Preserving Summer

[JaneMC]

We made a batch of chocolate covered cherry jam yesterday, with large sweet cherries   Hoping to make some strawberry vanilla jam tomorrow.

Momcook, I find chocoalte covered cherry jam most interesting. Are you willing to share the recipe???

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Anyone else canning?  I just made 5 pints of Ontario strawberry jam without pectin.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it sets up.

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[momcook]

Hi Jane,

This is my recipe:

7 generous cups (in a liquid measure) pitted and halved sweet cherries

1/2 cup water

juice of 1 Meyer lemon ( we have a Meyer tree, but any lemon is fine)

5 teaspoons calcium water (for the Pomona Pectin)

3 cups sugar

3 teaspoons Pomona Pectin

1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon Hazelnut flavoring (optional)

8 1/2 pint jars

Prepare the jars in a water bath. In a large pan, combine the cherries, water, calcium water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, pectin, and cocoa. Add to the boiling cherries, and stir well to dissolve. Test a spoonful on a cold plate for set. Add the hazelnut flavoring, and remove from the heat. Ladel into sterilized jars, and boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Once cooled, hide a jar or two for yourself

Momcook, I find chocoalte covered cherry jam most interesting. Are you willing to share the recipe???

[JaneMC]

Hi Jane,

This is my recipe:

7 generous cups (in a liquid measure) pitted and halved sweet cherries

1/2 cup water

juice of 1 Meyer lemon ( we have a Meyer tree, but any lemon is fine)

5 teaspoons calcium water (for the Pomona Pectin)

3 cups sugar

3 teaspoons Pomona Pectin

1/4 cup Dutch cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon Hazelnut flavoring (optional)

8 1/2 pint jars

Prepare the jars in a water bath. In a large pan, combine the cherries, water, calcium water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil. In a separate bowl, combine the sugar, pectin, and cocoa. Add to the boiling cherries, and stir well to dissolve. Test a spoonful on a cold plate for set. Add the hazelnut flavoring, and remove from the heat. Ladel into sterilized jars, and boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Once cooled, hide a jar or two for yourself

Momcook, this sounds great! I'm still not sure where to get pomona pectin but I will figure it out. Thank you. I love cherries and any one who doesn't just don't get the love we have for them!

Thank You,

Jane

Momcook, I find chocoalte covered cherry jam most interesting. Are you willing to share the recipe???

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[momcook]

Hi Jane,

You can order it online - pomonapectin.com. It comes by the box or the 1/2 pound. I find a 1/2 pound makes my years worth of jam. Sometimes I can find it locally in the health food stores by the box.

Momcook, I find chocoalte covered cherry jam most interesting. Are you willing to share the recipe???

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[CaliPoutine]

Hi Jane,

You can order it online - pomonapectin.com.  It comes by the box or the 1/2 pound. I find a 1/2 pound makes my years worth of jam.  Sometimes I can find it locally in the health food stores by the box.

Momcook, I find chocoalte covered cherry jam most interesting. Are you willing to share the recipe???

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I bought 1/2lb as it never expires( unlike the boxed pectin from the grocery store)

Edited June 26, 2008 by CaliPoutine (log)

[Heartsease]

Greetings all,

In all the years I have been preserving I have never screwed up two batches of jelly in one day. I made a wild strawberry and mulberry combo and added granulated pectin to it. The recipe I had does not call for lemon juice. The sugar was 4.5 cups to 3.5 cups of juice. It tastes great but one batch won't jell and you could walk on the other one. Any ideas? does pectin ever get old?

