Chicken, Why?

The modern chicken breast, it is touted as the harbinger of health for those who eat meat and are looking to stay healthy. "Oh I don't eat red meat, I will have the chicken breast" is a phrase uttered a gazillion times daily all over this land. Red meat has gotten a bad rap, but more on that later. I however am here to indict the chicken breast for perpetuating the crime of flavorless-ness.
We could launch into a discourse about the life of a meat chickens but lets leave that to other bloggers. I asked my local chicken guy, Peat who teaches classes on raising chickens in the city about why the modern meat chicken has little flavor. it appears that flavor increases in a bird as it ages, and given that meat chickens are harvested young, they really don't have time to build a lot of flavor.

So what is the modern cook to do? Well, here is my dilemma, I love a man and he loves chicken. Unless its braised, I normally don't have a lot of time for chicken. The breast I find to be as appealing as noshing on a foam pillow and dark meat while better in flavor is still unthrilling to me.
So dear reader I have two options for you, one starring our beloved chicken breast and one starring the cornish hen or occasionally known as the cornish game hen.

First the breast

The key is twofold, first cook the chicken with the bone in.  This actually saves you some money at the market and you can easily remove the bone after cooking if you are adverse to meat on the bone.  Second marinate that sucker.  You can use a commercial marinade or make your own.  The advantage to making your own is that you can control the sodium, take a look at that bottle of commercial marinade next time and you will be shocked at the amount of your daily sodium is in it.  I have also found that when marinating vaccume packing the meat while it marinates really allows the marinade to penetrate the meat.  You can do with a home machine or for those of us who don't have them, you can buy the Ziploc type vacuum bags at Target or large megamart. I have listed a basic marinade recipe at the bottom of the page.

Now for the cornish hen.  I came across a local poultry farmer who had a special on these birds a week before last and we feasted on them over Labor Day weekend.  The best way to cook these birds is to spatchcock them and either roast them in the oven or as I did on the grill.  I have included a video for how to spatchcock a bird below.  On the hens however you should be able to simply use a knife as the flesh is a little more yielding.  The Labor Day hen recipe follows as well.

The nutrition rundown on both of these types of poultry is surprisingly similar. 
1/2 a boneless skinless breast has 140 calories, 5 grams of fat and 26 grams of protein.  1/2 a bone in hen with the skin has 150 calories, 5 grams of fat and 26 grams of protein.  I did a comparison with a marinated breast and the hens and hands down the hens won.  They were more full flavored and offered the moisture and deeper flavor of dark meat.  So don't be afraid of trying something beyond the breast.

Basic Marinade for Chicken
This can be adjusted in an infinite number of ways.  You simply need 2 parts acid to 1 part oil and flavoring agents.

1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup red wine vinegar
3 T of brown mustard
1 t thyme
3 cloves of garlic crushed
2 t crushed black pepper
salt to taste

Combine ingredients in a blender and pour over chicken, a baggie works great for this or vacuum pack as I recommended.  Marinate for at least 3 hours or overnight. 

How to Spatchcock


Labor Day Hens
You will need 1/2 a hen per person or if you are feeding extremely hungry people 1 per person.

Spatchcock the hens and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.  No this will not make you sick, it allows the meat to cook more evenly and will actually keep your meat from being undercooked in places and overcooked in others.

Using a charcoal grill place your coals to one side and when they are all white they are ready to use.  I soaked apple wood chips in wheat beer for 3 hours to impart a smoke flavor but this is optional.  Just before placing your hens on the grill add the wood chips on top of the coals.  The soaking keeps them from bursting into flames and allows them to smoke your meat. 

Salt and pepper the hens just before placing on the grill.  Begin the hens away from the coals skin side up. Place the lid on the grill and allow the hens to cook for 6 minutes.  Flip the hens skin side down and cook for an additional 6 minutes.  Continue to flip your hens every 4 minutes until the thighbone come easily out of the joint, which for my hens was around 18 minutes.  You can finish the hens by placing them directly over the coals for a few minutes to really crisp the skin.  Remove hens to a platter or bowl and allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.  Serve with corn on the cob and a fresh vinaigrette dressed slaw. 

Summer Slaw
2 cups red cabbage
1 large kohlrabi
1 small apple
salt and pepper to taste
enough of your favorite vinaigrette to coat

Shred the cabbage, kohlrabi and apple, toss with vinaigrette.

