Jams, Jellies, and Preserves
August 22, 2008|Comments (11)
Making homemade conserve (jam or preserves) and jellies is a rewarding hobby. Thanks to a steady decline in home-canning, items like boiling water canners and pressure canners have become obsolete in many parts of the country (well, the U.S. anyway). While that is a shame, you do not have to have a canner to make jams, jellies, and preserves! Truthfully, you really only need glass canning jars, lids, rings, tongs of some sort, pectin (sometimes you don’t even need that), a wire mesh strainer, and two kettles (one with a thick bottom). You can also create your own boiling water canner and I’ll show you how. First, let’s talk jam!
Here’s our sample recipe:
Cranberry-Apple Jam
- 3 pound bag of fresh cranberries
- 4 apples (peeled, cored, and chopped)
- 2 cups water
- 5 cups sugar
- 1 cup cranberry juice
- 1 box Sure-Jell Lite
Step One:
Wash the jars you plan to use (just buy a pack of jars with lids and rings to start out). For the cran-apple jam, you’ll need about a dozen half-pint jars. Place them in a kettle with the metal lids and cover them with water. Place on the stove to boil while you follow the other steps:
Step Two:
Place cranberries in a thick-bottomed kettle (I like my cast iron kettle) and pour 2 cups of water over them. Cook until nice and soft.
Step Three:
Place your wire mesh strainer into a bowl and spoon the soft cranberries into the strainers. Mash until you have 1 quart + 1 cup of puree (can add a tiny bit of apple juice or cranberry juice to make up the difference but you shouldn’t have to).
Step Four:
Cook the apple slices in one cup of cranberry juice until soft. Pour into a blender and puree. Pour into a large, thick bottom kettle with your cranberry puree.
Step Five:
In a small bowl, mix a box of Sure-Jell Lite with 1 cup of sugar. Stir into the apple-cranberry puree and bring to a boil over med-low heat. Stir constantly. When it reaches a boil, add 4 cups of sugar (STIR!). Bring back to a boil (over med-low heat). Simmer, stirring often, until mixture forms a soft ball when dripped from a spoon.
Step Six:
Fish out a jar and lid from your boiling water with your tongs (be sure that you pour out all the water!). Now use a funnel of some type to fill each jar to the start of the glass lid ridges and place a hot lid on top. Screw a ring on tightly and then set each jar to cool on the counter. You should hear the lids popping down. Be sure you only work with one jar at a time. Allow to set up overnight and then remove your rings for later use.
Need more recipes? Have a TON of questions and need expert advice? Me too. When I have questions or need recipes, I turn to Freshpreserving.com and then spend the next four hours scrolling through their site trying to soak all that canning goodness in.
The recipe above is an original recipe by Rev. Nancy Clark and her niece, moi. Do you like original recipes? Right on. Well, we got a site full of them. And speaking of cooking… you just gotta check out my good friend, Mrs. Darling, at Dishpan Dribble. She’s a hoot. From the moment she first appeared on my computer screen — we became full-on buds. She can cook in my kitchen any time and she doesn’t even have to wash the dishes.
Can You Can-Can?
August 13, 2008|Comments (11)
Congratulations! You have decided to preserve fruits and vegetables from your garden or local produce stand without using excess electricity (the freezer) and since you will wash and reuse your canning jars — you are not being wasteful. Think about how much money you spend on items such as stewed/diced tomatoes, salsa, vinaigrettes, spaghetti sauce, jams and jellies, and pickles. Also think about how many plastic freezer bags you throw away each week. If your household is anything like mine, those numbers are staggering.
For beginning canners, it is best to start by canning with a boiling water canner. I use my boiling water canner all the time. Because we have limited garden space thanks to uncooperative soil, I can’t plant rows of beans, peas, or other low acid foods. For now, I have to purchase them from local markets. While I have been known to use a pressure canner to preserve meats, green beans, and soups — I haven’t done this in a while due to scheduling conflicts! 
