What is a winter vegetable?

It’s not asparagus unless it’s canned, and somehow I doubt that President Obama (yes, I said President Obama!!) and the other dignitaries at the Inaugural Luncheon are dining on limp-as-wet-newspaper canned asparagus.

The menu and recipes for the inaugural luncheon are apparently the most viewed item on the Inaugural website. The good news: this is further proof that Americans are becoming more and more interested in food and our food culture. The bad news: they’re being told that asparagus is a winter vegetable, when it is, in fact, a spring vegetable.

Asparagus is available year-round in the U.S., but that doesn’t mean it’s in season; it just means that asparagus served in DC in January probably has an enormous carbon footprint.

There’s still a lot of work still to be done if we’re going to become more local, seasonal eaters.

Apricot jam with a twist (of lime)

After an extra-long, Telstra internet ’service’-induced absence which included a house move over Christmas (something I swear I will never do again during the holidays),  I’m going to jump back into blogging, at least until I make my international move back to the U.S. next week, which will probably necessitate a few more days free of blogging.

Since I’m leaving Australia at the peak of summer (sad) for winter in the Midwest (really sad), I’m celebrating Apricots which are EVERYWHERE right now.  I’m not normally a huge apricot fan, but I found a recipe for apricot-lime jam last year that now has me eagerly anticipating apricot season every year.

It’s a Donna Hay recipe that ran in a supplement in the Sunday paper.  I’m not sure why I tore it out because my mother-in-law makes apricot jam every year and could keep a small country supplied with it for about a decade.  But I did tear it out and made the apricot lime jam.  Let me tell you, I would have eaten my own hand if it was slathered with that jam.  Normally, I find plain apricot jam a bit too cloying and one-dimensional.  Apricots have less acidity than my favorite jam fruits (namely plums and blackberries), so the lime and lime zest really gives this jam some zing and makes fruit in the jam taste more like fresh fruit instead of cooked. 

Apricot Lime Jam

1 lb. apricots
1 1/2 cups sugar
Zest and juice of one lime

Cut apricots in half, and remove the pits, but hang onto them because you’ll cook them with the apricots since they contain pectin and will help your jam set. Put the apricots, sugar, lime juice and zest and the reserved apricot pits into a saucepan and cook over medium heat. Bring the ingredients to a slow boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally until the jam thickens. To test if the jam is done, put a small plate in the freezer when you start cooking the jam. Put a small amount of the jam onto the cold plate and run your finger through it. If the line remains, the jam is ready.
Take the pits out of the jam and then pour it into sterilized jars and store in the fridge.
Don’t worry about sealing and boiling the jars unless you plan to make lots and keep it on the shelf. This recipe only makes 1 1/2 cups of jam, and trust me, it will be gone in less than a week!

Apricot lime jam bubbling away on the stove

 The best part about making this jam, is that I’ll get to take some back to the U.S. with me which will allow me to have a little taste of the Australian summer in the depth of Missouri winter.