Celery Beer Jam

Ingredients

6 lbs celery, peeled and diced
1 quart of any wheat-based beer or hefeweizen (we use local Double Mountain Kolsch)
1 pint celery juice
18 oz sugar
1/2 oz salt
zest of 2 lemons
1 1/2 oz lemon juice

Combine ingredients in a sauce pot, bring to a boil, remove from heat and let stand, covered, overnight.
The next day, strain liquid into a saucepan, reserve strained celery.
Cook liquid to 215°F.
Add reserved celery back in and continue cooking until mixture returns to 215°F.
Remove from heat.
Tips from Chef Carlo

This recipe is great for canning!
At Clyde Common, we serve our celery beer jam over the grilled beef ribs with skillet cornbread.
Beer jams are delicious over meats of all kinds, but can also be used over desserts like ice cream or even over some cheese. You can experiment with different types of fruits and vegetables as well, like carrots, apples, mangoes, cherries and even parsnip.
Beer makes a great marinade or brine for meats going on the grill or the smoker, used in braises and for cooking shellfish in, like mussels and clams.
When picking a beer to cook with, make sure to keep in mind that all the flavors that you taste while drinking it will enhance during the cooking process, so if you use an IPA, the bitter flavors will be more pronounced.