Boiling water canners can either be purchased or made using supplies found in any kitchen. If you don’t have a wire rack to place in the bottom of the kettle (with fitting lid), that’s just fine because I’ll show you how to improvise. Boiling water canners and the racks sold with them look like this:
There are also a few tools which you will need to gather:
tongs, magnetic stick for lid grabbing, jar lifter, and a funnel (I like the wide mouth funnels for most canning projects but use a small mouth funnel for jellies and flavored vinegars)
You will also need canning jars, lids, and rings:
The jars and rings can often be found at yard sales and country stores.
While the lids may not be reused EVERYTHING else can: glass jars and rings.
Some foods like spaghetti sauce come in Mason jars.
Create Your Own Boiling Water Canner
As mentioned on the Jams, Jellies, and Preserves page, the general population no longer cans, bottles, or preserves fruits and vegetables so finding canning supplies is becoming more and more difficult. You can order them online or purchase them at estate sales, yard sales, thrift stores, and occasionally a feed/farm supply store but it is just as easy to make one in your kitchen. Here’s what you need:
- large sturdy kettle with lid
- a disposable pie pan
- two-pronged meat fork
- scissors
Using the meat fork (on a cutting board), make holes in the pie pan in the bottom and around the sides. You may need to cut off the edge of the pie pan to fit into your kettle but this depends on the size of your kettle.
Place the pie pan in the bottom of the kettle upside down and fill with water according to the directions of your canning recipe. This homemade canner really only processes a few jars at a time. The jars must be upright during processing so be careful and don’t overload this little canner or your jars won’t seal properly.
Canning is a wonderful way to cut back on the waste associated with tin cans and freezer bags (which can be reused but are commonly thrown away). If you decide to make this canner, we ask that you email us a picture so we can post it on this site. We are greatly encouraged by your feedback. Those comments and pictures serve as proof that the urban and suburban homesteading community is growing.
More on canning to come!
Mad Love: Blueberry Jam
August 1, 2008|Comments (12)
Few foods are as much fun to make as blueberry jam. From the plunking of the berries hitting the bucket while you pick them to the pop of the lid after the jars have finished processing. Each step of the process is more satisfying than the one before. Perhaps the best part (and I’m sure that Sam, Aunt Katydid’s middle child, would agree) is the smashing of the berries.
We decided to make a small batch with the kids so they could learn the ins and outs of canning jam. Our recipe called for 2 cups of mashed blueberries, four cups of sugar, two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, and a package of liquid pectin (which I advise using if your helpers are plentiful and all under the age of twelve). Not that you should listen to me or anything.
I also advise setting the ingredients out ahead of time because by the time you have measured everything out — the kids have scattered all over your property and have chased the chickens up a tree or disemboweled your car. Just remember that I warned you.
If you have several youngsters involved in your canning project, have them sort the blueberries and pull out the little stems. Keep in mind that you should double check their finished product even if you have an excellent dental plan. No one likes to chip a tooth on blueberry hedge bits.
Bring the mashed blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a boil and add the pectin. Wait until your mixture returns to a boil. Let boil for a full minute and remove from heat. Thank your sweet stirrers for helping during all that. Now to fill the jars! (That’s Willy, Aunt Katydid’s oldest young ‘un filling jars like a pro.)
More jar filling by Sam (Aunt Katydid’s middle child, remember?). Sam, by the way, is wearing a bathing suit. I just thought I would let you know. We have a pool and the kids were just about to get in it. Anyway, after placing lids and rings on their little jars of blueberry jam, we processed the jars in a boiling water canner for ten minutes (enough time for people to change into swimwear). And we were off to the pool to cool off!
Have you ever attempted canning with children present? What did you make? Do you have any advice because I am about to embark on doing this sort of thing with three or four children on a fairly regular basis and I am VERY open to suggestions.
Read about picking the blueberries in Friendship Harvest: Blueberries and Tranquility
