strawberry jam fom Joy of Cooking

[mrs.h]

I had some family in town, as part of showing them around I took them to strawberry fields. My luck, the strawberries were at their best! So we went a bit overboard and picked a bunch of berries. We ended up with 15lbs of berries. I intend to make some preserves/jam with it. I am looking at the Strawberry jam recipe from the Joy of cooking book. I have never made jams without pectin. Has anyone tried the recipe out of Joy of Cooking? If so anything tips/tricks? I will probably start the process tonight!

[shroomgirl]

I have and it's alot sweeter than using low sugar Sure Jell. How did yours turn out?

[Jacaranda]

Originally Posted by shroomgirl

How did yours turn out?

Ditto.

You lucky thing - I should be getting a couple of pounds of strawberries this weekend. Last year, for the first time ever, I tried using preserving sugar (I don't know if you can buy it where you live? It's regular granulated sugar but with added pectin.) V E R Y stiff jam as a result! Previously I've just added the juice of half a lemon halfway through cooking and that seems to do the trick; it might be my imagination, but it seems to make for a brighter, lighter-coloured jam, as well.

[Luc_H]

Hi Mrs. H,

The Joy of Cooking is an excellent book. Their jams are a little on the sweet side as Shroomgirl mentionned. Read the recipe very closely because they suggest to proceed with caution if you think of increasing the batch size they suggest. (My 15 year old version of the JoC says do not make more then double the recipe)

If you decide to try making strawberry jam without sugar, I have 2 suggestions:
1. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon. The added acid helps to prevent the sugar from crystillizing and also helps to extract the pectin from the fruit.
2. Bring the jam slowly to a boil and boil according to the recipe then let it cold down (30 minutes or so) then bring back to a boil and keep for 5 minutes. This temperature curve (boil, cool, boil) also helps to extract pectin out of the fruit making your jam less runny in the end.

It works for me.
Luc

[shroomgirl]

strawberry jam without sugar?????? hmmmm....and without apple juice/cider or other high pectin fruit?????

I've been putting up numerous batches of jam this past week. I always add a tad of butter to cut the foam, either a lemon juice or orange zest and usually a liquor or vanilla at the end of cooking for that little extra jeune ce qua.

So, the batches have included rhubarb, strawberry, strawberry/rhubarb, blue berry/blk raspberry/strawberry, black raspberry. some without added pectin, some with full sugar pectin and my fav with low sugar Sure Jell. Cooking time is cut dramatically so the fruit is less shmush or dulled by long cooking, sugar is less so there's more natural fruit essence coming through......
I make standard size batches, no doubling up.....it may take longer but when there is so much expense going into each jar of jam I don't monkey around....and I won't sell it. How do you price out a jar that you've either driven an hour, picked fruit in the hot sun, bought jars, pectin, sugar, top quality liquors (Chambord mainly, but Grand Marnier works it's way in too), lemons/orange zest, stemming and processing the jam in an unair conditioned kitchen in the summer. Tiny jam jar for $10+.... Nope, it's a gift of love to friends or ends up on a few special brunches when I'm feeling outrageously generous.

[Luc_H]

Hey Shroomgirl,
(I am diverging from the subject but...)
You raise a valid point. I make an 8 whole grain bread that people just love with my homemade strawberry/rhubarb compote. Most people that taste them would want me to sell some to them. These products are expensive to make in small quantities. With my equipment, 12 loafs of bread is 6 batches and would take 8 hours to make. Even is I sold one loaf at $10 I would only make $120 for 1 days work... way too much high a selling price for little money in return.

Luc

[mrs.h]

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[shroomgirl]

As a caterer there are special things I make or buy that are very expensive but really are fun. Making lavosh....certainly not necessary there are good crackers on the market....
buying and processing baby artichokes.....I just enjoy them sooo much that they just find their way onto veg platters during their season. Ditto fresh apricots.....it's fun or I wouldn't do it.....same with marshmallows, they have a good return but there are many other things that are much less labor intensive....I just enjoy having them around.

Homemade pie crusts, spicy gingersnaps with candied ginger, bouncing up flavors with vanilla paste or orange zest.....using liquors when they are really not necessary but raise the end product to another height.

What not only will add value but is fun to work with.....catering is a love, I cook because it's fun. When the learning becomes benign then something's wrong.
So, this week I'm going to play with various gnocchi doughs....00 flour, farm vs duck eggs, russet potatoes steamed vs boiled....rolled vs piped....
Also playing with Pierre Herme's doughs, his techniques are so different from the classics and I wanna see the difference. guess I'm trying to relate time with money....when I'm on the clock I make really good money, I work fast....when I'm playing there is NO clock and it's pure joyous R&D.

Costing out product for a restaurant, store is very different than costing it out for a catered job. And I do have commercial equipment.

So, this stream of consciousness make any sense?

[tigerwoman]

here's a great thing to do with super ripe excess strawberries,

puree them and freeze in 16 oz containers

defrost and add to freshly squeezed lemon or limeaide for a fabulous strawberry lemonade. Make your lemonade with a less sweet simple syrup - the strawberries add alot of sweetness and the tartness too compliments the lemonade. Cann't tell you how much $$ we made on this in the 90's when we had the yuppie gourmet sandwich business in Manhattan.

In our case, it was product that would have been thrown out, because very ripe strawberries don't look good on a platter or in fruit salad even though they taste delicious. You eat with your eyes first and it also doesn't hold up well with premade fruit salads (although we always added the cut berries at the last minute - there was still travel time, and waiting time before the food is eaten when you do corporate drop offs.