Updates

Sorry for the delay in posting dear readers, more health stuff cropped up that kept me from blogging and out of the kitchen. A few updates, the cashew graham cracker is coming next week when my flour provider Sunrise Flour Mill will be bringing some graham flour to the market. Sure, I could have gone and purchased it at Whole Foods but if I can buy local, I do. The same is true for the parsnips that make up the crispy parsnips, they haven’t quite come in yet to meet my standards so we wait, trust me the crispy parsnip recipe is worth it.

This week I am trying out whole wheat pastas to find one that meets my cravings for spaghetti (or pasketti in my house). Also check the comments for reports back on the cracker recipes and I finally discuss the chicken breast v. bison. Later this week read about the results on all the tomato roasting I have been doing and working them into a sauce for that whole wheat pasta.

Cheese of La Mancha

Earlier I talked about the increased calcium and protein in sheep's milk cheese. Given that here in Minneapolis we are lucky enough to have lots of cheese producers, I take for granted that artisinal sheep's cheese isn't found around every corner. I headed over to my local grocery which has a pretty awsome cheese counter very much in part to its cheesemonger Liz.  I asked her for a readily available sheep's milk cheese and she suggested Manchego. According to wikipedia "Manchego is produced in La Mancha and is made only from the whole milk of Manchega sheep. The rich, semi-firm product is aged in natural caves for three to six months, imparting a zest and exuberant flavor".  I find it great just eaten straight up or with the wonderful apples that are coming in with the fall.

1 ounce of Manchego packs 7 grams of protein, 30% of your daily calcium and 120 calories.  Not a food for those just starting out but if you are trying to get the all important protein and calcium into your diet with some great flavor its worth a shot.

I have marinated cheese before but hadn't made a crack at Manchego, here is a recipe I found that looks promising from grouprecipies.com.  I made a few adjustments to the recipe including correcting the authors misstatement that Manchego is goat cheese.  Simply cube the cheese with the rind on and  combine the remaining ingredients.  Mix the cheese with the marinade and allow to sit overnight.  Garnish with herbs and Viola! 
Adding some olives would also be wonderful. 

5 oz Manchego
1 garlic clove, sliced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tarragon sprigs, chopped
3 thyme sprigs, chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
olive oil (extra-virgin, or otherwise)

Cracker Backer II

First, I have to say I am in love with my new Kitchen Aid.  Wow, to think I have been mixing by hand all this time.  Apparently some good deals can be had on refurbished models on Amazon.  Check it out if you have been lusting after one.  

My local flour miller was out of graham flour so we will have to save the cashew butter graham until next week.  This week I bring you olive oil crackers.  I based this recipe on a few different ones I found researching books and the web.  The formula is pretty flexible but in my tests I found the type of flour used did make the baking time vary but more on that later.  Olive oil and flax are a good source of good fats with flax bringing omega 3 to the party. 

A word on flour and oil for this recipe.  I used spelt, semolina, millet, and brown rice flour in various combination.   I was attempting to find a good balance of texture, protein and nutrition.  You could make these crackers entirely with whole wheat flour if you chose to.  You could also use a starch like tapioca or almond flour if you are trying to go gluten free.  The millet flour contains no gluten. You can find all of these at your local Whole Foods or co-op or at most megamarts.  The oil flavor really does come through so use good oil.  This is a good time to bust out a flavored oil you like as well.  I used both good olive oil and a blood orange infused avocado oil in my tests. 

A word on this whole recent surge in gluten free.  If you are worried about being gluten intollerant, do not diagnose yourself, go and see a medical professional.  Sorry, it's a bit of a rant, every celeb these days is magically gluten intolerant, its the new carb free it seems.  Nutrition on these is ball park given the size you choose to cut your crackers and what type of flour you choose to use.  It works out to be 1g of protein per cracker with 40 calories for a 10g cracker. 

You will need:

1 c spelt  flour
1/2 c millet flour
1/2 c semolina
1/4 c flax meal
1 T salt
1/4 c warm water
2 T olive oil
1 T apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 450

Mix flax and warm water together and let stand for at least 15 minutes.  It will look kind of like peanut butter when it is ready.  You can increase the amount of flax up to 1/2 cup by adding the additional flax meal to the dry ingredients. Once the flax has hydrated add your flours and salt and mix to combine.  Add all the wet ingredients and mix until the dough begins to look like gravel.  Need together to form a ball in the bowl and cover with a barely damp towel for 20 minutes to allow the ingredients to hydrate.  If your dough is not coming together add more water 1/2 tablespoon at a time.  If it is too sticky add more of your main flour.

