Essential tool. No, really.
I hinted in my last post that I’m about to embark on a blueberry festival here at The Rustic Kitchen at Pinecone Meadow Farm. Southwest Michigan is groaning with the weight of all the blueberries ready to harvest, and it seems best to just buckle down and create a fistful of recipes to enjoy now . . . and later. So over the next week or so I’ll be posting recipes for sundaes and tarts and preserves. I feel like I should add something savory like vinaigrette or something, but I’ll save that for next year.
If you want to cook along, I strongly suggest you pop for a candy thermometer. Trust me that your results will be much better for things like jam, lime or lemon curd, even ice cream, because less will be left to chance.
Just this past weekend I overcooked a test batch of jam, and thus it was way too thick. I remedied it by adding some water (if I’d had zinfandel I would have used that). . .there’s typically some sort of fix. But why run the risk of needing to fix something when a simple inexpensive tool will save you a few steps?