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Who makes jam or jelly?

9K views 45 replies 23 participants last post by  chrisbelgium 
#1 · (Edited)
Does anyone else make jam or jellies anymore?

Yesterday I made applejelly with fruit that fell off the tree and were never treated with pesticides or whatever. There were 3 varieties, in the picture is one of them.

Started by washing and cutting them the day before in quarters or smaller, skin on, core not removed; both contribute to color and deliver pectine to help the gelification.

I used around 3,5 kilo of apples. Put in a large cookingpot and just cover with water. Some let this cook, I go for slow cooking at temperature just below cooking point for 3-4 hours. The apples get very soft but don't fall apart.

Now they must go through a cooling fase where the water will get even more infused. It went in the cellar overnight. Just after the cooking I added some flavors; 1/2 teaspoon of sechuan peppercorns, 1 staranis, 5 cracked kardemom pods, 1 cinnamon stick and the peel and juice of a lemon.

Next morning, pour everything through a cheesecloth to filter and, to carefully pack and knot the cooked apples in. This package needs to be hung up so the remaining juice can drip out. If you press on the apple package the jelly will get cloudy and never be transparent! My preparation yielded 2200 grams of liquid.

Time to make the jelly. For apples, I use 800 gram sugar to 1000 gram juice, so it has to cook for a good while (1 hour for this batch!), depending on the amount of juice.

I use my own method to make jams and jelly;

I start by washing the jars and put them upright in my oven at 130°C to sterilize. The lids remain in cold water until use.

Also in the oven goes the sugar! Now start by boiling the juice without the sugar, then add the hot sugar; this shortens the cooking time and for some reason, there will be no foam on the preparation while cooking. Keep checking the gelification by putting a little on a cold plate. Then fill the hot jars, turn lid on and turn them upside down until almost cooled. This will seal the jars airtight. A nice homemade label and done. Fabulous taste on some bread or with a wildpâté or foie gras...

 
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#2 ·
Does anyone else make jam or jellies anymore?

Actually quite a few of us do, Chris. In fact, we have at least one member, JamLady, who both teaches the art and does it commerically. Our unofficial canning pro is JustPJ, who has written several articles about canning and preserving for Cheftalk. But they are just two of many, me included, who put foods by on a regular basis.

BTW, your method of turning the jars until they seal is "officially" frowned upon in the United States. But, then again, the powers that be also recommend against wax sealing, which makes us the only country that does.
 
#3 ·
Yes, me too, I make jam, though i don;t have too much time any more.  Also pickles sometimes. 

I once found a tree full of crabapples in the mountains, and we stopped the car and i made wonderful jelly, similar to yours.  I don;t add any flavors, i love the simple flavor of the jelly.  And when i can find them, i love quince jelly. 
 
#4 · (Edited)
Me, too!

Jelly (pronounced in Scotland as Jeely) from apples, brambles (known elsewhere as blackberries), rhubarb.  My Mum did a wonderful apple and rosehip jelly. I also have a quince and make quince jelly - amazing with pork or poultry.

Jams - strawberry, raspberry, blaeberry, plum and greengage,  gooseberry preserve,

Curds - lemon, orange, tangerine and grapefruit

Chutnies - too many different types to list!

Mincemeat - to use in mince-pies at Christmas and other dishes throughout the year

Marmalade -  I make enough from the Seville oranges that come into the shops in late Jan/Feb to do most of the year - and I also make other marmalades with tangerines, lemons and grapefruit.
 
#5 · (Edited)
Thanks all for replying! I notice quice jelly being mentioned a few times. It's also my favorite. I make it usually in januari with fruit comming from Turkey or Spain. Quince trees are probably extinct in the region I live. I heard from older people, many farms had at least a quince tree. They're all gone. I make it very much exactly as the apple jelly, but with no addition of spices.

With the remaining pulp I tried to make "membrillo", a fruitpaste well known in Spain and many times served in tapas with queso manchego.

It's simply cooking the remaining fruitpulp with sugar until it thickens. It takes a very long time to cook, so I did this only once. I kept the paste in my fridge where it lasted for over two years! I used some to throw in sweet sauces.

@KYHeirloomer; I always use the method of turning the jars upside down to seal and have had zero problems so far even after keeping the product for over 2 years! In fact, when making jam, I heat the jars up to 130°C in the oven. This allows me to pour the boiling hot jam -straight from the fire- in the jars without any risk of cracking the glass. I think it might be essential to produce a high heat to ensure a good sealed jar. I used to put the lids in the oven too, but it took so much force trying to opening the pots, that I stopped doing this. Also, but I guess you have the same jars in the US, the lids have to be clad on the inside with a thin elastic coating.
 
#6 ·
I've been canning jam and jelly, salmon, tomatoes, peaches, apricots, plus pickling, for several years now. Just put away all the canning gear last weekend! I'm a Canadian, but like KYHeirloomer, I follow North American canning practices (http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/ is a good example).

