Pucker Up!

Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve has made its way onto the Sabjimata Store’s shelves.

Hand pitting 3 gallons of cherries was not as bad as I thought it would be. Who needs a cherry pitter when you have opposing thumbs?

 

 

Whole sour cherries, cooked in a sweet cherry puree, tartly burst in the mouth. The taste is complex and refreshing, with just the right amount of sweetness to balance the pucker (relax, it’s an ever so mild pucker).

 

 

Because Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve is not too sweet nor too sour, it goes wonderfully just about anywhere you would put your favorite cherry jam–be it on top of toast, cheesecake or rice pudding. And like many other Sabjimata products, Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve also tastes great eaten straight from the jar. Lower in sugar than a traditional jam, and packed full of fruit, Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve is a fat free, wheat free, peanut free, gluten free, meat free alternative to fat, wheat, peanuts, gluten and meat.* Of course it is! It’s jam. But a conserve.

My husband commented that the Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve is addictive, as are most sweet and sour foods. Personally, I like that the sweet base is blended while the sour cherries remain whole. Sheer genius, if i do say so myself. Not only are there a mix of tastes but also textures. The acidity of the sour cherries creates a much thicker jam, making Sweet & Sour Cherry Conserve perfect for baked fillings. I can almost gaurantee it will not volcano-ize in your oven, oozing forth from whatever pastry is supposed to be hedging it in.

Honestly, I am just so happy I had the opportunity to work with such a wonderful fruit! When I was pregnant with my son, the two foods I craved were apples and cherries. I still don’t understand why I craved the humble, vitamin bereft apple, but cherries! That’s rich man’s fruit. Full of vitamins, texture, color and taste, I’m glad I don’t have to again go through the commitment of child-raising in order to enjoy the fruits of my labor.

 

 

*Sorry. I really like making jam. I even really like keeping this blog. But let me tell you, it is very difficult to try to write about jam over and over (and over and over and over…) again while trying to make it sound new and fresh. It’s jam! And while it is true that different fruits behave differently in the pot, as well as taste differently on the tongue, they pretty much look the same in the jars. Especially the red ones. You may also notice me getting a little experimental with the mise en scene of my pictures. Hey, I’m just trying to keep things interesting for you. And me!

Over-collecting

Prior to my big monumental life change  in 1997 when I gave up my miniskirts, wedge heels and Marlboro Mediums for a set of chanting beads, rubber gloves and an apron by moving into an ashram, I was definitely into collecting things.  Clothes,shoes and other fashionable stuff mainly but also mugs. I had an extensive mug collection which supported my coffee addiction. When I moved into the ashram at Gita Nagari Farm in central PA, I donated my 100+ collection of mugs to the communal dining hall, where somehow they seemed to disappear within a couple of days.  

There was a cool bug mug from a science museum, a Denny’s mug lifted from a late nite coffee stop and a cheesy souvenir mug from Florida of a muscle guy in a Speedo that Danny Frank bought for me when we were in high school.  

I know I am not alone in my tendency to over-collect things.  You would think with moving around so much (this move will be 5 homes in 7 years) I would have my possessions whittled down to one singular box of stuff.  Well, I don’t.

I get rid of stuff all the time but more stuff keeps on coming.  While I have no collections that would qualify as hobbies,  I realize that tendency is there.  I am starting to develop quite a pile of those green reusable shopping bags.  Embarrassingly, I even have to admit I have a favorite. It is my Riesbeck’s bag which I bought on a recent trip to West Virginia.  

I am thankful I don’t have any official collections of stuff, just unofficial accumulations.  Like saris. I have a lot of saris. I even have saris  I bought on my first trip to India in 1997 which I have yet to wear.  

And jars.  Filled and empty.  There is a certain allure to canning which appeals to my tendency to over collect.  But I’ve already written about this somewhere else.  Actually it was exactly one year ago today.  It must be the strawberries ripening in the fields which are bringing on this meditation.

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Sabjimata Outlet Store: Sold Out

Thanks to the Sabjimata Outlet Store’s quick acting online customers eager for a deal, the Rose Petal Jam that turned out too gooey to sell with the regular inventory is now sold out.

Here is a picture of the boxes packed (wow, exciting) and ready to ship to these smart shoppers appreciative of organic Rose Petal Jam at a heavily discounted price.

While I hope the Sabjimata Outlet Store’s inventory stays low, it is not unlikely that some new stock will arrive this summer. I will post notices of all discounted seconds on the blog.

