Homemade for the Holidays Homemade for the Holidays (December 09, 2005)

Apple-cinnamon jelly was 'Judges' Favorite' at this year's Fair
by Carol Bogart

If you're in the market for a one-of-a-kind Christmas gift, how about whipping up a batch of homemade jam or jelly? Each year, friends and family members look forward to receiving such sweet gifts from Pleasanton's Harold Strunk.

A maker of blue ribbon entries at the Alameda County Fair, Strunk is an unusual man for many reasons. For one, he spent five years in Saudi Arabia helping San Francisco-based Bechtel Corporation create hospitals. Strunk has a doctorate from UC Los Angeles in public health. His area of expertise is administration and epidemiology.

A Navy veteran, he served with Central Command for seven years during Desert Storm, eventually as a Navy Project Officer for chemical and biological weapons defense. Now retired, Dr. Strunk gives talks to various organizations on America's continuing vulnerability to an attack by terrorists using biological weapons.

Jams and jellies and other homemade treats are his hobby, and he has other ways to express his lighter side.

Strunk marches with a novelty drill team that specializes in comical antics, such as twirling mops. The team travels all over the country to march in parades like those at Bowl games.

As for those jams, marmalades and jellies, he regularly runs circles around other entrants at the Alameda County Fair -- and this year even won a ribbon for his made-from-scratch biscuits.

It's been 20 years since a batch of Strunk's candied watermelon rind pickles won a blue ribbon at the California State Fair in Sacramento. He framed that ribbon and sent it to his mom in Kentucky because it was she who, during a visit to California, wondered why he was throwing away perfectly good watermelon rinds.

After she left, Strunk finished up the pickles. A daughter entered them at the State Fair. The pickles' blue ribbon was the genesis of the hobby that, for 15 years now, has seen Strunk entering various jellies, jams and other homemade food goods at the Alameda County Fair.

A 33-year resident of Pleasanton, he engages in what he calls "a friendly competition" with other entrants -- mostly women. "There's several ladies that are friends. We sort of compete," he relates, "and every year we get a kick out of beating each other now and then. We kid each other a lot, and try to get more and more people involved in it." His personal favorite is his apricot jam. Hardest to make, he explains, are the marmalades. "There's a lot of work in making marmalades. It takes a lot of preparation. Whether it be grapefruit or orange or lemon, you've got to slice that peel into nice, thin little ribbons."

His apple-cinnamon jelly never fails to at least win a blue ribbon -- this year it was named "Judges' Favorite" -- and is a Christmas favorite.

When possible, Strunk prefers to visit Brentwood farms and orchards, Wolf Ranch and Farmer's Daughter, to pick fresh produce, like nectarines, when it's in season -- which he and a grandson then convert to jam or jelly. But he also looks for produce like blueberries at the Farmer's Market and local stores. A recent batch of blueberries came from Costco. He says frozen raspberries work just as well as fresh for making jam.

Strunk, now 72, listened to his father, who made candy, when the older man told him that cane sugar is more reliable in turning out a perfect finished product than beet sugar. He likes C&H. He also prefers Sure-Jell to other pectins. If you remember jars of your grandmother's jams and jellies sealed with paraffin, Strunk's are simply sealed with lids. Fair judges won't accept paraffin-sealed jars, he explains, because of the work it takes to break the wax out.

To make jars of blueberry jam, Strunk purees blueberries in a food processor, adds sugar, cooks it up then pulls sterilized jars out of the dishwasher and fills four pints.

He fills the jars to within an eighth-inch of the top, wipes off the lids to keep the rings from getting rusty, then screws them down. After setting the jars of jam aside, he takes fresh-baked biscuits out of the oven. The cooling jelly creates a vacuum in the space between it and the lid. When the seal is complete, the lid makes a noise that sounds like "pop!"

Although the fresh-made jam needs to sit, untouched, for 24 hours to fully jell, once it does, store it in a cool dry place and it lasts for years.

Because he makes as many as 200 jars a year, Strunk frequently gives jars away. When his church has annual bake sales, Strunk will take a couple cases of jellies and jams which the church sells for $3-6 per jar, depending on the size.

Usually, though, Strunk likes to give them as gifts. "I get a kick out of giving it to people. When somebody invites us over to their house, you know, ordinarily people might take a bottle of wine or something. I'll take a couple of jars of jelly or jam. Most people enjoy it."

At Christmas, he tinges his cinnamon-apple jelly red -- a colorful, homemade gift in keeping with the season. He adds, "I just tell them, 'Return the jars. That's how you get refills.'"

Harold Strunk's biscuit recipe

4 cups Gold-Medal self-rising flour

3 teaspoons salt

2 cups butter-flavored Crisco

Combine flour and salt and stir with a hand-pastry blender, cut in the Crisco until mixture is crumbly. Add milk and stir to blend thoroughly.

Roll out dough onto a floured board with a pastry roller, roll dough down to 3/4-inch thickness.

Cut out biscuits (whatever's left over, wad it all together then make a small loaf called a "pone"). Place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Serve with butter and jam.

Makes 15 biscuits.
Harold Strunk's blueberry jam

Pre-measure 5 cups of cane sugar.

Put water in a small pan and boil 4 lids to sterilize.

Rinse the blueberries, put them in a food processor -- Strunk's is a Cuisinart - then run it until you have 4 liquid cups.

Transfer the liquid to a deep pan or kettle and bring it to a boil.

Add a package of Sure-Jell. Stir for one minute.

Gradually add the 5 cups of sugar and bring to a boil.

Boil for another minute, then take off the heat.

Skim off any foam (save for use as a syrup over ice cream or pancakes).

Take 4 sterilized pint jars out of the dishwasher.

Pour to within 1/8-inch of the top.

Place sterilized lids on top using tongs, wipe off the lids.

Screw down the rings, then leave the jars alone for 24 hours to allow jam to set up.

Makes 4 pints.
12sub:"Judge's Favorite" 12sub:Harold Strunk's apple-cinnamon jelly

Boil cinnamon sticks in 5 Cups of apple cider, run through coffee filter to remove residue.

Measure out 4 cups into a deep pan or kettle and bring it to a boil, (add red food coloring now if you want to tint it for Christmas).

Then add a package of Sure-Jell. Stir for one minute.

Gradually add the 5 cups of sugar and bring to a boil.

Boil for another minute, then take off the heat.

Take 4 sterilized pint jars out of the dishwasher.

Pour to within 1/8-inch of the top.

Using tongs, remove lids from boiling water, place on jars, wipe off the lids.

Screw down the rings, then leave the jars alone for 24 hours to allow jelly to set up.

Makes 4 pints.

E-mail a friend a link to this story.