plump and delicious berries.  There is no way in the world that I could just pick one single berry as my favorite.  I love them all, each with their own unique flavor profile that dances delightfully on my tastebuds.  Right now your local area Farmer’s Markets are offering up these sweet little treasures.  Summer is the best time of year to enjoy their nommy goodness, so make it a plan this weekend to visit a Farmer’s Market – I’ve even put together a list for you.

I’m going to step back in time a bit to share a berry memory.  I grew up in Puyallup, home of Daffodils, U-Pick Berry Farms and little unattended roadside Farmer’s stands – the kind that had an old MJB coffee can to hold the money and your honor to pay for that forearm sized zucchini.  I also grew up in the 70’s with gas lines stretching for blocks, job shortages combined with  a recession meaning trouble for a lot of folks.  Our family was no different and my Father ended up out of work.

With my Dad tirelessly looking for work and struggling to find anything, my Mom went job seeking  to help and found work at Valley Packers, working the conveyor line sorting out the cruddy berries from the good ones.  She used to wear this heavy white rubber apron that she would scrub down every night.  It was stained red with the berry juices and I LOVED the way it smelled, I know… I’m weird.  Every once in a while she would slip a couple  super plump, super sweet berries in the apron pocket at the end of her shift and bring them home as a little treat for my Brother and me.   This is my first memories of the taste of berries and I haven’t found a berry as sweet as they were back then.

So I managed to pick up 4 different kinds of berries and as I was standing at my kitchen counter sorting through them I absentmindedly put my finger to my nose and inhaled… I was 5 again and picturing my Mom in that red stained white apron gathering us around close with her hands behind her back while we eagerly awaited the reveal of what sweet little treasure she had to share with us.  So this recipe is for my Mom… sweet, a teeny bit tart, a little crusty around the edges and all put together…. absolutely beautiful.

Recipe notes: If you don’t have all 4 varieties of berries you can mix and match, or make this with just one kind of berry as long as the measurement is the same.  And also… don’t be frightened of the Black Pepper as a spice, it plays beautifully with berry fruits.

Crispy Berry Crumble

Preheat oven to 350º
Filling

• 1 Cup of each – Strawberry (quartered), Blueberry, Raspberry & Blackberry
• 1 1/2 Cups White Sugar
• 1/3 Cup Flour – All Purpose
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cornstarch
• 1 Vanilla Bean (insides scraped out) or 1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper – finely ground
• Zest of 1/2 Lemon
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon

Combine and mix together in a large bowl, being careful to not crush the berries too much.  When thoroughly mixed pour into an 8″x13″ baking dish – or something close – the fruit filling should fill the baking pan 1/2 way up the side, do not overfill the pan as it will result in spillover during the baking process.

Crumble Topping

• 1 1/2 Cups Light Brown Sugar
• 1 Cup Flour – All Purpose
• 1/2 Cup Rolled Oats
• 1/2 Cup Slivered Almonds
• 3/4 Cup Butter – unsalted, cold and cut into 1/2″ cubes
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• Pinch of Salt

Put everything into a large bowl and using either a pastry cutter or your hands, start mixing until the butter is incorporated.  Do not use a food processor as it will pulverize the oats and almonds leaving this topping with an unpleasant graininess. You will know the topping is ready when you can pinch a large finger full and it holds together.

Final Assembly and Baking
Using your hands start sprinkling the topping mixture over the berries you’ve poured in your baking pan.  The ideal thickness is about 1/2″ to 3/4″, you are likely to have a little leftover topping, so save this for topping your next batch of muffins.
Place the baking pan into your 350º oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is a nice toasty brown and the edges of the topping have bubbling fruit peeking out.

Let it cool down for about 15 minutes.  Then when you can comfortably (and carefully!) touch the side of the baking pan for 5 seconds, it is ready to be served warm.  Top it with fresh whip cream or a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

U-PICK NEWS!
Wanna pick your own Strawberries?  I just got notification from the folks at Stocker Farms that their U-Pick Strawberry Field is open!
Located at  8203 Marsh Road, Snohomish WA 98296
1 mile West of Highway 9 or 1 mile East from the bottom of Seattle Hill Road
Look for the yellow building to the North of Marsh Road.
U-Pick is open from 10am to 4pm Tuesday through Sunday
Price per pound for Strawberries is $1.80
No pets
For more information visit Stocker Farms website.

Full disclosure: I have received no compensation from Stocker Farms for this article.
Images by Kelly Cline ©2010 All Rights Reserved
All content, text and images are  ©2010 All Rights Reserved and may not be used or reposted without express written consent.