Making Jam

When I was little I very rarely ate store bought Jam. The simple reason was my grandmother seemed to have/be making a never ending supply of jam, mostly strawberry. I remember standing on a stool as a little girl, wearing a handmade apron, watching the strawberries boil away. When she stopped making it, it took me years to adjust back to the store bought variety, granted there are some very fancy store ones now, that are much better than average, but nothing compares to homemade, fresh jam made from deliciously in season fruit. So, for the first time ever, I whipped out my canner and mason jars, and made some fresh jam. The only problem with making jam is that I simultaneously want to share it with everyone I know and keep it all for my hungry self.



Before making your own jam for canning, I recommend checking out The National Center for Home Food Preservation's website. They have lots of useful information about canning safely, the different canning methodologies, using pectins (which I didn't), and recipes too. Here are both the recipes I made, the way I processed the jars is at the very bottom.

First I pre-sterilized the jars by filling them with warm to hot water, and putting them in a canner(a giant pot with a special rack for the jars) and then filling the rest of the canner with warm/hot water. Bring to a boil, then boil COVERED for 10 minutes, it was probably a little longer, because I just boiled them while I was making the jam and left them in there until I was ready to ladle the jam in, since it is best to hot-pack the jars. Leave the pot covered as much as possible and keep the water boiling.

Strawberry Preserves:
6 cups of strawberry
4 1/2 cups of sugar

Wash the strawberries. Slice the strawberries in half or quarters for large strawberries and mix with sugar in a big bowl. Refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Heat in a large skillet or pot until boiling, then boil until the mixture becomes thick and gels, about 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Skim the foam off the top as best you can before filling the jars. This made enough jam to fill 5 half pint jars, although one definitely had a little less than the others.

(Adapted from the he National Center for Home Food Preservation)

Spiced Peach-Blueberry Jam:
4 1/2 cups of peaches, chopped (about 3 lbs)
3 1/2 cups of blueberries (approximately one large container)
2 tbsp of lemon juice, about half a juicy lemon
1/2 cup of water
1/2 tsp of salt
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tbsp of whole allspice (this doesn't have to be exact)
1.2 tbsp of whole cloves (this doesn't have to be exact)
a piece of cheese cloth

Wash all the fruit. Chop the peaches into pieces similar to what you would find in canned fruit salad (so pretty small). I left the skin on and the jam came out wonderful, you can peel them (in the original recipe they did). Heat the fruit, water and lemon juice in a large skillet or pot, bring to a boil for about 10 minutes. Tie the cinnamon stick, allspice and cloves in a piece of cheese cloth. (Note: Tie very tightly because if you don't it will spill out into the jam, which is fine the jam will still seal and is perfectly delicious, but biting into a whole clove is not pleasant). Stir sugar and salt into fruit until combined, when fully combined add toss in cheese cloth. Allow to boil for about 15 minutes until jam is thickened. Stir frequently, but gently (again to prevent the cloth from opening). It is definitely a little extra work to "spice" the jam, but it is so delicious and totally worth it.

(Adapted from the he National Center for Home Food Preservation)

To fill and process jam:

Remove Jam from heat. Ladle jam into hot, pre-sterilized 1/2 pint jars leaving about a 1/4 inch of head space. Basically, fill until just below where the grooves on the top of the jar are, then wipe the top part clean. Put the 2 part lid on the jars and screw the lids on tightly. Place the jars back in the rack and load into the canner/pot, that is already full of boiling water from the pre-sterilizing process (it is easiest to just keep the water covered at a boil the whole time). Boil for 10 minutes to seal jars. Remove jars from the water and let cool on a counter with a few inches in between each jar. When the jars have cooled completely, test to make sure they are sealed by pressing on the lids, if the lid pops back when you press on it then the jars are not sealed, refrigerated immediately and use it up within 2 weeks. If the lids are sealed then the jam is shelf stable for about 18 months, but refrigerated after opening.

The blueberries and peaches cooking...



The strawberries boiling away...



The peach-blueberry jam I didn't seal cooling (so I could eat it immediately)...



The sealed jars cooling...




Happy Eating.

It's CSA time!

Last Wednesday I got my first CSA box of the season. For those of you who don't know, CSA is community supported agriculture and basically, it's getting a box a fresh fruits and veggies delivered once a week from a local farm (click here for more info, or to find a CSA near you). The box was full of fresh spring goodness, and I quickly made use. This week I got mushrooms, scallions, lettuce, rhubarb, and strawberries. The lettuce became a weeks worth of salads, but the rest became some local cooking magic.

First, and delicious smoothie:

Strawberry-banana-maple smoothie (my new favorite):
1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk original
1/2 a banana, frozen
1 cup of strawberries
1-2 tsp of maple syrup (depending on your preference)

Blend everything together and enjoy! This makes 1 serving.

Next we have a mushroom-truffle pasta

1/2 box of pasta, I used penne
2 cups of mushrooms
1 bunch of scallions
1 tbsp of butter
1/4 cup of beef stock
Cooking spray
2 tsp of truffle oil
Parmesan cheese
Salt, pepper

Make the pasta according to the directions. Wash mushrooms and slice. Spray a small pan with non-stick spray and heat mushrooms over medium-high heat. Chop scallions up through the light green, add to mushrooms. When they are browned slightly add beef stock and allow to cook until stock is evaporated and mushrooms are tender. Mix the mushrooms, scallions and pasta together with the butter, salt and pepper to taste. Add truffle oil in a drizzle and toss. Serve with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Finally, the very delicious jam:

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

1 cup of chopped rhubarb
2 cups chopped strawberries
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Over medium heat stir together strawberries, rhubarb and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add cornstarch and raise heat to bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cook covered for 5-10 minutes until jam has thickened. This is so delicious, I cannot stop eating it. I have been putting it on everything. My favorite is this jam and ricotta on an english muffin. yum.

The recipe makes a bit over a cup of jam, so feel free to increase. The jam will keep for about 2 weeks refrigerated. I made not attempt to can it, and do not know very much about canning, but I will be making some attempts soon (so stay tuned). For more information on safe home canning, see the USDA complete guide to home canning.

All and all a delicious haul and it's only going to get better. I can't wait to see what's in my box this week.

Happy Eating.