[momcook]

Ouch! Yes, pectin can expire. The other possibility is that it will still set up. Jelly can be tricky, and take a little while to set sometimes. I took a quick look at some of my canning books, and the Ball "Complete Home Preserving" has a strawberry jelly recipe that calls for 3 1/2 cups juice, 1 package regular powdered fruit pectin, and 4 1/2 cups sugar, the same as you used. There is a note in the book that "check the date on your package of pectin. Products that have expired may not set properly." I have also had a problem with jelly setting when I have not brought it to a high enough boil. Generally, I like liquid pectin for jelly - it seems to be much easier to set than the powdered kind. Hopefully your jelly will set after it sits a little while. On the batch that set too firm, I'm guessing the boiling point was reached, which set it well.

Greetings all,

In all the years I have been preserving I have never screwed up two batches of jelly in one day.  I made a wild strawberry and mulberry combo and added granulated pectin to it.  The recipe I had does not call for lemon juice.  The sugar was 4.5 cups to 3.5 cups of juice.  It tastes great but one batch won't jell and you could walk on the other one.  Any ideas?  does pectin ever get old?

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[Heartsease]

Thank you ma'am. I wiped the jars off and put them in the pantry for a two week rest *G*, if they don't set by then I am going to make some lovely syrup for farmers market.

LA

Ouch!  Yes, pectin can expire. The other possibility is that it will still set up. Jelly can be tricky, and take a little while to set sometimes.  I took a quick look at some of my canning books, and the Ball "Complete Home Preserving"  has a strawberry jelly recipe that calls for 3 1/2 cups juice, 1 package regular powdered fruit pectin, and 4 1/2 cups sugar, the same as you used. There is a note in the book that "check the date on your package of pectin. Products that have expired may not set properly."  I have also had a problem with jelly setting when I have not brought it to a high enough boil. Generally, I like liquid pectin for jelly - it seems to be much easier to set than the powdered kind.  Hopefully your jelly will set after it sits a little while. On the batch that set too firm, I'm guessing the boiling point was reached, which set it well.

[amdellutri]

Anyone else canning?  I just made 5 pints of Ontario strawberry jam without pectin.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it sets up.

I think I'm going to make another batch mixing in some rasberries, blackberries and blueberries.  I might add some pomona pectin just for insurance.

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So far I've made:

Peach and Lavender

Peach, Amaretto and Almonds

Strawberry-Rhubarb

Raspberry

I'll be working on the following this week:

Strawberry Mint, Blueberry and Cherry Vanilla

The Cherries have been pretty good so far. If I can get more of the same next week, I might try some Cherry Pie Filling which will be a first for me.

[kreed]

Made some strawberry freezer jam this weekend.

[pastrymama]

I always have a lot of berries left over at work that I freeze to make sauces etc. I made a huge batch of mixed berry jam and now I have to find a use for it.

Any suggestions?

[lperry]

Any suggestions?

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This page might help.

[Sony]

I have a question that I figured might be useful/answered on this thread.....

I bought some jars to put up some strawberry preserves this weekend. I used Ferber's method of macerating/resting/syrup boiling (oddly, I could not get the temp higher than 218 F, so I have a feeling it'll be runnier that expected....ah well, it's strawberries in syrup, then )

Anyway, I opened up a new set of jars, plunked them in boiling water to sanitize, filled, wiped off the edges, carefully placed on the lid, screwed on the band......and then it occurred to me that the lids are perfectly FLAT- no "button" to check if the seal has been made. I've never seen such a thing before......

So, my question: how do I know if my jars are sealed properly? I'm keeping them in the fridge right now just to be on the safe side.....

[CaliPoutine]

Anyway, I opened up a new set of jars, plunked them in boiling water to sanitize, filled, wiped off the edges, carefully placed on the lid, screwed on the band......and then it occurred to me that the lids are perfectly FLAT- no "button" to check if the seal has been made. I've never seen such a thing before......

What kind of jars are they? Can we see a pic?

