Big news! I’ve opened a monthly pop-up shop! My shop is a temporary thing (hence the term “pop-up”), and it will be open one Sunday a month, generally at the end of the month, until the December holidays are over. I’m very excited to be “popping up” at my friend Ruth’s new space, Studio Esopus, an art studio for children where she holds classes, summer camp and birthday parties.

What to expect: jam tastings, jam demos, a snack or two made with jam, special discounts, special editions, vintage kitchen and canning goods, canning pep talks, and a canning library to view. I really want to encourage folks to start preserving the local bounty!

Jams are $8 for an 8 ounce jar, they are made with local fruit and organic sugar. Please note: this month’s shop won’t offer much variety or quantity; the fruit season has just begun!

Where: Studio Esopus, 830 Broadway/9W, Ulster Park, 12487, click for a map here. Click for an article from Family Friendly Hudson Valley for more information about Studio Esopus. 

When: Sunday, May 26 from 12 to 4. Jam demo at 2 p.m. Yes, a jam demo! I want people to make their own jams, and to see how very simple it can be to make a rustic jam to pop in the fridge. This is not a canning demo, just a simple instruction about how local fruit + sugar = good stuff.

Please stop by and say hello! There’s a lot to do in beautiful Esopus. Check out the Apple Bin Farm Market right next door for local produce, plants, and prepared foods (you can sit at a picnic table and eat there!). Or, eat brunch at the amazing Global Palate, just down the block. Hike at the many Scenic Hudson parks in our area; may I suggest Esopus Meadows or Black Creek? Port Ewen and the Rondout neighborhood of Kingston are just a few miles north on 9W. And when you have had enough, you can finish the day by having a glass of wine on the back deck at the El Paso Winery. It’s a really pretty view!

Credit: Heige Kim, Roos Arts

Right now my preserves are on view and for sale at Roos Arts, a gallery in Rosendale, NY, owned and run by Heige Kim. I’m so excited to be part of an art installation! Curated by Christina Osburn and Melissa Halvorson, the show, titled “use (n.) use (v.)” explores Functional Art and “the peaceful resolution of the battle between concept and utility.”

In the above photo, my preserves are surrounded by Meghan Petras’ Brush and Candle Holders (bottom left), Melissa Halvorson’s Rescued Fibers (right), and, fittingly, Julianna Swaney’s Melancholy Jam (center). I’m not sure how well you can see this, but the subject looks like she’s eating a jar of my jam!

Credit: Heige Kim, Roos Arts

More photos from the show can be found by clicking here to Roos’ Facebook page, and check out more information at the Roos Arts website.

Half-Pint Preserves’ plum apple jelly won in this year’s Good Food Awards! I am so thrilled to be recognized by them for the second year in a row. (Last year’s winner was rhubarb strawberry rose petal jam.) I am also really proud to be among so many stellar food businesses.  I hope you will take a look at the list of winners to find a artisanal food maker near you.

A local chocolate company, Fruition from Shokan, was also named a winner in the Chocolate division. Go Hudson Valley!

It’s no surprise that I’m as obsessed with fruit as my mother. She lives in Florida, so every week when we talk she tells me about all the fruit she sees in her neighborhood. It’s not always possible to share these neighborhood gifts, but when she can she does.

She was waxing rhapsodic the other day about the mango season this year, which apparently is very, very good. Mangoes are everywhere! She’s become quite a connoisseur of these fine fruits, as you can see by the labels. The last time I visited her, we visited some friends of hers that have a mango grove, and we were gifted several different varieties. They were incredible and varied, both in texture and taste. We stuffed ourselves when we got home. It was such a treat!

I also recently received a box of pink lemons from her. I’m not sure they were ripe; they were a bit hard. My guess is that these are a variegated pink-fleshed Eureka lemon. Do you ever ship fruit? Watch out for inclement weather! My mangoes were sitting on a hot doorstep for 24 hours. They survived, but they would have been better if they hadn’t sat out on the hottest day of the year. I didn’t think they would come so fast. I was at the beach…

Summer has begun, and the summer fruit is just getting started. Blink and you’ll miss some crops. Cherries have experienced another bad year here in the Hudson Valley, but strawberries had a good and early run. We had a very strange spring—an early hot spell, extreme dryness, and then severe frosts! But so far, so good.

Pictured above are my Red Lake currants, a common type you’ll see in nurseries, and I still only get about a half cup a year from the three plants I have. I want to plant lots more, because they are prolific bearers, and they add a lot to a jam, like tartness, color and body. I hope to see a lot of black currants from some local farmers. What a treat they are!

I now have quite a colony of elderberries, two cultivated and the rest wild. As I let plants surrounding our pond grow back, I’ve found the native elderberry more than happy to take residence. Glad to have them! Elderberry syrup keeps us well throughout the winter, and elderberry jelly is a dark, rich treat. I will admit I tried to make elderflower liqueur once, and failed miserably. I will stick with my St. Germain, thank you.

Strawberry season is pretty officially over. Sniff. Thank goodness I made a ton of strawberry jam. A recipe I favor these days is from Linda Zeidrich’s book The Joy of Jam, Jellies and Other Sweet Preserves: Main Crop Strawberry. How do you hull your strawberries?

And cherries are on their way out as well. It was hard to snap this one, they go quickly in my house! I have decided my favorite way to eat cherries is chilled and straight from the bowl. Don’t forget to save the pits!

The other day I went to a birthday party that I heard was lacking a signature cocktail. I came to the rescue with two jars of rhubarb rose petal syrup and a bottle of St. Germain. How could I go wrong? These were a hit with a thirsty and hot crowd. I like a lot of seltzer so I can have a few!

In a large highball glass:

Some ice

1 shot of vodka

1 tablespoon rhubarb rose syrup*

1 tablespoon of St. Germain

stir and fill to the top with seltzer.

garnish with a slice of lime or lemon.

*my variation on this lovely recipe is that

I added a sachet of rose petals.

I like it rose-y!

Half-Pint Preserves was born out of a love of a region, the Hudson Valley of New York, and its vibrant and varied fruits. All preserves are small-batch and thoughtfully hand made. Most fruits are hand picked, some ingredients are homegrown or wild, and the sugar used is organic. Every effort is made to connect with farmers and orchardists, to make sure the fruit used is sustainably grown. Half-Pint Preserves does not utilize commercial pectin, and instead uses either wild, green apples or the natural pectin in a fruit for a perfect texture. Most importantly, though, the goal of a jar from Half-Pint Preserves is to be delicious.