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Rhubarb Plants Are Coming Up; Time To Make Some Jam

From COOK’S NOTEBOOK, June 18, 1997: NOTE TO READERS Last month, we published recipes in this column for meat jerky made in a home food dehydrator. We have since been notified that Washington State University’s cooperative extension service no longer recommends making jerky in home dehydrators, because of a 1995 outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7 from deer jerky made in a home food dehydrator in Oregon.

Dear Merri Lou: I’m looking for a recipe you ran in the paper probably 10 or 15 years ago for rhubarb jam, using candy orange slices. I raised five kids by myself, and everybody would give me rhubarb, and I could make jam for practically nothing. Now my son, who’s 36, wants it again and I can’t find the recipe. Can you help? Maxine, Spokane

Dear Maxine: From our Dorothy Dean files, here’s your jam recipe.

Rhubarb Orange Candy Jam

6 cups finely diced rhubarb

5 cups sugar

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 pound candy orange slices, cut up (2 cups packed)

Measure rhubarb, sugar, water and lemon juice in large kettle. Stir to mix. Bring to a full, rolling boil, stirring. Add orange slices; continue boiling, stirring until mixture reaches the jelly stage, about 12 minutes. Immediately ladle into hot sterilized glasses and seal at once.

Yield: About 7 cups.

Nutrition information per cup: 570 calories, 0.2 grams fat (0.3 percent fat calories), .7 grams fat, 147 grams carbohydrate, no cholesterol, 5 milligrams sodium.

Dear Merri Lou: Last year I received a food dehydrator as a gift. This year, I decided I would use it to make beef jerky. So, could I ask you to print recipes for regular jerky, teriyaki jerky and salmon jerky (my brother fishes on the coast and always brings me more than I can use)? Thank you very much for your efforts. - Karen, Spokane

Dear Karen: Will McDonald of Spokane provided me with the two beef jerky recipes below, courtesy of his friends, Larry and Brenda Hollis, also of Spokane.

Hot and Spicy Beef Jerky

3 pounds beef, cut into strips inch wide

2 cups soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tablespoons concentrated hickory seasoning, or liquid smoke

2 tablespoons mustard

Crushed red pepper flakes

In a flat pan, mix soy sauce, sugar, hickory seasoning and mustard. Lay the strips of meat in the sauce and cover. Marinate 2-24 hours, turning meat once. Layer in dehydrator and sprinkle red pepper flakes on top. Dry for 12-18 hours, following manufacturer’s instructions.

Teriyaki Jerky

3 pounds beef, cut into strips 1/4 inch wide

1 (12-ounce) bottle of your favorite teriyaki sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

Combine teriyaki sauce and sugar in flat pan. Marinate beef 2-24 hours. Dry in dehydrator 12-18 hours.

Fish Jerky

From “The Dehydrator Cookbook,” by Joanna White (Bristol Publishing, 1992).

4 pounds lean fish fillets

2 tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons dried onion powder

1 teaspoon dried garlic powder

1 tablespoon liquid smoke, or to taste

1/4 cup soy sauce

Dash Tabasco sauce

Cut fish fillets into 1/4-inch strips and soak in salt brine solution (1 cup salt to 2 quarts cold water) for 30 minutes. Remove and rinse with cold water. Mix salt, onion powder and garlic powder together. In a separate bowl, combined liquid smoke, soy sauce and Tabasco. Spread liquid mixture over fish and sprinkle with salt mixture. Refrigerate for about 6 hours.

Place seasoned fish on drying trays in a single layer. Dry at 145 degrees for approximately 12 to 14 hours, or until firm, dry and tough but not crumbly. Cool completely and store in airtight containers in the freezer.

Dear Merri Lou: My husband and I enjoy scones for breakfast. I am looking for an old-fashioned recipe for them similar to the ones they used to sell at the Puyallup Fair. Would appreciate any help you could offer. Thank you. - Lois, Moses Lake

Dear Lois: Scones are such a treat for breakfast, and there are many, many varieties. Here’s one from the Victorian Rose Tea Room in Port Orchard, Wash.

Cinnamon Walnut Scones

From Taste Of Home magazine, February/March 1997 (Reiman Publications).

1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

4-1/2 teaspoons sugar

2-1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup cold butter or margarine

2 eggs

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients; cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine eggs and cream; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.

Turn onto a floured surface; gently pat into a 7-inch circle, 3/4-inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges. Separate wedges; place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush tops with buttermilk. Let rest 15 minutes.

Bake at 450 degrees for 14-16 minutes, or until golden brown.

Yield: 8 servings.

, DataTimes MEMO: Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian in Spokane, would like to hear from you. Write to: Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or e-mail to merrid@spokesman.com. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.

Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian in Spokane, would like to hear from you. Write to: Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210, or e-mail to merrid@spokesman.com. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.