Thursday, March 6, 2008

Beth's Farm Kitchen, Mighty Hot Pepper Jelly


At the Union Square Greenmarket there’s a jam and chutney vendor called Beth’s Farm Kitchen. I always pass by, as much as I love jam, and samples, they have a plate of bread and little wooden tongue depressors to serve the jams on the bread.

The women who work the table, one of whom I believe to be Beth herself, are always very nice to their customers so one day when I was there and the table was quite I stopped to take a look at the jams. They have lots of yummy looking flavors, with very simple recipes; fruit, sugar, pectin, vinegar.

I asked if they knew if the vinegar they used was gluten free, and although she wasn’t sure Beth (I think it was Beth) took my card and said she would check when she got home and emails me. And she did. As it turns out the vinegars that they use are gluten free.

The next weekend I went back and sampled some of the jams, the ladies were kind enough to open fresh bottle of jam so that I could taste without fear of contamination. I have been fixated on getting jalapeño jelly ever since I had some at a Mexican fusion place several years ago and Beth’s has two; Mighty Hot Pepper Jelly and Habañero Jelly. I decided to start with the hot pepper jelly, which I pair with my evening slice of cheesecake and cup of tea. The sweetness of the cake cuts the heat of the jalapeños.

All the jams and chutneys have little bits of fruit and seeds, so you know they’re the real things. I’ll have to try some of my other favorite flavors when I finish this jar. Perhaps I’ll make jam filled cookies.

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