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Gimme that jam!
Sep. 9th, 2010 10:50 amHappy new year!! Shana tova!
Yesterday, strawberries were on sale. I'd just been complaining that they were at $6/quart for the crappy strawberries, so it was like fate. I bought five quarts, and used two last night. To make JAM!
Ever since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
doll_revolution sent me rhubarb for my birthday cake, I've been planning to make jam, and then a few weeks ago the grocery store finally had rhubarb, so I have even more for jam. A while ago, I'd had my friend Val's mom's strawberry-rhubarb jam, which had seemed to me to be the perfect strawberry-rhubarh jam -- sweet, tart, flavorful, and it sort of tasted like a fruit roll-up, without sticking to my teeth.
So armed with Val's mom's recipe last night, I made some jam. First of all, what is the deal with the pectin package making everything three times as hard as it needs to be? I found the procedural explanations really obnoxiously overcomplicated in some parts, and not detailed enough in others. So I wrote out my own instructions before I started -- much easier!
The very first thing I did was sterilize the jars and set them out, and soak the lids. According to everything I've read, there's no need to sterilize jars if the jam is going to be boiled for longer than ten minutes -- but I didn't want to risk it. I probably did a crappy job of sterilizing, but better safe than sorry.
Next: crush the strawberries! That part was fun. Then I added the rhubarb straight from the freezer to the strawberries put it on the stove to boil together, while still crushing away. I really like using that potato masher, okay? It was my great-grandmother's!
Once the strawberry and rhubarb mixture had come to a boil -- easier than it sounds, since they both gave off a lot of juice -- I added the whole packet of pectin. Now, I'd ordered regular pectin instead of low-sugar pectin, even though the recipe calls for low-sugar pectin, because it made me nervous to get the low-sugar stuff. (I'm not sure why. Maybe I was afraid the pectin had splenda in it?) So I had to double the sugar. The sugar all needs to go in at once, so while the mixture was coming back to a rolling boil (which took longer than I thought it would!), I measured the sugar into a separate bowl. 5-1/2 cups! Actually, it didn't look like that much sugar at all.
Once the mixture was at a rolling boil, I dumped all the sugar in, stirred vigorously (with the potato masher, still; I wasn't giving that sucker up a moment before I had to), and left the mixture to come back to a boil, stirring occasionally. The recipe wanted me to stir all the time, but I was not interested in doing that.
After it came back to the boil, I let it go for one minute (timed it and everything), then turned off the heat and started filling the jars and sealing them. That took a while, since I had to grab a paper towel and dip it in the boiling water to wipe the jam spills off the mouths of the jars. I skimmed off some of the foam before I started filling jars, but I definitely didn't get it all, since there's some floating in one of the jars. I'll keep that jar for myself and make sure not to give it away!
Then: boil the jars for ten minutes! I did it in three batches. Partially that was because the recipe ended up making more jam than expected, so I had to find other mason jars. I found one that I hadn't used last winter, complete with lid and everything -- and then I just ate some of the rest of the jam out of the pot. Whatever, it was delicious. I don't know that I'd want it on ice cream, but I'd happily eat it as pie filling. Or on toast or a muffin. Mmmm delightful.
I'm thinking about possibly trying to strain the strawberry seeds out of the next batch. Have fine mesh sieve, will make jelly.
click to embiggen
So here is my recipe, slightly modified from Val's mom's:
2 cups of crushed strawberries (slightly less than 2 quarts)
2-1/2 cups of finely chopped rhubarb (around 3/4 lb)
5-1/2 cups of white sugar
1 packet of regular pectin
Bring the fruit to a boil. Add the pectin. Bring it back to a boil. Add the sugar all in one lump and stir quickly. Let boil for one minute, then skim off the foam (seriously, do this) and fill jars. Then drop into boiling water for ten minutes, and let sit for 24 hours. If the top pops on any of the jars, put them in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. The jars that keep their seals can be kept on a shelf indefinitely, although probably under 24 months is best.