Its cracker making time.  Divide the dough into thirds.  The easiest way to do this is to use a silicone baking mat, if you don't have one you can use parchment paper or plastic wrap.   Place your dough on the mat or parchment and dust your your rolling pin with semolina.  If you are using parchment paper place a second piece of paper on top of your dough to prevent sticking and omit flouring your pin.  Work the dough until it is at least 1/8 inch in thickness.  What this works out to is work the dough until you think it is thin enough then roll over it a few more times.  See the photo notes for details.  At this point you can use a cutter and make cute shaps or simly randomly break your dough up and place on  one of the pieces of parchment and bake.  The jury is out on whether docking these crackers makes a lick of difference.  I think it improves texture by keeping the cracker flat, tasters didn't notice. 

Bake your crackers for 10 minutes in the middle rack of your oven at 450.  I have a convection oven so I lowered my temp to 400. Ovens vary, so check after 8 minutes as your mileage may vary.  Crackers are done when they are golden and crispy. 

Variations on the theme:

In batch two I used semolina as my main flour and augmented with brown rice and millet flour.  As an oil I used a blood orange infused avacado oil.  I used a smoked salt for half of the salt content.  These changes resulted in a cracker that was more crisp than the first version and cooked more quickly, in my oven it was only 8 minutes. 

You can add seeds as I did in batch one or add whatever kind of flavoring you might like, like tandori spice or garlic.

Preliminary tasters said that batch one was a good basic cracker but they really liked the orange flavor of batch two.  They would have also like more salt, smoked or otherwise on top of the cracker.

Photo Notes:

 Silicone mat and rolling pin

Work the dough in thirds

Parchment meets dough

Thanks for the recipe wherever you are

One of my most go to cookbooks is the All Around the World cookbook by Sheila Lukins, who died today. Thank you for great Feijoada recipe wherever you are. The recipe is below, its not WLS friendly but I will work on making it so. I began making it over 10 years ago when we would have Brasilian Saturday Night Special at my house, this dish is often considered the national dish of Brasil and is oft served with rice. The meats here are good suggestions but it can be whatever kind pig you want to put in the pot.

Rio's Feijoada from  All Around the World by Sheila Lukins

1 1/2 lbs of dried black beans rinsed and soaked in water overnight to cover
1 pork knuckle ( I use a ham hock for this)
8 oz of slab bacon cut into 1/2 inch pieces
8 oz Keilbasa (I substitute what ever looks good in the sausage case at my butcher)
8 oz Spicey franks (was never really sure what she was getting at here so just used whatever spicy pork sausage looked good)
8 oz uncooked sausages like bratwurst (you can see a theme here)
12 oz lightly smoked ham in 2 thick slices
1 to 1 1/2 lbs of boneless pork chops
4 medium onions
1 lb pork belly
1 orange
3 bay leaves
course ground black pepper to taste
4 T olive oil
8 cloves of garlic
1 large bell pepper diced

Drain and rinse the beans and add into a heavy bottomed dutch oven or casserole with the meat half the onion the orange bay and black pepper.

Cover with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil skimming foam as needed. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until beans are tender and meat is cooked. About 1 1/2 hours.

While the beans are cooking saute the pepper and onion in oil with the garlic for about 10 minutes. Set aside.

When the beans are tender remove about 1 cup and puree. Sheila calls for the food processor here but I always use a blender or go after them in the pot with my trusty potato masher.