Until then, remember: my human error can be your discounted goo.

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U-Pick Here

Strawberry season has officially begun! We have a few sources for local and organic strawberries around here and I plan to take advantage of them as much as possible. Last year the kids and I were home all the time and it seemed like all we did for the first two weeks of June was pick strawberries, eat strawberries, make strawberry jam and eat hot strawberry jam. This year we mostly drive back and forth to State College for pre-school.

When I was driving the kids home from pre-school Monday I passed the Amish farm and could not help but stop short at the sight of their sign. “Stawberries.” Although they have great organic produce, their strawberries were too costly for my jam op. Better to stick with pick your own.

I checked in with the local Hare Krishna farm to see what was going on with their strawberries but it looks like they will be peaking around next week. I then called Brummer’s Farm to find out their price—same as the Amish on the already picked but the pick your own was reasonable. I told Meg that I would be by on Friday morning to pick but she seemed to think I should come right away.

My husband was leaving for work in an hour and a half and there wasn’t much time. But I do tend to get fruit panic attacks when I think of berries ripening in the field. Madhava sensed that I was getting stressed out trying to figure out when I would be able to pick so he suggested that I grab a bucket and go.

In an hour I was able to pick 2 gallons of strawberries, which isn’t that much, but a start nonetheless. And it was enough to alleviate a strawberry related panic attack. For now. At least until next week when the strawberries peak at the Hare Krishna farm.

Hopefully by then my legs will adjust to the picking squat position. Either the pain I am feeling in my thighs is testimony to the really good workout gotten from berry picking or just more proof that my physical age is closer to 63 than 33.

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"EAT ME." WIN THIS. The Contest.

Here’s a little contest for anyone out there wanting a free Human Made Sabjimata shirt. It is called: “EAT ME.” WIN THIS. The “THIS” being the shirt (like, okay, you already knew that).

So folks, here’s what you have to do. It is a bit silly, but so what. Send me something–a paragraph, a poem, a photo, a collage, opening scene montage. Whatever. You have free reign of expression.

But what you have to express is limited to this: If you were a food, what food would you be. Try to give a why with it. I know…so Barbara Walters. So what?

The winner will have the honor of having his or her winning entry displayed here on my very own winning blog. And oh yeah, the t-shirt is yours, too.

The rules are:

1) You have to live on the North American continent or otherwise be willing to pay the shipping costs. I’m not spending thirty bucks to send your free t-shirt to Tasmania.

2) Deadline for entries is June 15. Send entries to sabjimata@gmail.com with subject line: contest entry.

3) Want to be a whole smorgasboard? Enter as many times as you like but not with the same entry. I won’t make fun of you but I may feel sorry for you that you have nothing better to do with your time.

4) Please don’t gross me out. There’s a lot of potential for that. Don’t do it.

5) This is a meat unfriendly contest. Please keep your entries vegetarian.

6) Winner is chosen completely arbitrarily by me, the sole and only judge. All decisions are final.

7) If no one enters, I win by default.

I’m looking forward to exploring your food narcissism. And remember,”Free Shirt!”

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Human (Made) Billboard

Happily, my “Human Made” shirts arrived and are here!

Unfortunately for me, the issue of choosing colors for the ink and tee was just that, a real issue. There are just so many choices; the double edged sword of capitalism. Brown with pink ink? Brown with gold? Charcoal with chartreuse? Cranberry with tangerine? Or the tried but true navy shirt with white ink. As you see, there are as many possibilities as there are pantone colors.

I decided on a brown shirt with tan ink for reasons which are probably way too over-intellectualized. Since the text is all about humans, I reasoned that tan on brown would be appropriate because they are flesh tones. Nerdy, I know.

The shirts are short-sleeved Fruit of the Loom, available in sizes XS (youth large) thru XL. All you have to do is PayPal me $11.99 (+ shipping) and you can be as cool as me. Possibly even cooler.

Have a strong aversion to browns? Feel free to leave comments about what you think would have been a good combo for the next go around of shirts. All attempts at over-intellectualizing your color scheme are truly welcomed.

buy human made @ sabjimata.com

Experiential Learning or Complete and Utter Waste of My Time?

This evening I asked a friend to help me upload a three column template for my jam blog. Much of the sidebar content was trashed when the upload was complete and I was left staring at the screen with a thumping heart while my kids bounced off the walls in the room behind me. I spent hours upon hours trying to get this blog to look good and in a press of a button, my efforts vanished.

