Making Jam

I have rediscovered making jams and jellies! After making soap, jam is so simple, quick and easy! It's been a few years since I made jam, but it's something that comes back easily. I'm having fun making jams from just about everything. It's a creative outlet. I have learned to make jam from anything, even herbs. It doesn't require any more than a strong, steeped tea made from whatever. I think squash or pumpkin with the spices would make great jam! I haven't gone there yet, but it's possible.

I'm using Ball pectin for the first time. It wasn't around when I was making jams and jellies before, many years ago. I like it! It works by the teaspoon, and I use the low sugar pectin. Not necessarily because I want to put in less sugar, but because it always gels, unlike the old, classic pectin. I do make less sugar jams, however. Not low sugar, just less, sometimes half of the recipe. The very low sugar jams don't keep as long on the shelf. It still needs a lot of sugar as a preservative. I also add the lemon juice to everything. You can't make safe jam without it. The acid is necessary for the pectin to gel, as well as working as a preservative. 

I have them for sale at the local Farmer's Market. The first one I made recently was Hummingbird Jam. It's pineapple, banana and coconut. It's very thick and I used all the called for sugar, since I was using classic pectin and not the low sugar kind. It's delicious, although a bit thicker than I would have liked. I have reduced the amount of pectin that Ball recommends as I found it makes the jam too thick. 

Currently I have the above Hummingbird Jam, Cantaloupe, Apple, Honeydew-Pomegranate, seedless Raspberry, Strawberry-Banana, Strawberry-Rhubarb, Red-Grape, Real-Orange. I named it "Real Orange" so it's not confused with the creamsicle orange flavour out there. It's made from the juice of real oranges. I have sold some of the orange to people who wanted to glaze their Christmas cakes with it. There are so many things you can do with jams! Glazing pork with the apple jam, or any baking with the seedless, extra thick raspberry. It would also be excellent on cheesecake! I recently made a pot of orange chicken. It was delicious! 

It's so easy to make jam or clear jelly, although the clear part takes a bit more work. I run the hand blender through all my fruits thoroughly first. I don't like large lumps of fruit in my jam. It doesn't spread well like that. It also helps mix together the ones with more than one kind of fruit. I do the mixing in the bowl first, adding the pectin to the cold fruit before blending. The blender also does a good job of mixing in the pectin powder. DO NOT add the sugar at this point. Just the pectin and the lemon juice and any other additives that are going in. I use a coconut baking emulsion for the coconut flavour. It's made with real coconut and, wow, does it ever taste like real coconut. It's twice as strong as extract so you don't need much. It tastes better than extract and doesn't evaporate when heated like an alcohol based extract does. It comes in other flavours. I used to have cherry, and it was amazing! I have made cherry pie jam, previously, adding almond extract to it and the almond came through well, so extract will work too. You can use powdered spices, as well, like you would do in a pumpkin pie jam. I would add those before using the blender, just to make sure they were well mixed. There are just so many things you can do with jams! 

To make clear jellies, you only use the juice. It has to be strained very well through cheesecloth to get it clear. Then make the jelly from the juice. You can make jelly with flower petals too, like dandelion or rose, making a strong, steeped tea. It gets well strained and the jelly made from the tea. It's something I will do in the spring, when my yard is full of dandelions that don't get sprayed and the wild roses on the fence are blooming. The jelly in the spoon at the top, is made from red bee balm! It has a minty flavour and was great on beef! I have made grape jelly from Welches Grape Juice that I bought at the store, and I made it in the microwave! Homemade jams are so much better than commercial ones from the store. I don't know why that is. Maybe it's all those chemicals they have to add as preservative? There has to be some reason why they just don't have the same flavour! 

I put all my jams and jellies through the waterbath canner for a full 10 minutes. I know it's not necessary and decades ago we didn't do it that long. Ten minutes is the recommended time for jams that are being sold to the public, so that's what I do. I only make jam in the smaller jar sizes, I'm not canning quart jars, so I took the handles off the rack in my waterbath canner. I can put them back on if I'm ever going to can in the quart jars. I found I can put a lot more of the 250 ml jam jars in the canner without the handles. I just used the small pliers and opened the loop so it slipped off. I can hook it back on and close the loop if needed.

You don't have to use an actual waterbath canner, although I do, but the water has to be at least a full 1.5 inches above the tops of the jars for it to seal properly. If you are getting some jars not sealing, check your water level. This requires a very tall pot and you will need to put something on the bottom so the jars are not setting on the pot bottom, right on top of the burner. I have seen the rings used for this and also a towel folded and set in the bottom, as well. I tried the towel method, but it put a lot of lint into the water. That's not going to hurt your jam, but it does leave it on the jars when removed and it has to be wiped off. It does work, however, and I have to wipe the very hard water stain off the jars, after they cool, anyway. It's a good way to sterilize your tea towels or wash cloths. I use the rack now but when I was using another tall pot, I had to improvise something on the bottom. I think I used the rings. It's hard to remember, now, how that went.