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Posts Tagged ‘canning’

Use Honey Jam

December 4, 2011

I almost forgot to blog this one! Crafty highlight of my summer: jam recipe that calls for honey instead of sugar.

It has been almost difficult to eat the jams in my pantry I made with sugar. This will be what I do all next summer. You can really taste the fruit, and I rarely ever use sugar now so it just makes sense.

I also want to try this with agave instead of honey.

peaches and honey jam.

There is a general recipe on this website, and I also used the instructions found on Pomona Pectin’s insert that is found inside the box package.

8 to 10 cups prepared fruit (hulled, rinsed, stems removed) = to 6 cups mashed, ground-up fruit

1 tablespoon calcium water (comes with Pomona Pectin)

1 cup honey

1 tablespoon Pomona Pectin

Boil your jars and lids in a large pot. For this recipe I use five 12-ounce jam jars. Turn off heat and let them stand in hot water until you are ready to use them.

Fill your blender to the brim with your fruit. Pulse and blend until you have 6 cups of ground-up, slightly chunky fruit. Pour into a large pot. Add the calcium water. Stir well. Bring to a boil. In the meantime, mix one cup of honey with the one tablespoon of pectin. I use a fork to do this. Add honey-pectin to boiling fruit and stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes. Bring back to a boil for a few more minutes.

Carefully lift your jars out of the pot with a pair of tongs, empty out any water, and set onto a towel on your counter. Pour jam into each jar, leaving about 1/4-inch of space at the top. Wipe any excess from the rim using a moist clean towel. You need to make sure the rim is completely clean so you get a good, solid seal. Lift the lids from the hot water with the tongs and place onto the jars. Screw on lids. Place jars into a boiling water bath for 10 to 15 minutes OR you may invert for 10 minutes and then immediately turn right-side-up. Remove and let cool on counter. After 24 hours all lids should have sealed. They usually seal within the hour. You’ll hear a loud “pop.” Do NOT touch the lid until you are certain it has sealed, as artificially sealing the cans is not a valid seal. If you “pop” the lid manually, that jar will need to go in the fridge and be used within a few weeks.

Tags:canning, homemade jam, honey jam, how to make jam, inverted canning, peach jam, peaches jam, recipe
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Canning Tomatoes

October 6, 2011

This was our first year in a house. Complete with a yard, lots of sunshine, and it only felt natural that we take on some gardening. We grew tomatoes from seed. I think we learned some things, but those plants grew and put out enough tomatoes that I actually got a little sick of them, which is good. Part of trying to eat in season, for me at least, means that when that food is available you need to get as much of it as you can get. Eat it, can it, freeze it. Tomatoes were flying off our plants daily and I was adding them to egg dishes, salads, pastas, sandwiches, pizzas, and other tomato escapades.

One thing our plants did not produce was enough tomatoes for me to can. I was getting at most a pint of cherry tomatoes every other day, and we were eating through those. I didn’t want to stop eating them just for sake of putting some away. And our beautiful heirloom Cherokee Purple tomatoes were slow to grow, slow to ripen. So sadly, the canning of tomatoes was not from our yard as I had envisioned.

But wait! Not all is lost. I picked up five pounds of organic heirloom tomatoes, followed this recipe, and ended up with gorgeously delicious tomato jam. I am in love! Last year I canned some plain ol’ tomato sauce, which was wonderful to pull out of the pantry for use with pasta, but this jam? I ended up with about 1/2 pint that was not enough to can and I am reserving it for weekend treats. My goal is to let the tomato jam trickle out of the pantry and into our fridge over the winter months. I really want to savor it.

Tomato Jam. My new favorite way to can tomatoes.

Try out this recipe for tomato jam, found on foodinjars.com! She has a nice simple post in addition to the recipe. I have another glut of tomatoes in the fridge waiting to be made into more tomato jam, though this time I intend to try roasting them first, with spices and herbs. A more savory approach.

Tomato Jam Recipe
makes 4 1/2 to 5 pints
updated September 2011: When I made this same recipe this year, my yield was only 3 pints. Depending on the year, the tomatoes and how long you cook it down, the yield will vary a great deal.

5 pounds tomatoes, finely chopped
3 1/2 cups sugar
8 tablespoons lime juice
2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon red chili flakes

Combine all ingredients in a large, non-reactive pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce temperature to a simmer. Stirring regularly, simmer the jam until it reduces to a sticky, jammy mess. This will take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on how high you keep your heat.

When the jam has cooked down sufficiently, remove from heat and fill jars, leaving 1/4 inch of head space. Wipe rims, apply lids and twist on rings. Process in a boiling water canner for 20 minutes.

When time is up, remove jars from water bath and allow them to cool. When jars are cool enough to handle, test seals. Store jars in a cool, dark place for up to one year.

Tags:canning, cans, growing tomatoes, how to can, jars, living seasonally, preserving tomatoes, storing tomatoes, tomato jam
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Summertime Jam

August 31, 2009

Summer is a bounty of delicious foods. Veggies, fruits, herbs abound and I’m here to capture a bit of them to bring them into the winter, this year. What I’d really like to take on is spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes but I know to start with what’s easy and almost instantaneous gratification: jam.

I have talked to more than a few friends who have made jam and darned if I can’t do what they’re doing – right? I did my verbal and online research and headed to the West Seattle True Value hardware store for supplies. Since we live in a small condo, I haven’t invested in the hot water canning bath (yet). I stocked up on jars, a funnel specifically for canning, and pectin.

Ideally we would have been able to hit the farmers’ market the previous Sunday, but we haven’t been in town. Thriftway was my next stop: 4 bags of sugar, 4 pints of raspberries, 5 large peaches and 2 containers strawberries. All organic and all local except the sugar. Darned if everything I bake with has to come from so far away!

The inverted canning process is what I tried and I am hooked. It’s so easy I wish I could can everything this way. Although, after actually canning jam this way and then reading about the hot bath way – I know I could also do that. This has really boosted my confidence.

The recipes I used were from this website – easy instructions, nothing’s over-the-top. I would also like to try freezer jam for something a little more simple and less involved.