In May, I went blueberry picking at Underwood Family Farms, a quaint little family farm hidden in the valleys of Somis. The early blueberries were so incredible and only $4 a pound (what a steal!) and there were a bunch of still green berry bushes a few months back so I’ve been patiently waiting…
And the raspberries and blackberries are here!
Delicious little antioxidant hairy powerhouse superfruit! Each one is perfectly amazing.
Be careful though. These bushes have a ton of thorns and I scratched up my hand grabbing greedily through the brambles. It made squeezing fresh lemon juice for my jams …. Let’s say the experience was unpleasant to say the least. Like dipping my fingers in battery acid.
Picking berries on a hot August morning. A perfect Cali summer.
There is always like one ripe one among ten unripe ones. These little tricksters be hiding from me.
Charlyne loves berries!
Narhee loves berries!
Charlotte definitely loves berries… “Hehhhh.”
Eight pounds of our loot!
But we’re not done yet.
Raspberry bushes!!! OMNOMNOMROM….
We brainstormed a million things to do with these berries… Pies, tarts, cakes…. I mean, what do you do with ten pounds of berries?? Brainstorming all of this on our drive down from Simi Valley really took it’s toll on our energy.
And we ended up being too tired and hungry and headed straight to Chego instead.
Don’t get in the way of us and our food. CHOW TIME IS NOW TIME. Our bellies wait for no one. Especially when it’s delicious grub in an unassuming strip mall in Culver City.
The Ooey Gooey Fries, Burgers, and Chubby Pork Belly bowl - savory umami flavors in my MOUTH. Why is everything Roy Choi does so amazing? Whole cloves of pickled garlic, 1/2 pound grass-fed beef burger, Kimchi sour cream, grilled pineapple, Chinese broccoli, Korean marinaded Kurobuta… The man’s food truly embodies Los Angeles. A perfect harmonious fusion of ingredients and cuisines.
After stuffing our faces silly, I knocked the eff out for a few hours. I would never survive on a real farm.
But let’s just fake it for a little bit while I make some jam, okay? Getting all domestic up in here. A lot of the raspberries were delicate and overripe and managed to mash themselves on the ride back home, so I did some jammin’ since half the job was done for me already.
Raspberries! Framboise!
Jam is easy to make as long as you have the patience to sit in front of a simmering pot for a few hours. Constant, endless stirring so that the jam doesn’t explode all over your kitchen. I accidentally walked away for a couple minutes to have a Neon Trees singing session and ended up having to clean up burbled over raspberry sugar off of my stovetop. No bueno, man. Nyet spasi.
This jam’ll last me a while. As for the blackberries… I’ll figure out what to bake with those if I don’t end up eating all of them first.
Raspberry Jam
4 cups raspberries
2 cups sugar
Juice of one lemon
Mash raspberriess to a pulp in a medium-sized pot and bring to a boil at medium-high heat. Add sugar and boil for 3 more minutes. When mixture begins to boil, lower heart to medium-low and simmer for 30 minutes.
After 3o minutes, add lemon juice and simmer at about medium low for 30 minutes – 1 hour until it comes to a jam-like consistency. To test if jam is done, spread some onto a small plate and refrigerate for one minute. You should be able to swipe your finger through it and it won’t come back together.
Add to sterilized jars and seal tightly. I don’t have proper jam jars so I stuck mine in the fridge right away. Best to eat this right away! If you want to keep your’s around for a longer shelf life, you’ll want to boil proper jam jars and sterilize all your utensils, etc.
Looking forward to spreading this with some goat cheese onto my breakfast toast!