Preserving Summer

[jackal10]

Guys, I have a batch of blackberries from the farmer's market and I'm thinking of making blackberry jam, but the seeds are making me absolutely nuts! Any solutions to dealing with this?

Blackberry and Apple jelly and/or sieved jam.

Blackberries are very low in pectin and need some additional pectin to set. If you don't want to use commercial pectin, then windfall apples or even better crab apples make a good alternative. Stew the fruit and then sieve it for a thick jam or drip though a jelly bag/coffee filter/muslin/tights for clear elegance..If you are feeling mean you can do both - drip and make jelly with the clear juice, then reboil the paste in the jelly bag with a little water and sieve for a thicker jam as a second batch.

[amccomb]

You guys have totally inspired me and I went out and bought a bunch of books. So far, I like the Small Batch book best. Tonight I made blueberry honey jam and strawberry fig. Unfortunately, I was called away for a moment while boiling the fig and strawberry jam, so a few of the figs got a little carmelized. I had a little taste and it seems ok - I'll keep my fingers crossed. I can't wait to make more!

I also ruined a whole batch of plum with amaretto because I didn't realize the copper preserving pan my husband bought me had a protective coating on it. Argh! The directions say to boil the pan with soda crystals to remove the protective coating. What are soda crystals?

Lastly, I bought a few canning jars from Sur La, but the lids aren't what I am used to. They are one piece. Can I still use them for canning? I bought some standard lids and rings at the store, but they were too big for these jars.

I'm so excited to try some of the Ferber recipes, but I am holding off until I get a little more experienced. Before this, the only canning I did was under the supervision on my mom, and those jams all had the wax stuff on top - no extra boiling time.

I have a whole list of things I want to make. I also want to modify the wine jelly in the Small Batches book to include the spices and zests I use for my sangria (orange, lime, vanilla bean, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, star anise) for some spiced sangria jelly! My husband is asking for banana, but I'm having trouble deciding which recipe, and rhubarb.

Any more experiments out there?

[amccomb]

I apologize for having two posts in a row, but I have another question.

I was posting elsewhere about how I was planning to try canning several flavors of jam, and listed the strawberry with mint and black pepper jam as a possibility. I was told that black pepper contains a fungus that is not killed during the canning process. Is this true? Should I avoid makign the recipe for that reason? Have others who have made the recipe had any problems because of the black pepper? I really wanted to try it...

[paul o' vendange]

Providing you can properly, at elevated pressures (therefore, temperatures) for the proper time, I know of no organism which can survive. Don't rely on this as I do not have the specifics before me nor am I making any qualified advice (so I am absolved of any liability herein - god, too many years in the Chicago loop), but it's my impression nothing can survive under the proper regimen.

Paul

[lperry]

Hello-

I am new to eGullet and I am very happy to have found a group as interested in food as I am.

I live in Florida and currently have over a half bushel of pears to preserve. These are the old fashioned southern varietal "Pineapple", and apart from the tropical aroma, their best quality is that they maintain shape and crispness after they are cooked. I have made spiced pears and pear/ginger/vanilla preserves, and I was hoping that someone would have some ideas for what to do with the rest of them.

Also, the rainy weather has yielded a huge ginger crop. I have made crystallized ginger in the past (with mixed results), but I was curious about the steaming method posted by andiesenji. Do you not boil it in syrup at all? I'd love it if you would share how you make this.

Thanks

lperry

[amccomb]

As for the pears, there are several great looking combinations in the Mes Confitures book. I am going to start the Pear with Caramel and Pear with Fig today. Some others I think sound great are Pear and Chestnut, Pear and Chocolate, Pear with Pine nuts and Walnuts, and Pear with Honey and Ginger. Oh, and Pear with Balsamic Vinegar and Spices and Pear with Pinot Noir and Cinnamon.

Those may not be the exact titles in the book - I don't have it in front of me - just my list.

[SethG]

I've really enjoyed Ferber's fig/pear jam.

[hjshorter]

I made pear and dried sour cherry chutney last month. Seriously great with pork chops, and as a sandwich with brie.

[lperry]

I have just ordered Mes Confitures, and I have the feeling that eG will be a fantastic enabler for my out of control cookbook habit.

The figs have been gone for a few weeks down here, although I may experiment with some that I dried. The chestnuts have just started to fall, and I always need new recipes for those, so I am looking forward to trying some of Ferber's ideas. The chutney sounds fantastic.

Thanks!

[amccomb]

Last week, I was in a hurry and tried to make batch of four different flavors of jam, but only one set. I didn't have time to do anything about it last week, but now I have some free time. Is it safe to open the jars, dump the jam back in a pot, boil it until it's ready, then re-ladle it into sterilized jars with new lids, and then re-process them? Or do I need to use them as-is or toss them?

[lperry]

It is safe as long as everything is sterilized as before. Everybody has done it at one time or another due to a poor set. That's usually how I find out that my thermometer is no longer working .

-Linda

[Priscilla]

No longer summer -- but preserving carries on.

I have nice Anna apples and flavorful smallish tomatoes of unknown variety, and aim to make guess what tomato-apple chutney. (Ripe tomatoes; green preserving will come later -- Elizabeth David's green tomato and apple chutney is a fave.)

