Honey
Most of what's sold commercially is sludge from China. And there's more of it all the time as our beloved honeybees die in droves, probably poisoned by industrial agriculture. The only honey you can now trust to be the real thing, pure and simple, has to come from your local farmer or beekeeper.
Jam
I always counsel people to make this during the season when fruits are flowing freely from the farm to the market but it's never too late so long as you can find locally grown fruits to work with. What's wrong with all that commercially produced stuff is its sugar overload, required by the FDA essentially for preservation purposes, i.e. so the jam can last indefinitely. This requires lots more sugar than fruit. And you definitely do not want any so-called sugar free jam if it's got poisonous aspartame, saccharine or other Monsanto chemical in it. And finally, most commercially produced jam contains "pectin", the thickening agent and it's bound to be artificially created from all sorts of stuff you don't want in your body. In fact you can make perfectly thick and tasty jam without using pectin at all; you just have to cook it a little longer, is all. Natural sources of pectin are orange peel and apples. Hint: raspberries have so much natural pectin they congeal into jam in about five minutes. Apricots go pretty fast too and no, you don't have to peel them.
(The simplest way to make jam is to put 2 cups fruit, 1 tsp light brown sugar, the juice of a lime, cinnamon to your taste, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg and white sugar that varies from 1/4-1/2 cup depending on the inherent sweetness of the fruit you are using, into a tall pot. Optionally add 1 tbsp rosewater) Bring it to a boil, protect yourself and stir stir stir. It will rise and fall and spatter as it goes and eventually, depending on how much natural pectin is in your fruit, in anywhere from 5 to 20 minutes it will congeal into jam. )
Chutney
Again it's the sugar and pesticided fruit you want to avoid. At this point in time, fresh cranberries are probably your best option. and they're full of necessary nutrients. Here's how to present them in a preserving jar you can wrap in tissue:
This will fill about 5 pints or 9-10 half pint jars (only use canning jars that can survive the boiling water bath)
1 lb fresh cranberries, cleaned
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
pinch light brown sugar
1 cup water
1 tbsp freshly grated orange peel
1 cup dark raisins or currants
1 cup toasted walnut pieces
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/3 cup orange juice
Optional: 1 tsp orange flower water
combine cranberries and water in a large pot. Cook over medium heat until cranberries burst. Add sugars, raisins, orange peel, spices, and orange juice (optional orange flower water too). Cook on medium heat, stirring, until sugars dissolve. Continue cooking, stirring occasionally until mixture is as thick as jam, maybe 10 minutes.
Stir in the nuts. Remove from heat. Ladle into hot jars, seal and process according to canning jar instructions. (Normally you boil the jars while making this preserve, then fill the hot jars, put on the lids and put them back into the boiling water "bath" for 10 minutes. After you remove them, each one should "pop" to indicate it's sealed.)
Sweets
Here again is where you can control sugar and that ubiquitously lethal high fructose corn syrup. If you knew the ingredients in those commercially produced cookie decorations--colored goos and gunks and sprinkles that don't melt, you would not want to be near them let alone eat them. Also, now that we know it's not the gluten in flour that's killing people's stomach's but the Round-up sprayed on wheat just before its commercially harvested, you need to limit your exposure to commercial baked goods. You need to find, use and eat flour not saturated with Round-up. So get some guaranteed organic flour from small batch wheat and bake your own cookies. Sugar cookies cut into shapes are quite simple and fun for kids. Gingerbread men aren't that much harder and can be lovingly decorated with currants, dark raisins, chocolate chips, almond slivers and the occasional cinnamon heart.
One of the easier treats to make is chocolate bark, aka moose patties. Just buy the highest quality dark chocolate bar you can find, melt it in a double boiler and pour it onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Working quickly, evenly distribute roasted almonds or pecans, dried cranberries and shredded unsweetened coconut. Set the baking sheet aside until the chocolate cools, then refrigerate overnight to harden. Break into bark and enjoy.
Among the easiest of all delicious winter treats to make is a simple version of the famed Spanish "pan de higos" or fig cake. This is essentially going to taste like fig newton filling all grownup. To make a 5" fig cake that can serve 8, all you need is 12 oz dried Mission figs, 10 raw whole almonds, 1/2 tsp anise seed, pinch of ground cloves, pinch of ground cinnamon and, optionally, 1 tsp brandy. And all you have to do is put the figs, spices and brandy into a food processor and chop for 3-5 seconds. Then toss in the almonds and process until the mixture starts to stick together. Dump it out, form it into a ball, then a disk. Line a 5" quiche dish with parchment, more twice the size because you are going to fold it over. Put the fig disk into the dish and squish it in. Cover and run a rolling pin across the top to flatten it in. You are trying to get this to mold together. Keeping the fig cake covered, put a heavy weight on top and let it stay 24 hours. Then you're done. And here it is:
Spiced Nuts
These are always a most welcome and useful gift. Nuts provide protein so they're especially good to give vegetarians and vegans. Keeping in mind that walnuts help the kidneys maintain our chi, here's a recipe for Curried Walnuts:
1 lb walnut halves
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 tbsp corn oil
1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp chili powder
Preheat oven to 325ยบ. Blanch walnuts in boiling water 1 minute and drain really well. While they remain hot, put in a bowl and toss with the sugar and corn oil to coat. Arrange in a single layer on a rimmed cookie sheet and let sit 5 minutes. Bake for 30 minutes or until nuts are brown and crispy dry. While they are in the oven, combine all the spices and salt in a large bowl. Put the hot walnuts into the spices and toss to coat. Cool before packing in festive tins to give as gifts.
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