Add the onion mixture and serve

I am a Cracker Backer

When I was a teenager when all the other girls were at the mall, I was at home with a borrowed cookbook making bread. I ate my last bagel a week before surgery and had heard all the stories, no bagels after bypass. Well it is true, bread is hard for some to digest and is a space waster after bypass. Out goes bread and enter my love of crackers. They also provide crunch which is a great reminder to chew. I have tried every spelt, quinoa and whole grain cracker I can get my paws on in the name of crunch and finding a source of protein. Are you not the queen of meat you might be thinking, meat is protein.
I am the QoM, but only so much will go in and isn't that really the point of bypass to eat less? Imagine if you will the following scene (cue monster movie sound track, the part just before Godzilla takes out Tokyo) In comes my dietitian with the protein drink recommendations. She has accessorized these recommendations with a look of horror when I tell her I have tried most of them and I hate them. Muscle Milk, blech. How about the 15 others on this list, double blech. The only one I can tolerate is Click, which manages to do the smart thing and cover up the whey taste with coffee. I have, I tell her found a high protein cracker I like but it has seeds. Wrong thing to say. It seems there are two camps in post WLS circles. There is the camp who says eat nuts and seeds in moderation because they are a great source of protein and then my dietitian's camp who says don't because of the fat content and in a slightly veiled manner goes on to say basically that fat people clearly couldn't eat just a few nuts so we tell them to skip them all together.
As the picture clearly shows I have continued to eat high fiber and high protein crackers but I thought, I could do this myself and supplement my protein intake and up the flavor at the same time. So I present you cracker experiment number one.

The Garlic Chickpea and Flax Cracker
The recipe has been adapted from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen Blog gluten free chickpea cracker

You will need:
1 cup chickpea flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp baking powder*
1/4 cup of milled flax seed
1 T of olive oil
1/4 cup of water
For the garlic cracker substitute roasted garlic oil for the olive oil and add 6 cloves of finely chopped garlic or to taste.
This cracker makes a great vehichle for any type of seed you may want to press into the dough in addition to adding spices to the mix for added flavor.

Preheat oven to 350

Combine dry ingredients and mix to combine. If you are making a garlic cracker add the garlic at this time. Add oil and half of the water. Continue working the dough and adding water until it forms a ball. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to rest for 15 to 20 minutes to allow all the ingredients to hydrate.

Dust work surface with chickpea flour and coat rolling pin. Cut dough into thirds and roll out each ball to a thickness of 1/8 inch or thinner if possible. Test batches showed that thicker crackers baked up crisp but had a denseness that tasters did not care for. Cut the dough into shapes, squares or a dodecahedron if you like and poke each square with a fork to keep from puffing. I broke the dough once rolled into random shapes which also worked well. You can also press the flax into the top of the crackers before baking for added texture.
Place on baking tray and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Tips and Tricks:

I like to use a linen or tea towel to roll my dough out on. It keeps the flour in place and makes for easy clean up.
Docking the dough, by poking it with a fork was helpful but not essential as I learned when making crackers and gabbing with my neighbor Peat.
* Use Rumford or similar aluminum free baking powder. The other type of double action powder will give your crackers a weird metallic taste.

Photo Notes:

The winning Pot Roast Pie

Just a quick rundown of the Pot Roast Pie recipe. After the standard recipe I have added a few possible suggestions on making it more WLS friendly. Keep in mind this pie was designed for a special occasion and yields 10 portions which works out to be closer to 15 pouch sized portions. The nutrition information is for the standard portion. Experiment and find out what works for you using the suggestions below the standard recipe.

Makes 10 standard size portions.

You will need:
3-4 lbs of thick cut chuck roast
10 cloves of garlic
4 ribs of celery
1 medium yellow or red onion
4 shallots
pot roast seasoning mix (optional)
baby carrots
frozen peas
1 medium red onion
1lb new potatoes skin on boiled until tender
1 pkg Simply Organic brown gravy mix
1 pkg Pepperidge Farm puff pastry
1 32 container beef stock preferably low sodium.
Kosher salt and pepper
1 pkg Whole Foods Savory Chicken Seasoning Mix
Olive oil
1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water, beaten well
9 inch square baking dish

Normally I would use fresh herbs for the pot roast but a good salt free mix that contains thyme, oregano etc is a good starting point in a pinch. If you choose to use the pot roast packet mix, omit the chicken mix and watch any additional salt additions. You can also make your own gravy with the pan juices but I found the mix makes for a thicker sauce.

For the pot roast:
Roughly chop the yellow onion, shallot, 6 garlic cloves, carrot and 3 of the celery ribs. Set aside.
Heat slow cooker to high and set timer for 3 hours. Discard the veg from the slow cooker after the roast is finished cooking. Oven Method: Follow all of the steps using a heavy bottomed dutch oven and bring liquid and roast to a simmer before placing tightly covered in a 325 degree oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Add half of the container of stock into the pot with the seasoning mix/ herbs.

