The blackberry cordial is finally ready!

Finally, after weeks of waiting my blackberry cordial is finished! I made it in late August and it had to sit for 6 weeks (I turned it once a week).  I broke it open mid October and it was worth the wait. 







I drained and strained the mixture to get out all the blackberries and seeds.

  My husband insisted on saving the blackberries, although I was ready to toss them.  I figured we had used all the "blackberry goodness", he figured we had blackberries that had soaked in vodka and they would be delicious.  I declined to try them, but the guys ate a few.  If they're still in the freezer in a few months, I'm tossing though!

The cordial was very sweet, and pretty strong.  It really did have a strong blackberry flavor to it, too. I enjoyed 2 glasses and then had to drink some water!  I'm planning on trying a shot in some iced tea to see what that tastes like. 

My verdict is...go for it!

Tomato Jam

Well, I tried making tomato jam for the first time this year.  I made plenty of marinara, too, but wanted something a little more special to give as gifts to people this Christmas. 



What you see here is the 5 jars I saved out for gift giving, I also made a year's supply for our house!  This jam makes and INCREDIBLE condiment for burgers.  I've been making a lot of bacon/blue cheese burgers, and this is a perfect topper.  Also, it is tasty with cream cheese as a cracker topper (you could get fancy with this combo for a dinner party).

I used the recipe out of Preserving the Harvest, and thought it was wonderful!  Next on my list is the liver pate that is in the freezer chapter of the book.  I love liver pate, but I can't really eat a whole recipe myself, so  pate that is designed to be frozen is perfect, because I can have lots of smaller batches in the freezer.  I'm waiting until closer to the holidays before I tackle this one, though! 



Here's a pic of the finished product, all "wrapped up" and ready for gift giving.

Homemade Blackberry Cordial

I still have 3 weeks to go until I can taste my creation, but as the weeks pass, I become more and more excited.  Toward the end of August, when the blackberries were coming to an end, I decided to do some "preserving".  By following this recipe I made some delicious looking cordial.

I started by filling 2 quart jars with 1 Cup of sugar each.  Then stuffed them full of clean fresh blackberries and filled with (pretty cheap) vodka until the berries were covered.  Then you just shake gently to mix and let stand for 6 weeks.  The first few weeks the sugar was collecting on the bottom but by week 2  it was completely mixed.  Now I just remember to mix gently once a weekend.

By mid-October, I'll be having a nice cocktail, and I'm also looking forward to trying it to flavor iced-tea like the recipe suggests.  If I end up pregnant this will also make a nice Christmas present, if not, then it probably won't make it until Christmas!!

(Also notice the jars of marinara on the right...they're delicious and I'll be opening a jar this weekend to make my eggplant parm.)