Summer treats!

Right now all the open markets are tempting, it's summer and I think of all the fresh fruit I am going to long for in winter ... As I am not going to Lafitte this summer, the delicious place near Marmande in south west France, the place where every summer I make my jams for winter, I started spotting my local market for the right fruit at the right price.

I bought 3 lb of cherries. My mother was kind enough to remove the pits, a tedious task I must say. I weighed the fruit and put half the total weigh in sugar. I let the fruit macerate in sugar for a ocuple of hours, then boiled the mix fruit sugar and added .... a few kernels of Sichuan pepper! I will tell you the result ... next winter.

My other jam was apricot jam. I bought round, yellow orange, soft, small apricots. I cut them in two ... and threw away the pits without removing the almond inside ... I weighted the apricots and added half the weigh in sugar, as for the apricot almonds, I boiled a bunch of almonds, removed the skin, and added them in the apricot-sugar mixture. I also added a vanilla bean. I let the mixture boil about 15 minutes and put the very hot jam in glass jars that I have previously boiled.

Getting ready for winter!