November, 2010:

One day in July, a group of us were waiting furtively in a Safeway parking lot for the goods. We were a bit uncomfortable — worried that someone would bust us for parking in the lot without going into the store. I’m sure we all looked a little weird, hanging out in the back corner. We are, for the most part, middle-aged men and women. One of us had a toddler. We sure didn’t look like your average hang-around-in-back-corners-of-parking-lots types.

Finally, our supplier arrived in his Toyota Prius. He got out. He was tall, handsome, clean-cut, and dressed in a plaid flannel shirt. He’d been driving all day to make the transfer. We were immensely thankful–we had been promised top of the line stuff and we couldn’t wait. We had never met him before, but he was like an old friend. We all hugged him and took our photos with him.

Of course, since this is a canning site, the “stuff” I’m talking about is fruit. Specifically, extremely fresh and amazing cherries and apricots. Our “supplier” is James Michael, a farmer. He is part of the Washington State Fruit Commission and Northwest Cherries. And we could not believe that he had more than 50 pounds of fruit in his car (have you seen a Prius??–it’s a tiny car!). After we chatted for a bit, we started divvying up the fruit amongst ourselves. There was a lot and it was so pretty. Wow. After we divided it up with promises to share our canning adventures with each other (and with you, our readers), we each drove home and contemplated our stashes.

A couple of days later, a small group of Canning Across America founders got together and canned all day, using the fruit we got from farmer James. We had several pounds each of apricots and cherries. And we were excited to get started. Each of us came with a recipe or two that we wanted to try.   Kim R brought her favorite recipe for Raspberry Chipotle BBQ Sauce w/Raspberry, from The Berry Bible by Janie Hibler.  Since we had cherries, we changed it to cherry barbeque sauce. I brought two recipes that I was dying to try — the Apricot Mustard from Amy Pennington’s new book, Urban Pantry, and the Apricot Jam from Alice Waters’s Chez Panisse Fruit.   Kim O’D wanted to make the Plum Dipping Sauce from Sherri Brooks Vinton’s new book Put ‘em Up!, substituting apricots for plums. And Myra came as our official cheerleader and taste tester.

After donning aprons and taking inventory of the fruit and jars, we put a canning kettle of water on the stove to boil.  While we washed  jars, lids, and rings in hot soapy water, the kettle heated up.  It’s important to start the kettle first thing–otherwise you risk having your jam (or whatever) reach the perfect canning stage and your canner isn’t ready.  We placed the lids in a small saucepan full of water and set that to simmer on another burner (we simmer the lids for a few minutes to sterilize them and prepare the sealing compound and then turn off the heat and let them sit in the hot water until the cans are ready for them).

As the kettle was heating up, we got to work on the recipes.  We figured out an order for the day: the BBQ sauce would be canned first, then the apricot jam, then the dipping sauce, then the apricot mustard.  But each of these things needed preparation before canning.  I started on the apricot mustard.  I  prepared the seeds for soaking in the vinegar and prepared the fruit mixture for maceration. 

Kim O’D and Kim R worked together on getting the BBQ sauce going.  It is fairly easy and required the least amount of cooking.  We all know each other so well by now, that we have an easy relationship in the kitchen.

While I prepare the apricot mustard, Kim and Kim pit the cherries. We mix up the rest of the ingredients and cool everything down to the right thickness.  Myra snaps photos and provides running commentary on what we’re doing.  We chat and joked, talking about our previous weeks and our plans for the upcoming days.  We comment on the lovely view (the place where we are canning is right on the beach — heaven).

When it’s time to fill the jars, we all seem to know instinctively who’s going to do what.  One of us removes the hot jars from the water bath  (where they have been sterilizing), one person fills the jars, one wipes the rims and secures the lids and rings.  We transfer the jars into the canner to process; meanwhile, we chat and clean up,  getting ready for the next batch of jars.

Next up is the apricot jam from Chez Panisse Fruits.  I was intrigued by this recipe because it uses the technique of boiling the jam with a few of the apricot kernels for more flavor.  (See an earlier CAA essay for a humorous story about what can happen when you do this).  I am one of those people who loves to try new things in the kitchen just because they are intriguing.

After pitting and chopping the apricots and mixing them with sugar for macerating, I spent an enjoyable half an hour hitting the pits with Kim O’D's mallet, exposing the kernel in the middle.  It became something of a game and also a meditation for me–how to hit the pits just right so I exposed but didn’t break the kernel.  Such fun!  For days afterwards I wanted to get a mallet and go around and hit apricot pits.  I am canner, hear me hit the pit! (apologies to Helen Reddy).

When the apricot/sugar mixture had macerated for about 30 minutes, we put it on the stove to cook.  I chopped a few of the kernels to cook with the mix as well.  Even though I got the kernels out of all of the pits (many of them whole, I’m proud to say), we only chopped and used about four.  The almond flavoring in the kernel is quite strong, so you don’t want to completely overwhelm your jam with it.  You want the apricot flavor to be just brightened with the almond essence.  Delish.

Then we did the dipping sauce.  Kim O’D and I had done this sauce before and knew it was scrumptious.  And substituting fresh apricots straight from the farm for the plums was a treat.

Finally, we made the apricot mustard.  This mustard is a heady combo of sweet and spicy — a perfect pairing to meats and a special treat on sandwiches.

By late afternoon, we had finished. All of the jars were cooling on the counter. They were beautiful — the apricots and cherries created finished goods that were lovely deep jewel-tones. We divvied up the jars and kissed each other goodbye and drove off into the night, singing Farmer James’ praises for providing us with the fruit that we transformed into jars of summer for the winter months ahead.

Raspberry Chipotle Barbeque Sauce

Chinese Dipping Sauce (with plums or apricots)

CAA Contributor Jeanne Sauvage is the editor of the CAA website. She is also an accomplished gluten-free baker and shares her recipes on her website, Art of Gluten-Free Baking.