Sometimes when I am traveling, I find a local market or farm stand. I like to seek out regional delicacies that I can take home. Sometimes I come across a jar of something really interesting, but it's so unusual and unique that I don't know what to do with it when I get home.
Take for example, in the photo above: clockwise from top right, a jar of maple jelly that I found at Atwater Market in Montréal, and jars of lavender & rose petal confit that I found at a small roadside stand in Languedoc, France. What do you do with these?
Solution one: gift them to someone else!
Solution two: use them yourself. Sweet, fruity, and floral preserves can be used on biscuits, scones, other baked goods, and as a condiment for meats and chicken. Spicier preserves such as pepper jelly are tasty spread on a cracker with some cream cheese. They're also really good as a condiment for seafood. Any sort of unusual preserve can be a wonderful addition to a cheese plate, as cheese buyer Gordon Edgar points out. Try stirring a spoonful of preserves in your tea the way the Russians do.
(Image: Kathryn Hill)
The recipe I use for mango lassi uses a little rose water, so it might be interesting to make a panini with some sliced mango and a creamy cheese and the rose preserves spread on the bread.
Try maple jelly on a bacon sandwich? Yum!
view maddhatter's profile
I like to heat up preserves in a saucepan (sometimes I add a splash of liquer) and pour it over angel food cake or pound cake or ice cream.
view gingercookiewithlime's profile
I make sauces/glazes for meat or tofu with my "odd" jellies.
view kmarie's profile
And the first thing I thought was, didn't you just post a dessert with maple jelly in it?
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/roundup-magazines/funky-picnic-dessert-apple-and-maple-verrinecanadian-house-home-087376
view angorian's profile
Some other things to put sweet/floral preserves on: rice pudding, pancakes, ice cream, mixed into plain yogourt.
view angorian's profile
I like to use any of the flower jellies in my tea. It gives it a nice fragrance.
view sunrei's profile
I like to use unusual jellies in vinaigrettes. It's a neat way to add a flavour in that I might not've otherwise. Also, in jelly cookies.
view seidhr's profile
Pepper jelly can also be used as a glaze on pork tenderloin, but I just love it on crackers with cream cheese. Nom.
Smitten Kitchen just had a recipe for neopolitan cake that's basically giant shortbread cookies sandwiched together with jam and stored for a couple days for the jam to soak in -- in the recipe it's raspberry but I bet something unusual like blueberry-Szechuan pepper or lavender or peach-bourbon could be really lovely too.
view jm chen's profile
I just made a berry tart with plum jam glaze. You could make great combinations with fruit and jam glazes to give your tart that extra special touch.
view mauka-makai's profile
floral confitures heated up and poured over fresh berries with plain yogurt
also make really great cheese accompaniments.
view crystalj's profile
Rose jelly is a nice glaze for a fruit salad. Warm up a little to make it spread farther and gently stir it in. I bet lavender would work, too. It would be great with a combo of blueberries and watermelon. Maybe white peach, too?
view cmcinnyc's profile
While floral flavors aren't really my thing, I can't think of anything I wouldn't put maple jelly on/in. Pork glaze, on buttered biscuits, in baked beans, maybe some kind of bisquick sausage "pie" with a touch of it, out of the jar with a spoon... I have maple issues.
view LauraII's profile
Rose jelly is great for jelly-filled cookies, and also as a glaze for other fruit desserts.
view DCarl1's profile
I totally eat "unusual" jellies on cheese - you never know what wonderful combinations you might discover on a chunk of grassy sheeps milk or aged goat cheese! Some of those jams are quite floral and would complement them nicely!
view keltrue's profile
I buy jars of things I don't know what to do with all the time. In fact, I bought some zucchini relish at the farmer's market last year--and I still don't know what to do with it! I'm not normally a relish fan, but I love zucchini so I thought I'd give it a try. But on what?
view muse2323's profile