Happy Fourth of July!

While I don't have anything to share related to white or blue, I do have something red for you. Cherry jam! (Which reminds me. If you ever pit cherries for jam or anything else, definitely wear something really dark or a full coverage apron.)

The thing about our successful marmalade making experience is that now, when we see lots of seasonal fruit, we think "JAM!"

And so it was with the cherries at the market the other week. But because we know our limits with a paring knife, we held off buying the cherries just long enough to acquire a cherry pitter. Once we had that, we were ready to go. We bought five bags of cherries (each bag was just shy of a pound, I think, but I didn't weigh them).

Wyatt was initially super excited to start pitting. "So, what, I'll have to pit like 100 cherries?" he asked. "Something like that," I responded. Pitting five bags of cherries is a big job. Wyatt did about half the cherries, and I helped when his hands got tired. We also played cherry jam factory, taking turns being the person who pulls off the stems for the person working the pitter. Another trick that helped us get it done was that we spread the pitting out over two days. I stored the pitted cherries in a covered container in the refrigerator until we were ready to start cooking them.

As usual, I did not attempt jam making without the assistance of Marisa McClellan (of Food in Jars). I used this recipe, but because I could only find sweet cherries, (where are sour cherries sold in San Francisco?) that's what we used. And while doubling jam recipes can often end in disappointment, I decided to risk it and do 1.5 times the recipe because that's the amount of cherries we had.

The jam turned out beautifully. And Wyatt is now very good at judging just how much jam will fit in the jar.

I'm also continuing to read, learn, and cook from Salt Fat Acid Heat. The instructions for frittata (Limit yourself to six ingredients, including eggs, oil, and salt. Choose something creamy, something sweet, and something green.) led to one of our best frittatas so far. Wyatt charred and peeled some sweet red peppers peppers, I sliced and pre-cooked new potatoes in oil, and I also chopped and sauteed some greens. I guess technically, we used seven ingredients because of the chive flower garnish, but no matter. It was terrific. Somehow I had gotten in the habit of starting every single frittata with an onion, and it was really nice to get out of that rut.