I have not yet surveyed my books. Is this a preserve anyone's got any ideas on?

[jackal10]

Adapted from HMSO Bulletin 21

4lb green tomatoes

1 lb apples

1/2lb raisins

1 lb brown sugar

1 1/2lb chopped onions

Chillis to taste (go easy for me)

1/2 oz ginger root

1/2 oz salt

Pickling spice (Bay leaf, mustard seed, black peppercorns)

1 pt vinegar (I use malt)

Tie the spices and the chilli in a piece of muslin and tie the end of the string to the handle of a lerge pan, so it doesn't get lost. Put enerything else in the pan and simmer over a gentle heat until nothing is really discernable as seperate chunks, except the raisins, and the texture is to your liking. This can take a long time - 6 to 8 hours, and fills the house with wonderful smells. Remove the string, and bottle hot. Improves if kept for a few months if you don't eat it first. The long slow cooking and maturing is the secret.

[Priscilla]

Thank you. Looks very good, Jackal. The chilis are in my experience uncommon, excepting of course in full-on Indian chutneys like Suvir's incredible tomato chutney, which I will happily make when the beefsteaks get themselves ready. Would be a good addition -- the sweet-hot-sour flavor profile is irresistible.

A lot of tomato-apple preserve recipes peel both fruits, although I think the skins, provided they are not in huge sticky sheets, add interest. And my vinegar would be cider vinegar, as you probably know malt is a precious commodity in the U.S., seen only in little shaker-top bottles for condiment use.

Edit: No e, i not a.

Edited September 28, 2004 by Priscilla (log)

[Bond Girl]

Being that it's meyers lemon season, I am thinking of making some Meyer's lemon preserve or marmalade. Do anyone here have any advice on it?

[lperry]

I've made this one and it was great.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

The only thing I suggest is that you weigh the lemons instead of counting them. A pound and a half was only three lemons off my tree. Have fun!

-Linda

[lovebenton0]

How have I missed this thread? I have loved reading through it this morning.

Preserving is one of my fav ways to utilize the fruits/vegs we grow! This is prompting me to do what I have been needing to do for quite some time -- transfer my many hand-written tomato, pepper, pear, wild persimmon, grape and other preserve/conserve/relish recipes into docs.

Pears are so versatile and make a great base for lots of relishes and chow chows as well as sweet preserves. A friend would give me a bushel basket every year -- the first time I went wild and made up several recipes for them. Still good!

Great ideas here everyone!

[Bond Girl]

I've made this one and it was great.

Meyer Lemon Marmalade

The only thing I suggest is that you weigh the lemons instead of counting them.  A pound and a half was only three lemons off my tree.  Have fun!

-Linda

←

Great recipe. Here is a really stupid question for those more knowledgeable, what is the difference between, marmalade, preserve and jam? Why does some called for pectin to be made first?

[phifly04]

redfox...  i keep thinking i am going to write that cute tyler florence and ask him to food 911 me and making preserves!  (but id like to have a beautiful kitchen for him and his crew!)  ;)

can anyone suggest some must-reads for learning how-to?

lisa

←

Better late then never

Stocking Up-isbn-0-671-69395-6 pbk.-Very good "Starter" book

Dave s

[lperry]

Great recipe.  Here is a really stupid question for those more knowledgeable, what is the difference between, marmalade, preserve and jam?  Why does some called for pectin to be made first?

←

From what I've read, marmalade is always made with a citrus fruit as the major if not only ingredient. Jam uses fruit pulp (unlike jelly which is only juice), and preserves tend to use whole pieces of fruit.

Some recipes call for pectin to be made first because some fruits do not contain much pectin of their own, and it is pectin that makes the gel. So if you are making something from a low pectin fruit like berries, and you want a good set, you have to add some pectin.

-Linda

[Priscilla]

The last jar of strawberry preserves was emptied last week. What I'd made in March and April of 2004 took us this far, almost a full year. I will endeavor to put up a greater number of jars this spring in hopes of providing for the entire year.

[amccomb]

I was hoping to make some marmelades this winter, but I can't find the produce I want to use. Is there a place online where I can order Meyer Lemons and Seville Oranges? I really want to make an orange basil marmelade...

[chiantiglace]

If you know anyone in the restaraunt business, try to get it through them. I'm sure theres a distributing co. that can supply you.

[lperry]

It's that time again! I've got bowls of ripe mangos and key limes calling my name. Preserves tonight!

Is anyone else putting up yet?

-Linda

[racheld]

Yep---a flat of strawberries cooked off into little jewelly-jars of jam. Oh, my. Wouldn't Lewis Carroll love some of that?

And I WISH someone had the clone recipe for that almost-fresh, almost-frozen strawberry stuff that is on Shoney's breakfast bar. We stop at one everytime we go to the coast---none left up here.

On a fresh fluffy biscuit, that cold, essence-of-Summer, halfway between jam and fresh fruit---how I'd love to duplicate that. Seems like just sugar and crushed berries, lots of juice, but not watery juice. Perfectly thickened, perfectly sweetened---just wonderful.

Hubby always hits the hot bar, all those sausages and eggs and grits. I have a bowl with a strawberry-covered biscuit. Maybe two. It's a long time between trips.