Last nite my son took forever to go to bed (I lie with the kids while they try to drift off to slumber) and I did not get out of his room until 11. We had a showing today (they prospective buyers will be looking at other prospects: they said our house was too big) so I had to do a big spic and span cleaning last night. While we were happy to get the showing, the call came in while I was driving my kids back from State College and my husband was getting ready to head out the door for work. So basically that meant I would be cleaning solo. By the time I could escape the kids’ room, I was too tired to bust out the mop. I set the alarm for 4 and prayed it would be enough time to clean before I had to drive the kids back to State College.

Of course, I couldn’t sleep so I got up at 3:30, grabbed a bucket of hot water with eucelyptus oil, and got scrubbing. The kitchen looked great, all shiny and new and the rest of the house, minus a few rooms I didn’t get to, looked pretty comfortable and clean enough.

So, with the all nighter, no sale on the house and then my blog layout blooping from existence, I was a pretty crabby woman. Thankfully I was able to get some clarity (but not sleep) and figured out a way to make my new and improved blog even better. Now I know exactly what I’ll be doing while I sit in the parking lot of Barnes & Noble waiting for the time to pass to pick up my kids from preschool: not working on figuring out Illustrator for the labels, which is what my original plan was.

Ahh, of mice and men, I am always the mouse.

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Just What is a ‘Sabjimata’ Anyway?

One day after my kids’ preschool, I was hanging out on the playground with some moms when one of them asked me what the name of my jam business meant. Liz, who’s partner Garret studies Eastern thought and yoga, said she knew “mata” meant “mother” but she wanted to know about the “sabji” part. Because she and Garret know I am a practicing Hare Krishna, they immediately gave me undue credit, thinking that “sabji” meant something sacred and spiritual.

Umm. No.

“Mata” does mean mother. It is actually how my children address me. “Sabji,” on the other hand, simply means vegetable. It may refer to veggies in the raw or prepared vegetable dishes like Indian curries. “Sabjimata” was my email handle long before I started making jam. Simply stated, I like vegetables.

But truth be told, I am not the original Sabjimata. Towards the end of the nineties I lived at an intentional community, Gita Nagari, with a friend of mine from Detroit. Her name was Saci-Mata and she was named after the mother of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Saci Devi. A truly transcendental cook, she was anointed “Sabjimata” by a long time resident of the place, Baladeva Vidyabhusan, himself an amazing cook in his own high-fat right. Saci-mata was able to transform the contents of a nearly empty walk-in cooler into a feast of kofta, sabji, fancy rice, dalma, chapatis, samosas, chatni and gulab jumans. In what seemed like a moment’s notice.

Saci-mata earned her Sabjimata nickname the hard way by paying her kitchen dues. Me? I just appropriated something that sounded pretty catchy.

Above is a picture of my personal Deities. Mahaprabhu is on the right. When I cook, I meditate on Him and the Matas who know how to please Him. As you can see, I’m just an imposter.

buy human made @ sabjimata.com

Slow Food Deserves Slow Shirts

So, my “Human Made” t-shirts should be arriving soon. I hope. They are taking longer than expected. To make? To ship? I am not sure.

These shirts are a mystery. I emailed the person who designed them to see if he is cool with me crediting him on this blog for the shirts. He is kind of a highbrow person and I don’t want to bring down his uber-image by associating him so intimately with my humble, earthy jam. I am very grateful to him for designing the shirts. Although he hasn’t responded, in this case I will not take silence to mean consent. But I will say that his initials are R.F. And he has a job. A job that pays into Social Security. I hope that doesn’t give too much away.

The shirts are being printed by TDT Silk Screening in New Jersey. I hung out in high school with the owner, Geoff Dagastino, and he is giving me a really good rate on the printing. Chris Daily out of Harrisburg offered to print the shirts for me, but his prices were higher than TDT’s. I wish I would have talked it over with him more because I just found out he would have matched TDT’s prices. And he’s local.

Anyway, my shirts are supposed to be in transit, but I am not sure if that is the case since as of yet I have not received the invoice. So if you want to know what I’m doing these days, its sitting around waiting for UPS to show up. I am taking a break from jam making because there isn’t much to can right now and I am just trying to enjoy having a cleaned up and put away kitchen for at least a week.

buy human made @ sabjimata.com