Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation is a cult classic in my family. One of the punchlines is that his Christmas bonus was a “1 year subscription to the Jelly of the Month Club.” Since I was making jelly this week, it got me thinking, with the stuff that I had growing, do I have enough fruit to make a different jelly each month? The answer was quickly no, because I don’t have that many fruits producing yet. But I thought it would be a fun thought experiment.
So if you were to make a “Jelly of the Month” club with whats ripening in your yard that month, which fruits would you choose?
With what I know I have enough of the make jelly, I would do Beautyberry in October, Roselle in November, and sour orange marmalade and jam in December.
oddly enough ive never made sour cherry preserves, I blend them into smoothies and ive made pies, next year Ill have to try that! Im thinking rhubarb/cherry sounds interesting, have you done that?
That is personal preference i would think… kind of like do you eat chili and/or slaw on your hot dog kind of thing.
There is no Black Raspberry jam or jelly here anywhere that i can find… no clue where it all goes. The stuff i make used to be my favorite but im a sour cherry addict now.
I have heard some folks talk about chokecherry jam/jelly… it sounds terrible but its probably really good.
This stuff is insanely good with chunks of cherries all thru it.
i got about 40lbs. sour cherries frozen in the freezer in the garage. i guess ill have to make some this winter. going to make black currant/ aronia, autumn berry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, black currant, gooseberry and honeyberry jam this winter. i usually make up a bunch this time of year to give out to family and friends for the holidays, then i make my jams to fill my pantry after the holidays. i like seeds and texture so i prefer jams instead.
mine are so soft when i harvest i just rip them open with my fingers to pit. goes really quick. i made a pie back in sept. with some but i don’t think it was for sour cherries as it wasn’t sweetened enough. il have to try another recipe next time.
I agree wholeheartedly! Sour cherry makes the best jelly; ties with elderberry in my book. No other fruit I have tried has that same flavor. It is so good that if I had the option between growing sweet vs. pie cherries it wouldn’t take me a second’s pause. Thankfully, I can get both!
A friend got me one of these a few years ago. Some of the flavors were great and inspired me to try some different variations with my own jam making. But the best two I make are a blueberry/nectarine jam and a tart plum jam made from satsuma. Very little sugar in both.
This is such a fun thread! I am really enjoying reading it and it has me thinking about attempting to do this next year.
Based on what I have available today, it would probably have to look like this for 2025:
Jan - apple
Feb - apple/mint
Mar - apple jalapeno
April - dandelion/rhubarb?
May - honeyberry
June - strawberry
July - cherry/blackberry
Aug - peach
Sept - strawberry/fig
Oct - strawberry/pawpaw
Nov - Asian pear
Dec - apple/bitter orange