Put a saute pan large enough to accommodate the roast over medium high heat. Once your pan is good and hot, you can check by adding a drop of water and if it bounces and dances upon hitting the pan, it's hot enough. Add your chuck roast which you have sprinkled with salt. Lower the heat to medium and allow the meat to sear for 4 minutes without disturbing it for maximum browning. After 4 minutes is up check your meat, which should be a lovely caramel color, if not give it an additional 2 minutes and turn, browning all sides of the meat. Resist the urge to turn or flip the meat during the first 4 minutes.

Remove meat to slow cooker and add a teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Toss in the roughly chopped veg and saute for 2 minutes. Add the remaining stock and allow the pan to deglaze for 2 to 3 minutes making sure to scrape the brown bits off the bottom of the pan.

Add veg and stock mixture to the slow cooker and make sure that the meat is covered by either liquid or veg. Place lid on cooker and allow to cook for 3 hours. Meat should be fork tender when done. Remove to plate and allow to cool. Reserve 2 cups of cooking liquid. After meat has cooled, trim off any visible fat or gristle and cut into bite size pieces.

Assembly:
Chop remaining veg except peas and set aside.

Remove pastry from freezer and allow to thaw according to package directions.

Chop potato into large chunks and place into large bowl with meat and gravy mix. Add 1 cup of cooking liquid and stir to combine.

In a medium saute pan over medium high heat, add oil and chopped red onion, celery, carrot and finely chopped garlic. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes until the carrots have brightened in color and the onion has begun to brown. Add frozen peas and saute for 1 minute more. Allow mixture to rest off the heat for 10 minutes before adding it to the meat and potato mixture. Mix gently to combine and if the mix appears a bit dry add more of the cooking liquid. You may not need all 2 cups of the cooking liquid. The meat and veg should be coated with gravy but not swimming in it. Salt and pepper to taste. Any additions in veg can be done during the saute process. Add any frozen veg such as edamame with the frozen peas.

Preheat oven to temperature indicated on the package and place the first sheet of pastry in the bottom of your baking dish. You will be par baking the bottom crust to ensure that it does not get mushy. Once the crust is in the dish liberally poke with a fork, docking the crust and preventing it from puffing up. Place in the oven for 10 minutes and remove to a rack when the crust is a light golden color. This may take more than 10 minutes depending on your pastry and oven so check it after 8 minutes and then every few minutes after.

Once your bottom crust has cooled, about 20 minutes, add your filling and brush the sides of the bottom pastry with the egg mixture. You can add the top crust at this point or you can get creative and make shapes and combine them to make a crust, I used triangles which puff up and make a nice visually interesting top crust. Make sure to brush all pieces with the egg mixture (egg wash) to ensure that they stick together and brush the top of the finished pie with the egg wash to ensure it becomes golden brown. Make sure to cut a vent in your pie or leave a space between your pastry pieces for steam to escape to prevent boiling over.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden and the filing is bubbly.

Possible Variations on this theme:

Substitute half the stock for 1 bottle of stout beer and 1/3 cup maple syrup for a Guinness Maple pie. Add turnips or parsnips in place of celery and/or carrot. Use real maple syrup for this as anything less will create off flavors in the final product. Meadow Brook Farms creates superior wood fired maple syrup made by the Johnson family in the lovely Catskills of New York.

You can swap out the protein for chicken but I would recommend using thighs instead of breasts as they have more flavor and are much less likely to dry out. Cook with skin on or off but cut the cooking time for the meat in half. Bone in meat will provide more flavor than bone out. Remove skin before combining into pie filling. Adjust the gravy to a poultry or cream type gravy and use chicken or vegetable stock in lieu of beef.

Tips and Tricks:

For all variations, defatting the cooking liquid will lower the fat content and provide a better finished product. Simply pour off the liquid into a defatting cup or if you don't have a defatting cup place in a coffee cup and put in the coldest part of the fridge for 2 hours until the fat congeals at the top and remove fat cap with a spoon and discard. Reheat in the microwave for 45 seconds or until the liquid is lukewarm.
If you choose to use a crust and the corners begin to brown before the center is finished, simply cover with aluminum foil and continue to bake until the center is golden.


WLS Friendly Variations:

Omit the bottom crust and use shapes cut with a biscuit or cookie cutter to create a crust on the top of the pie only using 1/2 a sheet of pastry.

