Commercial Jams, Jellies, and Preserves

[SobaAddict70]

Recently I had my first sampling of Rosie's lime marmalade, which goes surprisingly well with peanut butter in a PB&J sandwich.

And now I have an orange and ginger marmalade, and a peach and pineapple jam to look forward to. And there is the remains of a jar of pumpkin and pecan butter from earlier last year -- I had picked it up from a Food Emporium and used it quite a bit for a while, but eventually forgot about it, so now it sits all forlorn in the middle of the first shelf of my refrigerator.

What are your favorite jams/jellies/preserves/conserves/fruit butters and pastes, and what uses do you use them for besides sandwiches, ice cream sauce and glazes for ham?

Has anyone ever had a lemon marmalade? A tomato and jalapeno jam? Plum preserves? Anything out of the ordinary beyond the usual?

SA

[Lyle]

I'm all about savory, so my wife does almost all the sweet. She makes a dried tomato and pepper (I honestly don't know if she used jalapenos last time) jelly with a definite lean towords the peppers over most commercial varieties. Besides the obvious cracker-topper application, last autumn she used it as a gorgeous topping for a simple cheesecake (crust lined with dried tomatoes as well).

She often makes me jealous.

[Ron Johnson]

Peach preserves. On homemade buttermilk biscuits.

[Varmint]

figsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigsfigs.

Oh, and any of my remaining Grandma Varmint jellies (she passed away 2 summers ago, but I still have a couple of dozen jars left).

[Peter B Wolf]

And the winners are: Elderberry Jelly, Plum (not Prune) Jam, Currant Jelly, Mulberry Preserves, Quince Jelly, Kumquat Marmalade. Never ever eat Grape Jelly again. Grapes are grown to eat from the vine or made into Wine

[maggiethecat]

Has anyone ever had a lemon marmalade?  A tomato and jalapeno jam?  Plum preserves?

SA

I've had all three of these.

My mother always put up huge amounts of plum jam. That was the fallback jam in our house, and I can taste right now that tart/sweet summery plum flavor. And , as far as I can see, it is impossible to buy. Note: Don't use those tiny "preserve plums" that are sold everywhere in August. They must be big ripe eating plums, or you sacrifice that sensational taste.

As I am from Brit background, we used jam for almost everything. Toast, spread on grilled cheese (try it!) in tarts, trifle.

Or the classic plain"Jam Sponge." An easy, one layer cake, split, spread with jam and dusted with powdered sugar. Serve with tea. Real, hot tea froma teapot into a thin teacup and saucer. Never put the milk in first!

[fifi]

Wierdest thing I ever got into was when I was a kid. My mother was quite a gardener and cook. One year she had all of these beutiful violets growing under the pine trees. We got it into our heads that we were going to make violet jelly! We went to the "exotic" liquor store here and bought a bottle of violet liqueur. (It was called Creme de Yvette, I think.) Then we proceeded to make jelly with it, putting in some violet flowers after it had cooled some but before it had set. I had collected some baby food jars from a neighbor and even spray painted the lids purple. (Martha has nothing on us.) It was lovely. I don't think anyone makes that liqueur anymore. At least I can't find it.

I have also turned the kitchen blue making elderberry jelly when the crop in the ditches was particularly good one year. That has to be the best jelly ever, worth battling the water mocassins and mosquitos to get the berries.

Then one year we got into the prickley pear jelly business. Gorgeous color but painful to execute. Have good tweezers available if you have the opportunity to try it.

[Suzanne F]

Fifi -- you're getting the hang of it here. Wonderful post -- now I want to go find a garden!

[Suvir Saran]

Wierdest thing I ever got into was when I was a kid. My mother was quite a gardener and cook. One year she had all of these beutiful violets growing under the pine trees. We got it into our heads that we were going to make violet jelly! We went to the "exotic" liquor store here and bought a bottle of violet liqueur. (It was called Creme de Yvette, I think.) Then we proceeded to make jelly with it, putting in some violet flowers after it had cooled some but before it had set. I had collected some baby food jars from a neighbor and even spray painted the lids purple. (Martha has nothing on us.) It was lovely. I don't think anyone makes that liqueur anymore. At least I can't find it.

I have also turned the kitchen blue making elderberry jelly when the crop in the ditches was particularly good one year. That has to be the best jelly ever, worth battling the water mocassins and mosquitos to get the berries.

Then one year we got into the prickley pear jelly business. Gorgeous color but painful to execute. Have good tweezers available if you have the opportunity to try it.

All Jealous of you!

[Suvir Saran]

Recently I had my first sampling of Rosie's lime marmalade, which goes surprisingly well with peanut butter in a PB&J sandwich.

Rosie Saferstein?

What kind of limes was the marmalade made with?

I make a lot of marmalade each year. And have only ever made sweet lime marmalade.