[MightyD]

Does anyone have a good recipe for cherry preserves that do not require commercial pectin? I've been searching high and low for such a recipe but no luck

[momcook]

From "Fine Preserving" by Catherine Plagemann

Spiced Cherries

Wash, pit and stem enough sweet cherries for 5 cups

Boil 4 cups of granulated sugar with:

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

Then add cherries and cook until the jam is thick. Test before removing it from the stove by placing a few teaspoonfuls on chilled saucer and cooling it quickly on ice. Makes 5 1/2 pints. Tastes best when allowed to age a few months.

Does anyone have a good recipe for cherry preserves that do not require commercial pectin?  I've been searching high and low for such a recipe but no luck 

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[Abra]

I did end up making a really good currant jam, and then an even better currant jam tart with the jam that I hadn't already eaten on toast. The recipes for both are here.

[Heartsease]

I have a question that I figured might be useful/answered on this thread.....

So, my question: how do I know if my jars are sealed properly? I'm keeping them in the fridge right now just to be on the safe side.....

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I bought some of those kind as well and they seal just fine. After I took them out of the boiling water bath they started "pinging" within minutes. All twelve pinged within five minutes.

[MightyD]

From "Fine Preserving" by Catherine Plagemann

Spiced Cherries

Wash, pit and stem enough sweet cherries for 5 cups

Boil 4 cups of granulated sugar with:

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground allspice

1/4 tsp. cloves

Then add cherries and cook until the jam is thick. Test before removing it from the stove by placing a few teaspoonfuls on chilled saucer and cooling it quickly on ice. Makes 5 1/2 pints. Tastes best when allowed to age a few months.

Does anyone have a good recipe for cherry preserves that do not require commercial pectin?  I've been searching high and low for such a recipe but no luck 

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momcook, that sounds awesome - thanks!

[JaneMC]

Hi Everyone,

Well I just got done canning butterscotch peach jam. I didn't have enough brown sugar so I added some white. I always use less sugar then they say. I just heard the last can pop. Can't wait to dig in. Okay I have a little and I mean very little left over. I wish it didn't take so long to make crossiants.....ummmm.

Jane

[kiliki]

This year I've been using Linda Amendt's Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More, and I've been very impressed so far. I've had little luck with the Christine Ferber recipes (Sony, I can't get them up to temperature to set either!) but haven't been impressed with the standard powdered pectin recipes I've found. Amendt macerates the fruit like Ferber does, but uses liquid pectin, and it's worked great--the strawberry preserves and cherry preserves I've made are fantastic and beautiful. I don't think I ever realized what preserves actually were--WHOLE fruit, as opposed to crushed (jam). I can't wait to try more of her recipes--I've also been very disapointed with so many of the pickle recipes I've tried, and she has some that sound fabulous.

[Darren72]

I am making a cherry, honey, and mint jam from Christine Ferber's book.

The recipe calls for 7oz of green apple jelly (which adds pectin). I made this jelly, but it came out more like heavy syrup than jelly. I'm worried that adding this to my cherry jam recipe will not add enough pectin. The cherries, sugar, and honey are already combined, so I presume it is too late to use pre-made pectin.

Any advice? Should I proceed without the green apple jelly or other pectin and just deal with it? Will the final product be more like cherries in syrup than like jam?

Thanks.

[kermie]

I had a ton of blackberries that i've already made pies, desserts and ice cream out of and now i'd love some ideas for jam/jellies. Any interesting combinations - not sooo keen on the apple blackberry idea - anything else?

[kiliki]

The cherries, sugar, and honey are already combined, so I presume it is too late to use pre-made pectin.

You add liquid pectin after the fruit and sugar macerate, so it wouldn't be too late to add it.

[Darren72]

The cherries, sugar, and honey are already combined, so I presume it is too late to use pre-made pectin.

You add liquid pectin after the fruit and sugar macerate, so it wouldn't be too late to add it.

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Thanks kiliki (although I got this reply after the jam was finished). For future reference, do I need to increase the sugar if I am adding liquid pectin? The original recipe I followed called for a ratio of fruit to sugar of 10 to 8 (i.e. 1 kg of fruit to 800 g of sugar).