Decrease the amount of meat and supplement with additional veggies, keep in mind to avoid high moisture veg like zucchini. Good options include green beans, edamame, parsnip, turnip, celery root and kohlrabi.
Eliminate both crusts and potato pieces from pie and top the pie with mashed potato made with minimal or no fat like olive oil or fat free sour cream.

For the potato mash crust, bake at 450 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes. Brush the mashed topping with egg wash to create a golden brown and slightly crispy crust.

You can go vegetarian on this dish by supplementing with squash or root veg cut small and steamed ahead in addition to the other veg to give it body and use a vegan gravy mix.

Nutritional Lowdown

All nutritional information is calculated using Recipe Calc V4.0.

Standard Pie
657 Calories
276 from fat
65 grams of protein

WLS options
Without 1 or both crusts
Top Crust
561 Calories
217 from fat
63 grams of protein

Crust decoration equal to 1/2 a sheet of pastry
466 Calories
158 from fat
62 grams of protein

Half the meat and double the veg with mashed potato crust
276 Calories
65 from fat
33 grams of protein

In a Jam

We have a local retailer that I like to think of as the last chance food shelter called Mikes Discount Foods. This is basically a place to get food that is still good but has issues that your local megamart will not accept. So I am up to my eyeballs in blueberries and peaches and thought, well its pie or jam time. So I am in a jam for jam. I have found a basic jam recipe, done some research and called my mom for advice and have given it a whirl with no sugar using Splenda and half raw sugar and half Splenda. I am not planning on canning this jam but freezing or refrigerating it.

Nutritional Lowdown
For the Sugar/Splenda Version
1 oz equals 51 calories
Splenda Only
1 oz equals 16 Calories

Recipe Revelations:
Both recipes yielded a tasty full flavored blueberry jam. Adding raw sugar makes the jam taste like, well jam. The Splenda tastes like Splenda and Jam. If you can hack the 51 calories from sugar, go for the low sugar version. Yields 3 16 ounce containers.


For this you will need:















Foodstuffs:
3 pints of blueberries
4 cups of sweetener such as Raw Sugar/Splenda
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1 package of either liquid or powdered pectin

Equipment:
measuring cup, both liquid and dry
silicone spoon or spatula
metal spoon

heavy bottom pot or pan, large enough to hold mixture plus at least a few extra inches
mixing bowl
Mashing device such as potato masher, blender or food processor.
Jars or tightly sealing containers

Start by adding blueberries to bowl and smashing the bajezus out of them. Add sweetener, water and juice and let sit for around 10 minutes. If you are chunk adverse you could whiz them up in the blender after they have mingled with the sweetener/liquid mixture. I like chunks so after their soak they went into a non reactive heavy bottomed pan.

Before adding the entire mixture I strained off about half a cup of the juice and mixed the pectin into it. Following the directions on the package, I let it boil with the pectin for 1 minute before adding the rest of the blueberry goo. Put the metal spoon in the freezer or in a glass of ice water at this point.

After the pectin and entire blueberry mixture comes to a boil set a timer for 5 minutes. Do not wander off to answer the phone or find the cure for cancer while waiting for it to boil or while it is boiling. The mixture can and will go Vesuvius on you and the stuff is like napalm on bare skin, so use caution and keep the kiddies out of the kitchen. After 5 minutes insert the cold spoon into the hot liquid and check to see if it has set to your desired consistency. It should hold a line down the back of the spoon and not drip when it is ready. For the half sugar/half Splenda mixture I found that I needed another minute before it got to a jam like consistency. With the Splenda only mixture I found 2 things, first that the whole mixture took longer to come to a boil and that I needed a full 8 minutes before it got to the same consistency as the half and half mixture.

To be safe, check at the five minute mark and then every 2 minutes until the desired consistency is reached. As a warning, do not simmer this mixture in lieu of boiling as you will render the pectin ineffective and also do not boil it too long as with boiling all sugar syrups, the more you boil it the harder it will set. I was once given a jar of jam the consistency of rock candy, not good.

After the mixture has come to the desired consistency, follow directions on the link above for canning or place in containers that can be tightly sealed. I like the Ziploc 16 oz. screw top containers or a large commercial plastic container.

I am letting the jam set out on the counter until cool then will refrigerate and report back with the results. Some recipes I researched said to leave the jam out over night but that seems to be a bit dicey food safety wise if you are not canning it.

Photo Notes:








Adding blueberry and liquid pectin together



















Waiting to Boil













As the Blueberry Boils, Caution!!










The Spoon Test