Lorraine's Cranberry Fruit Sauce Recipe

Here it is, folks!

2 cups water 1TBS cinnamon 1½ tsp each of allspice, nutmeg, ginger

2 cups sugar 2 tsp. ground cloves ½ tsp salt

4 cups cranberries 2 apples, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 cup chopped dried apricots

1 cup orange marmalade

3 Tbs. finely chopped candied ginger

Boil the water, sugar, salt, and spices together for 5 minutes. Add the cranberries and simmer covered until the cranberry skins burst, about 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the candied ginger. Simmer uncovered until the sauce begins to gel on a spoon. Stir in the orange marmalade and the apricots until the marmalade is completely melted and blended in. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped apples.

Yield: approximately 8 cups

Houston, We Have an Archive!

Yes, finally we have an archive of the shows. Just click the links and listen to the first nine shows. The rest will be added as they're published to the web.

Go to the Radio Show Archives Page listed below.

Happy Listening!

Week 11: Oh, the Horror!

The show for week 11 featured Lorraine and Richard Graves talking about the greatest horror movies ever. They discussed the Time, Inc. list of the Top 25 Horror Movies (see the list on the movie resources page) and talked about the evolution of the horror genre over the past 100 years. They also discussed the differences between older and more modern horror films and also what makes European horror films distinct from their American counterparts. The show was a little dark, a bit cerebral, and a whole lot of fun!

Reflections on a Gift of Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity

Apologies to our listeners...I had believed this poem was written by John Ciardi for decades, only to discover just now that it was penned by another poet, John Tobias. --Lorraine

During that summer

When unicorns were still possible;
When the purpose of knees
Was to be skinned;
When shiny horse chestnuts

(Hollowed out
Fitted with straws
Crammed with tobacco
Stolen from butts
In family ashtrays)

Were puffed in green lizard silence
While straddling thick branches
Far above and away
From the softening effects
Of civilization;

During that summer–
Which may never have been at all;
But which has become more real
Than the one that was–
Watermelons ruled.

Thick, pink, imperial slices
Melting frigidly on sun-parched tongues
Dribbling from chins;
Leaving the best part,
The black bullet seeds,
To be spit out in rapid fire
Against the wall
Against the wind
Against each other;

And when the ammunition was spent,
There was always another bite:
It was a summer of limitless bites,
Of hungers quickly felt
And quickly forgotten
With the next careless gorging.

The bites are fewer now.
Each one is savored lingeringly,
Swallowed reluctantly.

But in a jar put up by Felicity,
The summer which maybe never was
Has been captured and preserved.
And when we unscrew the lid
And slice off a piece
And let it linger on our tongue:
Unicorns become possible again.

John Tobias

Week 10: Yes, We Can...Even in a Pickle!

This week Dirk is back from his trip to Chicago and Lorraine has been experimenting in the kitchen with apricot syrup, so we decided to talk about canning fruits and veggies, about other methods of preservation such as pickling, and about jellies, jams, preserves, and syrups.

Our special guest for the show will be Beth White, the Help Desk coordinator for the Library & IT department at Emory & Henry, who is a talented and creative caterer and event planner, as well as being a wonderful and adventurous cook. Beth has many years of experience making all kinds of jams, jellies, preserves, tomato sauces, and a host of other canned and preserved fresh foods.

Join us and learn all about the history and culture of canning and preserving food!

Apricot-Peach Syrup: Round One

A few years ago, both Smuckers and Knott's Berry Farm produced a pretty tasty apricot syrup, and I absolutely love apricots. They stopped making it (Philistines!) and I had to resort to finding apricot syrup online.

A lady in Washington state made the very best under the brand name, "Cornelia's Garden" but she stopped making it about a year and a half ago. I was buying it from Chefshop, Inc. out of California for $9/bottle plus shipping, so I was pretty stingy with my apricot syrup. I actually contacted the lady in Washington about her wonderful syrup and she said she had no intention of making it commercially again, and that no other commercially available syrup was nearly as good. I was lost...

Last week, Walmart had apricots for $1.18/lb, the cheapest price I've ever seen on apricots, and they were very lovely ones, at that, so I bought almost all they had. I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough, so I also got three lovely, large peaches to add to them. I'm sorry that I did, because, as tasty as my resulting first attempt at apricot syrup is, the peach does overpower the pure apricot flavor. It's still good, though. I'm posting the recipe, but then after it, I'm going to describe what I'm going to do differently next year. (I don't dare make more because, to my amazement, this yielded about 72 oz. of syrup and I have to eat this batch before I make any more and by the time I do, apricots will be out of season and then back in.)

Apricot Syrup

About 30 apricots, blanched and peeled and then chopped coarsely with stones removed.

2 c. water

4 c. sugar

1/4 c. lemon juice

1/2 tbs. butter or margarine

1/2 tsp. salt

Blend the chopped apricots, lemon juice and water in a food processor to make a puree. (I ended up with about 7 cups of puree, with the apricots, the water and the lemon juice.) In a large, heavy pot, bring the puree to a full rolling boil and add the sugar. Before it returns to a boil, add the butter and salt. Boil for 8 minutes and then ladle into pre-sterilized jars.

Can in a water bath an additional 10 minutes, if desired. I keep mine in the refrigerator in unopened jars rather than using the canning bath.

What I will differently next time:

Use only apricots, not a combination with peaches.

Reduce the water by half, and substitute apricot nectar for the water, if available.

Reduce the sugar by at least 1 cup, if not by half.

Add a 1/2 tsp. powdered ginger and probably the same amount of almond flavoring.

On her website, the Cornelia's Garden lady claimed to use at least a pound of apricots for every 11 oz. bottle of syrup and if I remember correctly, I don't think that she used any sugar at all. Her syrup was definitely denser and more intensely apricot than mine, but mine is pretty good.

Try it and see what you think. Oh yes, and if you live near me, let's get together and make pancakes some morning and test it out.

Week 9: Making a List and Checking it Twice

Join Lorraine and regular guest/co-host Richard Graves as they explore various lists of the greatest movies of all times. This week we'll feature the American Film Institute's "Top 100 Movies of All Time" list, among others, and have a lively and informative discussion about some of the greatest movies ever made.