Don’t throw those leftover herbs out! Preserve them by combining them with fresh summer fruit to create a sweet twist on classic fruit jams and jellies. Combining tart strawberries with tarragon, tangy apricots with thyme, or juicy blueberries with basil is a fun way to revamp these favorite fruit preserves. Just add an extra quarter cup of fresh, chopped herbs to your favorite jam or jelly recipe, and you’ll have an old-fashioned topping for biscuits, toast, or muffins that will taste like the twenty-first century.
A great and reliable cookbook that explains how to prepare and can jam safely is the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Published in 2006 and including four hundred recipes for preserving the summer’s bounty, this book is a must for every home cook interested in learning how to can.
No time to can? No problem. A quick and easy way to combine your favorite fruit jams with herbs is to simply buy store-bought jam, spoon out a few tablespoons for your morning toast, and then quickly mix in a teaspoon of chopped fresh herbs. Sure, this takes a few extra seconds, but orange marmalade tastes so much better with a pinch of purple basil and strawberry preserves are so much sweeter with a little bit of fresh rosemary that you won’t think twice about changing your morning routine.