Do people make marmalade out of the green limes? I have never tried it. I am sure it is good.

[jackal10]

http://www.britshoppe.com/roslimmar.html

A staple of the British breaskfast table. Delicious.

Rose's originally supplie Lime juice to the British Navy (hence Limeys). Rose's lime juice is still a bar keeps ingredient.

For jams, nothing beats Raspberry.

[fifi]

I would love to try to make a marmalade from kaffir limes. I have a cooking friend that has a kaffir lime tree (bush?). If it ever bears fruit I will try it.

[ranitidine]

A suggestion to my fellow jellyheads: Next time you are in South Florida, follow these directions. Florida Turnpike south to the end. US 1 south about a block to the first light. Right turn. Follow the signs to Everglades National Park. After several miles, you will come to a very large fruit stand called Robert Is Here. Inside, on the right, will be a selection of jams, jellies and preserves to make your dreams come true. Even key lime marmalade and grapefruit marmalade. And don't miss the rest of the stand with local and tropical fruits and unusual fruit shakes. Then continue to the National Park and, at the very least, walk the boardwalk at Royal Palm Hammock. Good chance your experience will turn you into a birder.

Here is a link to Robert Is Here

Edited February 23, 2003 by ranitidine (log)

[Malawry]

I am so proud of myself. I just made my first-ever batch of jam. I made sour cherry jam. I started with a flat from the farmer's market yesterday. I washed, stemmed, and then pitted them while watching a DVD. This morning I chopped them down in the Cuisinart and added some sugar. I also pureed and strained some grapes we had laying around and threw that in to add some natural pectin. Several hours of cooking later I was ready to process my sterilized jars. All of them sealed on the first time through the boiling water bath.

The resulting jam is a little thinner and sweeter than I'd like, but it's still quite good, fresh and fruity. Almost all the sour cherry jams I've tried have been less than satisfying in texture so this doesn't bother me too much...lack of natural pectin seems to be an issue, and I didn't want to use commercial pectin.

Next week I hope to try out blackberry preserves. But first I'll have to buy more jars...a flat of cherries makes way more jam than I thought it would! I guess holiday gifts will be a no-brainer this year. Once I'm better with the basics I hope to branch out into infusing herbs and spices with my fruits. For now I just wanted to understand the underlying principles.

[beans]

fifi: That violet jam sounded *divine* !! And absolutely gorgeous no doubt!

My dear Grandmother made jams and jellies all of the time. I caught the bug!

Other than the usual strawberry I've made:

blackberry preserves

salmonberry jam (all time favourite)

cloudberry jam (not sure if that is the correct name, we picked them in the bogs of southeast Alaska in August and that's what my Grandmother called them)

huckleberry jelly

Sitka Rose jelly

blood orange marmalade

cranberry, orange, rosemary and merlot jam

red onion, garlic and shallot jam

tomato jam

fig jam

I'd like to experiment and make some wine jelly and I've had a wonderful apple, pear and chardonnay jelly with a cinnamon stick in the middle I purchased from a store from Niagara on the Lake.

I remember Smucker's used to make a crabapple jelly that was the only one I would eat in my PB&J's as a kid. Do they make it anymore? Maybe I ought to findout where I can get some good crabapples? Not sure how it was different than apple jelly, but it was.

One berry I haven't been able to see up close and in person that I'd love to try from the woods of the Alaskan southeast -- thimbleberries. They're deep in bear country and I'd rather keep the bears happy with their berries than their visiting my local garbage can! (at least when I lived there and/or visited family on a vacation)

Oh, and if I can ever get some decent garlic, I'm dying to try my hand at pickling them. If I can find pickled garlic at the store, I usually eat them straight from the jar in one sitting! They never seem to last long enough to make it to being the stuffing of some good olives for a lovely martini!

[Sandra Levine]

I pulled this from an earlier thread about too many bananas:

Banana Jam

8 ripe bananas, mashed

3 medium lemons

3 cups sugar

3 cups water

a piece of fresh ginger about an inch on each side, peeled

cloves, to taste

1. Peel the lemons, cutting the zest into thin strips. Set aside.

2. Juice the lemons.

3. Make a simple syrup by boiling the sugar and water for about ten minutes. Add the lemon juice, rind, bananas, the chunk of ginger and cloves.

4. Simmer for 30-45 minutes, stirring from time to time to avoid scorching. Remove the ginger before transfering to sterilized canning jars.

The jam will be a pale yellow mush. You don't even need to test it for jelling.

[Malawry]

Thanks for the recipe, Sandy, I was thinking of trying it when it gets colder and there aren't as many good fresh fruits for preserving. Your clear, concise posts on jam-making were part of what inspired me to give it a shot this summer. Thank you for demystifying the process.

