Stumble It!Sep 20 2008
I’m Jammen, Jammen, I Hope you like Jammen too!
Before we move into the kitchen, there are a few more things we need to discuss. Yesterday, when I was talking about the jars I didn’t go onto sterilizing them. This is easy to do, but it does require space on the stove. you need to submerge all your jars, lids, and utensils, in water and bring them up to 165 degrees F.or more for at least five minutes. A large roasting pan is ideal for this step. This should be done before they go into your warm oven.
Also if you want to insure a good seal and a pasteurized product, you will need to set your filled jars in a water bath, and again bring them up to at least 165 degrees F. for you guessed it five minutes! The roasting pan you used before will work here as well. This step may not be completely necessary, but I do recommend it. It will ensure you of a longer shelf life and allow you store them unrefrigerated until you open them.
If your jars aren’t hot when you pour your jam in, they will break! so be sure they are ready when your jam is. Like I said before, timing is everything.
I also want to at least go into how to check for the proper “jell” using the wooden spoon. Dip the spoon into the jam and turn it horizontally in the hand until the jam on it is slightly cooled. Now slowly rotate the spoon to vertical. The jam should run off the spoon in large flakes, instead of droplets, if the jam is jelled.
Now lets talk ingredients:
The fruit: This is of course the most important part of the process. Your fruit must be ripe! The pectin in the fruit reacts to the acid and sugar to from your “jell”. In ripe fruit, the pectin is soluble and released easily by stewing or crushing the fruit for a short time. Unripe fruit has an insoluble form of pectin called pectose. This can be converted into pectin by simmering with the acid. With the added cooking time you run the risk of loosing the crisp bright color as well as the fresh flavor. Over-ripe fruit contains pectic acid which is useless for jam making, so do not use over-ripe fruit to make jam.
Acid: Acid is key in the production of your “jell”. If you are starting with a fruit that is naturally low in pectin, like Strawberries. Add 2tbsp Lemon juice or 1/2-1 tsp tartaric acid(found in most supermarkets) to every 2 and 1/4lb. of fruit. Add the acid to the fruit before cooking.
Sugar: Many sugars can be used. Both cane and beet sugars are fine. There are also two Specialty sugars: Preserving sugar, and Jam sugar. although these are designed specifically for this task. I have not found them imperative to the process, plus they are hard to find, and more expensive. Granulated sugar will work fine for what we’re doing here. If you warm your sugar first (put it in an oven safe bowl and in the oven with your jars) it will dissolve more quickly, cutting your time down and helping to ensure that it doesn’t sit on the bottom of the pot and burn before it is fully dissolved (not required, but highly recommended).
OK, lets get into the kitchen!
Strawberry Jam
This recipe makes 5 Quarts (so make sure you prepare enough jars)
Also be careful not to over-boil this jam, or you may loose the bright color and texture.
7lb. strawberries, hulled
the juice of 2 lemons
6lb. sugar, warmed
If necessary, wash the strawberries, and pat dry with some paper towels. Put them in your pot with the lemon juice. Over low heat stir gently until you start to form some liquid and you reduce the volume of your fruit. Add the sugar and stir occasionally(still on low heat) until the sugar is completely dissolved. Bring the jam to a rolling boil for a few minutes, then test for jellying or allow the candy thermometer to reach 220 degrees F.
Remove from the heat.
Remove any foam that has formed on the top, and allow the jam to cool until a skin is just forming on the surface. This will make sure that the fruit doesn’t float to the top of the jars. pour into the HOT jars, seal, cover and label!
Now if you are doing the water bath, fill the jars outside the bath and set them in making sure that the water level is low enough to not tip them over.
Raspberry Jam
This recipe makes 7 pints.
4 lb. raspberries
2 tbsp. lemon juice
4 lb. sugar, warmed
Now, just as with the strawberries, Follow the same steps as described above!
thats all folks, START JAMMEN!
have fun and by all means let me know how it turns out for ya.
James
Reading this put me in mind of being back in science class: it’s a lot like the description of an experiment!
What is the difference between a jam, a jello, a jelly, a preserve, and a marmalade? I’m specifically interested in what the difference is in the US: various countries seem to have different concepts for each. In Poland, marmalade tends to be a dark thick spread made of fruit like plums, whereas in Ireland, marmalade is the pieces of orange peel in a jell medium. What is the definition in the US?
Great question Blackbird! It is science class revisited. I’ll go from bottom to top on this one.
Jello(or Jell-o) as we call it here in the U.S.: This is thickened with collagen(an animal byproduct). used to thicken food, and puff up your lips. Most of the time it is artificial in every way.
Jelly: is thickened with pectin(a fruit byproduct) manly from green apples (although a lot of fruit have different amounts of pectin in them). Jelly is the juice of the fruit thickened with the pectin.
Jam: Is not only the juice but also the “meat” of the fruit. You don’t strain jam. Again it is made with pectin not gelatin.
Preserves: these go hand in hand with Jams when you are talking fruit. You can have preserved peaches that are only halved. This is the difference, Jam is a spread, preserves are normally semi-whole fruit, or less spreadable. They still tend to have a high sugar content. Unlike “canned” fruits or vegetables.
Marmalade: This describes a citric fruit type of jam, orange is the best known. It normally has visible parts of the rind in the blend. It is also more bitter or sour in taste. Marmalade’s deal with the acidic fruits as Jams.
I hope I have cleared up your question, and love the fact you asked it!
thanks,
James