I love June Taylor's conserves, fruit cheeses and candied peels. I mentioned that I was planning to take June Taylor's conserve class, but failed to share my delight. I feel fully equipped to make conserves (not jam because of the low sugar content). The class was really fantastic. June covered all the basics, but provided a great deal of background information and food history. I love old cookbooks, so I particularly enjoyed that she peppered her discussion with bits of history. During the class, we had two tastings. At the beginning, we tasted fruit and heard June's take on what would work well and what wouldn't. Her opinion, given that she personally makes 25,000 jars a year of this stuff, is worthwhile to hear. We then watched her cook a batch of conserves and then as a class cooked our own, from fruit we prepped and set to macerate in lemon juice, orange zest and sugar. Watching June work and then having her help us duplicate her process really cemented the lessons for me. We then finished class up with a tasting of a variety of jams, jellies, conserves and other fruit concoctions. It was fun to hear her take on mass market and other artisan conserves. I feel like my knowledge level quadrupled. We also sampled many of June's tasty creations, which alone would have made the session. June is knowledgeable, patient and friendly, so I give the class 5 stars! As students, we received a discount, so I bought a jar of the Meyer Lemon and Lime Marmalade. Amazing on just about everything. Great with pork and chicken. Yum.
I am sorry that I didn't take the class earlier in the summer, but I have to say that I am anxious to try my hand at marmalade this winter. Although past the prime of the season, we still have a fair amount of fruit available at the farmer's market for a trial run. I thought I would follow up with a post of my first solo experience. That post will have tips and pointers from what I learned... like roughly 1 pound of fruit per 8 oz jar.
