The Can-Can Club - #1

The first gathering of the Can-Can Club took place last Sunday afternoon. Nine of us gathered in the Moveable Feast kitchen to make many fun things using herbs from our gardens and produce from the Geneva Green Market. We started with the two flats of cherries I bought several weeks ago. The Sour Cherry jam is incredible and worth all the time the pitting took.


Next up two flats of blueberries for jam. Holly and Carol put the recipe together and diligently stirred, and stirred and stirred and stirred....


Easy herbal syrups for desserts, fruit and cocktails were made with lemon thyme and lemon verbena. The extra cherry juice became Sour Cherry-Basil Syrup. Yumm!

A lot of the jam was canned in stylish Weck jars and required a hot water bath. Other jams were ladled into hot jars and topped with hot lids and screw bands and then turned upside down to cool. A super easy way to preserve.

We also made a Rosemary-Orange Salt great for grilling, finishing and giving. After many hours of work we all went home with 12) jars of jam, 3 herbal syrups and an infused salt. Lots of goodies, great times with friends and fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Rosemary-Orange Salt
from Homegrown by Michal Nischan

1 cup coarse sea salt
2 T. fresh rosemary leaves
1 t. black peppercorns
1 t. fennel seeds
generous pinch of red pepper flakes
zest of 6 oranges

In a saute pan, combine the salt, rosemary, peppercorns, fennel seeds and pepper flakes, over medium-high heat and cook, shaking the pan gently for a few minutes or until the salt and fennel seeds begin to crackle.
Remove the pan from the heats and add the orange zest and toss with the salt until the pan begins to cool.
Spread the salt on a baking sheet and allow to cool. After cooled, put in an attractive jar. Before using the salt, crush to preferred consistency with a mortar and pestle or grind in a coffee mill reserved for spices.

Our next meeting is scheduled for August, focusing on peaches and pickles. Updates, tips and photos to come!