[helenas]

And you might want to check Mes Confitures: The Jams and Jellies of Christine Ferber, recommended by wingding on some other thread.

[fifi]

My sister, ever the browser, found this citrus tree in a powerline right of way that we haven't been able to identify. It has little orange fruits, round and a little bigger than key limes, orange flesh, thin skin and lots of seeds, very tart. We think we saw something like it in Hawaii and they called them "limes" but I have never seen anything but a green lime. Anyway, she made marmalade with them and it was incredible. She says the tree is loaded again so we are off on a foraging trip. Infusing vodka with them was a treat, also. I love marmalades.

I would like to figure out how to make pepper jelly that isn't too sweet. Any ideas?

[Lindacakes]

I've run out of preserves and need to restock. I realize the appropriate thing to do here is to make my own, and it would take a year of preserving to get in all my favorites as they ripen. But I need some now and I'd like some advice on what are your favorite commercial brands and flavors. High end best, just plain delicious common, good.

Right now I have one jar, it's Bonnie's Jams Black and Blue (blackberry and blueberry). I bought it in the Whole Foods cheese section -- I'd gone specifically to buy jam and was not impressed with what they have on the shelf with the peanut butter. It's just okay. I wouldn't buy another jar.

I've scoured the posts and found recommendations for Rose's Lime Marmalade, Bonne Maman Peach and Tiptree's Little Scarlet. I've had Little Scarlet, I like Little Scarlet. I tried to buy a jar at Kalustyan's yesterday and balked at the $17.00 price tag. They did have My Mamoun (guess at the brand name, I cannot find this Googling, it has burlap over the top) Rose Petal Jelly, but that's more esoteric than I want.

My favorite was a California small batch apricot jam that came in a relatively large French canning jar. This I got at the second Balducci's, which is now closed. I don't think I've enjoyed jam much since then . . .

I'd also like to know what folks like in the way of commercial orange marmalades. After trying a bunch, I think I like Smucker's best -- don't like the overly bitter ones.

And if anyone knows of a good commercial seedless raspberry jam . . .

Please help!

[natasha1270]

I purchase Bonne Maman for everyday but if I remember correctly Smucker's Orchard's Finest preserves are pretty good.

Our all time favorite splurge is from an Italian company - Prunotto. Their Blueberry/Bilberry is incredible!

[curls]

For a commercial seedless raspberry jam, I recommend Dickinson's seedless black raspberry preserves.

[LindaK]

Stonewall Kitchen's Wild Maine Blueberry Jam is incredible. Dense with the tiny, flavorful Maine berries.

I don't know if Trappist Preserves jams and marmalades are widely available outside of New England, but they're excellent, produced by St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA.

[Mjx]

Stonewall Kitchen's Wild Maine Blueberry Jam is incredible. Dense with the tiny, flavorful Maine berries.

I don't know if Trappist Preserves jams and marmalades are widely available outside of New England, but they're excellent, produced by St. Joseph's Abbey in Spencer, MA.

I've bought Trappist Preserves products in NYC, and particularly like their kadota fig preserves. St. Dalfour's (also widely available in NYC) products exceptional, too (the apricot preserves are my personal favourite).

[andiesenji]

I've tried just about every brand of seedless raspberry (and strawberry) jams because I often use them to fill between layers in cakes and to serve with cheese blintzes for brunch.

I keep returning to Smucker's - in fact, I buy the seedless strawberry in the 32 ounce jars at Smart & Final because I use so much of it. It is my preferred filling for hamantaschen, thumbprint cookies, etc.

and I routinely buy the 18 oz size of both the red raspberry and black raspberry seedless jams for similar applications.

My second best seedless strawberry jams is the Knott's Berry Farm, also available in the 18 oz jars.

To my taste the Bonne Maman preserves are too sweet. A couple of years ago a friend gave me a gift box of the preserves and the only ones I have opened are the Wild Blueberry and the Blackcurrant, neither of which really suited my taste.

The Tiptree jams are also too sweet for me.

I think I made the reference to the Rose"s Lime Marmalade (and posted a photo of the stash in my pantry. I buy a case every year as this is another that I use quite a bit and I have friends who expect to see it when they come for brunch or breakfast.

It's another one that makes a nice filling for the hamantaschen and is to my taste, the ideal topping for an English muffin or crumpet that has been slathered with homemade butter.

I have to add that if you want something really special, and don't mind the shipping costs, the jams made by the Baer company in Wyoming, are superior to others I have tried, although I haven't tried them all.

I have the Red (tart) Cherry jam, the Dark (sweet) cherry jam and the Chokecherry jam.

I have an unopened jar of the Jalapeño Pepper Jam.

I ordered these on the recommendation of a friend who has a B&B in Cheyenne and serves these to her guests.

Edited February 19, 2012 by andiesenji (log)