Author: CA McDevitt

This recipe is from Forager Chef – my property has many opportunities for foraging wonderful stuff. A few years ago I made the most amazing jelly from wild grapes and found this complimentary recipe for the scraps (pulp, skins and stems after making the jelly). This year I decided to try it with the strawberry tops – after making strawberry jam, there are all the bits that got cut off – the little bits of strawberry around the stems, and the stems themselves. So I’m giving it a try. I had some folks over last weekend and they wanted to know what the big jar of fermenting stuff was on my counter, so this is it! There are a number of options on the Forager Chef website, but this is the one I used:

TOTAL TIME: 6 weeks (including fermenting), only about 10 min to start

Ingredients

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 900 g (2 lb) fruit scrap (in this case tops of strawberries after making jam)
• 2 Tablespoons living vinegar such as apple cider
• 2 litres (about 2 quarts) water

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients, stir well to dissolve the sugar and put into a container, such as a big glass jar.
2. Cover with cheesecloth, secure with twine or a rubber band, and leave out at room temperature, stirring daily (I use a wooden spoon).
3. After 2 weeks, strain out the solids, then pour the mixture into a mason jar.
4. Cover with cheesecloth and continue fermenting for another month or so, until the vinegar is good and strong. When it tastes sour like regular vinegar to you, screw a lid on the jar and store.

This request really surprised me. I love black pepper (my favourite Jelly Belly jelly beans are black pepper from their Harry Potter collection – it’s supposed to be one of the icky ones (like snot) but I love them. Unfortunately you can only get them in bulk from the Jelly Belly headquarters in California and it’s been years since I’ve been there). Anyway, these are one of my favourites and I recently put them in the Murder Mystery picnic basket – and had a number of requests for the recipe. So here it is.

TOTAL TIME: Prep: 10 min. Bake: 9-11 min. @ 350  YIELD: 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup butter softened (I cut into cubes and microwave for 30 secs. Don’t sweat it.
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1.5 teaspoons black pepper
• extra sugar  for dipping glass

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients (except for the extra sugar for dipping the glass) together.
2. Roll into 1/2 inch size balls and space apart on a cookie sheet (normal sheet I do 3×4).
3. Use the flat base of a drinking glass that has been dipped into sugar to flatten each dough ball on the cookie sheets. For the first one best to put a thin coating of margarine/butter on the bottom of the glass).
4. Bake in a preheated 350 F (or 180 C) oven for 8-11 minutes or until lightly browned on the edges- do not overbake.
5. Remove to wire racks to cool.