Hot off the heels of a visit to San Francisco and a cooking class with renknowned jam-maker, June Taylor, I find myself standing in the kitchen with my copper jam pot and a big bundle of Meyer lemons. I hauled the precious produce home from the Ferry Plaza Market and generous pickings from a our foodie friends', Caryl + Ken, backyard tree.
Meyer lemons are an indigenous fruit typically grown in California. Different from the typical Eureka lemon, these lemons are bright yellow, have thinner skins, are much sweeter and aromatic with a slightly floral flavor.
I am no jam expert and baking+ making sweets is not what I do best, but I couldn't resist giving a go at making my own marmellata as a fun experiment. With a bit of trial, experimentation and error {the first batch burned!}, I finally I created a recipe that was worth eating and enjoying {and maybe even repeating}.
Slightly bitter and somewhat sweet, with an undetectable hint of home-made limoncello, the marmellata made a perfect pairing as an early evening appetizer with olive bread and a spread of goat cheese. Cue in the glass of white wine.........success! A day and two jars of jam later, I think it's fair to say that jam-making won't be in my regular repetoire anytime time soon, but it sure was fun to make {and eat} while meyer lemons are still around to enjoy. If you have any recipe ideas you want to share, please do before I start recipe testing round two.
Buon appetito!
copyright 2010 Alisa Barry
