Happy 4th of July / Independence Day from here on the jagged coast of Maine. I’m beating the heat outside of Boston here in Eastern Maine and thought I would talk about something near and dear to any Mainah’s heart.
The beloved Lobster Roll
Browsing Category
General Reference/Tutorial
Breakfast/Brunch, General Reference/Tutorial, Sweet Snacks
2026 Strawberry Jam Varieties: Strawberry Vanilla Paste Jam and Strawberry Honey Plum Jam
As long time followers will know, every year (even through the pandemic) I go strawberry picking. I’ve actually been going strawberry picking every year since I was a little girl — my first real “commercial endeavor” so to speak, and my sister and I would always sell them from a stand on the end of the road and that would be our spending money for the rest of the summer. In the intervening decades, both my sister and I started making our own varieties of jams from the strawberry harvest and this year is no different. I made one variation that I make many of the years — a strawberry vanilla (very popular) and this year, also tried a Strawberry Honey Plum Jam, which is also delicious…. a little earthier but still very vibrant.
I’ve been experimenting, using my sourdough (Alice in Wondoughland) and some new-to-me and interesting flours from Maine Grains in Skowhegan, Maine. I am calling this one Swedish Honey Wheat Sourdough Loaf because it uses Öland Wheat. Öland is an island in the Baltic Sea where the Swedish Monarchy has their summer home (there will be a pop quiz on the names of the Swedish Monarchy later today, go study up). It a slightly nutty, slightly golden in color wheat, and I added some local honey (well, local to Cambridge Massachusetts, not to Öland, nor to Skowhegan) and came up with this lovely loaf. It’s delicious. The one thing that I am beginning to learn though, is that it takes a bit of trial and error when experimenting with new flours, to get the hydration levels just right. The first dough I made was a gloppy mess and I kept on overcompensating, and then the sourdough ratio was totally off. This attempt is better, but still a little too dense, but definitely flavorful.
Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Dinner, General Reference/Tutorial, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides
King Arthur Baking’s Irish Brown Bread
I know that everyone and their brother makes soda bread around this time of year, and I am no different. This time, I made it with wholemeal flour, so a little darker, a little more rustic and really really quite flavorful. A nutty flavor, for sure. Not very sweet at all, so would go great with a sharp cheddar too. I’ll be back to sourdough making soon enough, but this was great for this week! This is the recipe from the KA site and that is also where I got the wholemeal flour.
Sunshine in a jar! Mangoes were on sale at Whole Foods this week, and when balls of sunshine are available, I bought some and ended up making this jam. Super quick to make and should extend the life of these lovely fruits for a bit. Lovely on toast but also with yogurt and granola. Or just plain by the spoonful.