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A group of us are participating in the Food In Jars Mastery Challenge hosted by Marisa at  Food in Jars .  The March challenge was Jelly or Shrubs. While just about everyone gets the concept of jams and jellies, Shrubs were a mystery to me even though I did bartend for a while. They were not popular back then, or the places I worked were not "upscale" enough to know about them. They are a very old concept from the days before refrigeration, but shrubs are making a comeback!  So, what does the word,  shrub , mean, exactly?  Michael Dietsch  explains in rich detail the history of shrub-making, which dates way beyond Colonial times, in the pages of his recent book,  Shrubs: An Old Fashioned Drink for Modern Times . A shrub is basically fruit, or even vegetables, combined with two other components: sugar and vinegar. After the correct ratio of those ingredients integrate over a little time, the result is a perfect balance of tartness, sugar, acidity, and t...

I am participating in a year long Food In Jars Mastery Challenge hosted by Marisa from Food in Jars, and the March challenge was Jellies and Shrubs! Since my family and I really aren't into the Shrubs, vinegary concentrated drinks, I decided to stick with jelly, but I used my cherries from last years crop to make jelly. I've never made Cherry Jelly before. It is sweet, tart and delicious! My cherries were frozen. I rinsed them off and set the colander on the base after they drained well. I let them thaw. I removed the pits over the colander , yielding about 4 - 4 1/2 cups of cherries.  The base caught 3/4 cup of cherry juice!  I cooked the cherries after adding  Sure-Jell (I didn't need to add water since the base of my colander caught the juice. I boiled them and then added the  sugar. I boiled them for a few minutes to yield the most juice. I used the colander and base again to separate the cherries from the jelly juice. I filled the jelly jars and processed t...

I received an email from Michelle at Easy~Greasy about her product. It is a colander with a base and lid. I was thrilled at her offer to send me one FREE to try out and review! Not only that, but she offered to give one to the lucky winner so I could do a giveaway! So, I set out to test her system and see if it would really be beneficial to me in the kitchen! To start with, my cherries were left over from last year and were frozen. I rinsed them off and set the colander on the base after they drained well. I let them thaw. I then removed the pits over the colander. I usually do this in the sink with my regular metal colander. I continued pitting cherries until I was done, leaving me about 4 - 4 1/2 cups of cherries. I was totally shocked when I picked up the colander and looked in the base! The base caught 3/4 cup of cherry juice! That is the equivalent of an 8 ounce jar of jelly!  I had no idea I was wasting that much juice! I cooked the cherries after adding sugar and Sure-Jell....