One of the best parts of summer is eating all the juicy and delicious fruits and veggies fresh from the garden. While we'd love to eat like this all year round, the reality is that the cold weather sets in eventually and all of our summer treats come to an end. Fortunately, we can capture a little bit of summer gold to hoard away for the winter in the form of jam.
Canning jam is a way of preserving summer produce in a natural process that destroys the organism that spoils food. From maple whiskey peach jam to kumquat jalapeno jam, you’ll find endless combinations sure to delight all year round!
Check out our wonderful collection of 20 yummy and unique recipes for canning jam now.
Peach and Pepper Jam
Use this sweet and spicy Peach and Pepper Jam on cheese and crackers or try it as a glaze for chicken or shrimp.
This jam is pretty straight up bright raspberry with a zing of lemon and just a hint of something herbalicious. The lemon thyme helps to give a little extra kick.
This jam would be great on toast or scones, inside a grilled cheese, spooned over ice cream, or, you could do what we did – spread it on a crostini and top it with blue cheese and prosciutto.
Via Kelly Neil
Pink Grapefruit and Vanilla Bean Jam
This citrus jam is a little different because grapefruit has a characteristic bitter flavor which most people either love or they don’t. If you like marmalade, then you will probably like this.
It’s a happy coincidence that elderflowers are often out when gooseberries come into season, and so the classic combination of gooseberry and elderflower is often seen in old cookbooks, as well as in modern-day shops and restaurants.
You can use this jelly as a condiment. It's always a conversation piece—everyone wonders about the “green” ingredient! This beautiful jelly is so easy to make and I often use it as a gift-giving item for the holidays.
A thick, perfectly spreadable jam is achieved with this delightful recipe. Because neither of the fruits are high in acidity, and there isn’t a boatload of sweetener in it.
Sweet bananas and acidic kiwis. This interesting jam literally takes only a few moments to prepare, with a few hours of cooking, and the jam is ready. (Polish)
Here’s another favorite jam from this season…sweet, tart fresh plums with just a wisp of summer rose. Perfect for breakfast or afternoon tea on a cold fall-ish day.
This ruby-hued, sweet and spicy jelly is made from cranberries, fresh orange juice, jalapeños, sugar and a favorite condiment here at The Café, Sriracha. Sriracha is a fabulous hot sauce made from sun ripened chilies, and in combination with the jalapeños, adds a unique, delicious layer of heat.
This delicious 3-ingredient carrot jam is based on a recipe from 1865. It’s bright, tasty and super-easy with no unusual equipment needed. It tastes like apricot jam!
1. Fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid.
Some examples of the fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid are apples, oranges, melons, cherries, currants, grapes, raspberries. While the opposites are peaches, strawberries, peach, pineapple, grapefruit, pears, blueberries, papaya.
Adding acid in the form of fresh lemon or lime juice is important for two reasons: First, it makes for a more well-balanced jam, returning some of the acidity lost with the addition of sugar. Second, pectin needs acid to properly activate, or firm up.
One of my favorite tricks for jam-making is macerating the fruit first. Macerating is the process of coating the fruit in sugar and letting it rest for a few hours or overnight, which pulls some of the juice out of the fruit and creates a syrup with the sugar.
As berries and fruit are high in acid, there's no need to “pressure can.” For water-bath processing, you'll need a large deep stockpot with a flat bottom, a well-fitting lid, and a rack that fits at the bottom or a water-bath canner.
Both types contain fruit, fruit pulp or canned fruit and are boiled with water and a sweetening ingredient. Both must have 66% water-soluble solids. Fruit jam and fruit jam with pectin may contain a class II preservative, a pH adjusting agent or an antifoaming agent. Both types cannot contain apple or rhubarb fruit.
Coarse-grain white granulated sugar is best for jam-making as it ensures a good clear jam, but fine caster sugar can also be used. The coarse grains dissolve more slowly and evenly, giving a better result. Granulated sugar with added pectin is also available, but it shouldn't be necessary to use this.
If you simply take fruit and cook it with some sugar to sweeten it a little, it will get thick enough to turn into jam by the naturally occurring pectin in the fruit and the process of reduction. Reduction occurs when we simmer the fruit, and the liquid turns to steam and evaporates, which thickens the jam.
The addition of lemon juice also helps to activate the pectin and set your jam. Slightly unripe fruit contains more pectin and is more acidic than very ripe fruit and will also help to set your jam more easily.
The tartness of the vinegar subtly balances the flavor of the jam, bringing out the complexities of the fruit. Balsamic Vinegar Jams are not a sour or overly acidic finished product, simply a well-rounded, delicious batch of jam!”
5. Do Not Stir Once Mixture Is Boiling. Once your jam/marmalade it has reached a rapid rolling boil do not stir it. Stirring it will alter the temperature of the jam/marmalade meaning it will take longer to reach the setting point.
Generally, it's advised to add one tablespoon of lemon juice per pound of fruit. However, if you follow the jam recipe closely, you may wish to use bottled lemon juice. Bottled lemon juice has a standardized level of acidity, so there'll be no question whether you've added enough.
Lift the spoon of jam above the pan about 12 inches and tilt the spoon horizontally. Watch how the jam runs back into the pan. You are aiming for a cascading sheet-like fall, not a single line of runny jam.
If the pressure gets too high, the weight jiggles and releases steam and pressure. No blowing up. You do need to monitor your pressure canner while it is building pressure and during processing. Like a deep fryer, you don't just fill it and go in the other room or outside while it is doing its thing.
It also sterilizes the food and jar.” The process kills “all the spoilers except the botulism bacterium,” she continues, but botulism “cannot thrive in a pH environment of 4.5 or less.” That's why water-bath canning is used for higher-acid foods such as jams, and pressure canning for lower-acid foods such as non- ...
Over-ripe fruit has less pectin, so jam made with only over-ripe fruit may not set up. Basically, when making jam: Use the best quality fruit you have available for jam making.
Medium to high-pectin fruits include blackcurrants, plums, gooseberries, cooking apples, redcurrants and lemons as well as raspberries and apricots. Fruits that are low in pectin include blackberries, strawberries, rhubarb, peaches, cherries and dessert apples.
Pectin, naturally found in fruit is vital to make your jam set. With low-pectin fruits like strawberries, help them along by either mixing with pectin-rich fruit like gooseberries or by using jam sugar (with added pectin and citric acid).
It exists primarily in plant cell walls and helps bind cells together. Some fruits and vegetables are more pectin-rich than others. For example, apples, carrots, oranges, grapefruits, and lemons contain more pectin than cherries, grapes, and other small berries with citrus fruits containing the most pectin.
Introduction: My name is Arline Emard IV, I am a cheerful, gorgeous, colorful, joyous, excited, super, inquisitive person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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