Yesterday, strawberries were on sale. I'd just been complaining that they were at $6/quart for the crappy strawberries, so it was like fate. I bought five quarts, and used two last night. To make JAM!
Ever since
doll_revolution sent me rhubarb for my birthday cake, I've been planning to make jam, and then a few weeks ago the grocery store finally had rhubarb, so I have even more for jam. A while ago, I'd had my friend Val's mom's strawberry-rhubarb jam, which had seemed to me to be the perfect strawberry-rhubarh jam -- sweet, tart, flavorful, and it sort of tasted like a fruit roll-up, without sticking to my teeth. So armed with Val's mom's recipe last night, I made some jam. First of all, what is the deal with the pectin package making everything three times as hard as it needs to be? I found the procedural explanations really obnoxiously overcomplicated in some parts, and not detailed enough in others. So I wrote out my own instructions before I started -- much easier!
The very first thing I did was sterilize the jars and set them out, and soak the lids. According to everything I've read, there's no need to sterilize jars if the jam is going to be boiled for longer than ten minutes -- but I didn't want to risk it. I probably did a crappy job of sterilizing, but better safe than sorry.
Next: crush the strawberries! That part was fun. Then I added the rhubarb straight from the freezer to the strawberries put it on the stove to boil together, while still crushing away. I really like using that potato masher, okay? It was my great-grandmother's!
Once the strawberry and rhubarb mixture had come to a boil -- easier than it sounds, since they both gave off a lot of juice -- I added the whole packet of pectin. Now, I'd ordered regular pectin instead of low-sugar pectin, even though the recipe calls for low-sugar pectin, because it made me nervous to get the low-sugar stuff. (I'm not sure why. Maybe I was afraid the pectin had splenda in it?) So I had to double the sugar. The sugar all needs to go in at once, so while the mixture was coming back to a rolling boil (which took longer than I thought it would!), I measured the sugar into a separate bowl. 5-1/2 cups! Actually, it didn't look like that much sugar at all.
Once the mixture was at a rolling boil, I dumped all the sugar in, stirred vigorously (with the potato masher, still; I wasn't giving that sucker up a moment before I had to), and left the mixture to come back to a boil, stirring occasionally. The recipe wanted me to stir all the time, but I was not interested in doing that.
After it came back to the boil, I let it go for one minute (timed it and everything), then turned off the heat and started filling the jars and sealing them. That took a while, since I had to grab a paper towel and dip it in the boiling water to wipe the jam spills off the mouths of the jars. I skimmed off some of the foam before I started filling jars, but I definitely didn't get it all, since there's some floating in one of the jars. I'll keep that jar for myself and make sure not to give it away!
Then: boil the jars for ten minutes! I did it in three batches. Partially that was because the recipe ended up making more jam than expected, so I had to find other mason jars. I found one that I hadn't used last winter, complete with lid and everything -- and then I just ate some of the rest of the jam out of the pot. Whatever, it was delicious. I don't know that I'd want it on ice cream, but I'd happily eat it as pie filling. Or on toast or a muffin. Mmmm delightful.
I'm thinking about possibly trying to strain the strawberry seeds out of the next batch. Have fine mesh sieve, will make jelly.
click to embiggen
So here is my recipe, slightly modified from Val's mom's:
2 cups of crushed strawberries (slightly less than 2 quarts)
2-1/2 cups of finely chopped rhubarb (around 3/4 lb)
5-1/2 cups of white sugar
1 packet of regular pectin
Bring the fruit to a boil. Add the pectin. Bring it back to a boil. Add the sugar all in one lump and stir quickly. Let boil for one minute, then skim off the foam (seriously, do this) and fill jars. Then drop into boiling water for ten minutes, and let sit for 24 hours. If the top pops on any of the jars, put them in the fridge for up to 3 weeks. The jars that keep their seals can be kept on a shelf indefinitely, although probably under 24 months is best.