'Eating Local', along with community and home gardens, has become quite popular here in the last couple of years, and canning/preserving neighbourhood groups have sprung up around the area. It's fun to get together in one big kitchen to chop, boil and can together! When I saw a canning class at the local Gourmet Warehouse, I knew that canning's hit the mainstream!

Quinces -- I found a quince tree in my neighbourhood, and the owners gladly allow me to pick them. They're so hard, my arm/shoulder aches after chopping a batch. Well worth it, though!

My favourite jam/jelly combo -- red currant / raspberry. The best!
 
#7 ·
I don't necessarily follow the USDA guidelines and recommendations, Summer. Just wanted to make sure people understood there are differences, so they can make educated choices.

For instance, using open kettle canning (which is what Chris is doing) has long been repudiated by all North American food science organizations. But the rest of the world has no guidelines against it.

My feelings are that, with soft spreads, it doesn't matter. Why? Because the spoilage mechanism in sugar-cured products is mold, which you can see. If you open a jar and there's mold, throw it out. End of subject.

Same with wax sealing. Although USDA recommends against it, when done properly it effect the exact same seal as does a two-piece lid. Trouble is, using wax is cumbersome, potentially dangerous, subject to seal failure, and the jars cannot be stacked in storage. Using lids and a bwb is more efficient all around. If you use wax, however, seal failures are irrelevent for the same reason as open kettle: if the stuff is spoiled, it shows.

But for products where the spoilage mechansim is bacteria there may or may not be sensory indications. Boutulism, in particular, cannot be seen nor smelled. So, while millions of jars of low-acid foods have been safely canned using open kettle and boiling water baths, my choice is to avoid those practices (that's why God gave us pressure canners, you see), and to not eat anything anyone else has canned that way.
 
#8 ·
(that's why God gave us pressure canners, you see),
Unfortunately he didn;t give them to us here in Italy. So when someone gives me their delectable oil-packed vegetables (wonderful eggplant with garlic, etc) I sadly just throw it out, unless they ate from it first. It's rare enough anyway, but my mother in law used to do this all the time. I don;t like canned vegetables anyway (except for tomatoes, which are not dangerous for botulism anyway, for the acid) so i don't can them.
 
#9 · (Edited)
...

My feelings are that, with soft spreads, it doesn't matter. Why? Because the spoilage mechanism in sugar-cured products is mold, which you can see. If you open a jar and there's mold, throw it out. End of subject.

Same with wax sealing.... ... if the stuff is spoiled, it shows.

But for products where the spoilage mechansim is bacteria there may or may not be sensory indications. Boutulism, in particular, cannot be seen nor smelled. So, while millions of jars of low-acid foods have been safely canned using open kettle and boiling water baths, my choice is to avoid those practices (that's why God gave us pressure canners, you see), and to not eat anything anyone else has canned that way.
I absolutely agree. In the old days, people made jams and sealed them with a layer of hot wax poured on top ot the preparation and a paper over the jar to keep the dust out. Sometimes there appeared a tiny bit of mold on the edges, but people removed it and ate the jam anyway. On the other hand, when I was a kid, I used to help can haricot verts in big glass jars with a rubber band and a glass lid. These were sealed by cooking them in a specially designed kettle after each jar was equipped with a some sort of a steelwire "muzzle". When they opende it, they simply smelled the content. If it smelled funny, the content was simply dumped. I would guess many had bad experiences first.
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We're now a few days later and I tasted the apple jelly. It's the first time I used spices in a jam or jelly. On the other hand I always use lemonjuice in jams. Lemon takes the flavor to another level and it helps the pectine in the gelification.

The spices experiment was inspired by the Chinese 5 spices powder I already used on an appletart that came out delicious. The main ingredients of the Chinese 5 spices powder(I buy this already made) are sechuan pepper, star anis and cinnamon. I left out fennelsead and cloves. Also, I didn't use powder but whole sechuan peppercorns(AKA lemonpepper in my country, same as Japanese sanchopepper), one small whole star anis(very powerful taste) and a stick of cinnamon and as an extra, added these wonderful kardemompods, just a little cracked to keep the seeds inside. All of these weren't actually cooked, but added at the end of the cookingtime of the apples, and left in the whole night.

Well, this is such a delight! All flavors are quite toned down and merged. There's still the apples, but a little dominant factor coming from the cinnamon.

I can already imagine to make duckbreast, fat seared away in a pan and then finished in the oven with a thin layer of this apple jelly brushed on top... Also, I already know this will be a big hit with some foie gras terrine.
 
#10 ·
Only do a few variities for my shop.

By far the best seller is orange marmalade.  These get "put up" in 250 ml /1/2 pint jars.  I use about 50% peel in the marmalade, and with the rest of the peel, I candy it, using it in my confections and chocolates.

I also do strawberry and blueberry, usually buying these locally at peak of season.  They don't sell as well as the marmalade though.

I use a 15 qt electric steam kettle to cook the marmalade in, and the old-fashioned closed lid canner. My commerical d/washer comes in handy keeping the jars hot and moist.  Fairly plain jane stuff, I guess, but then again, I'm selling it in my store.

Sometime next week I'll try my hand at making and canning mince meat.  All-fruit mincemeat that is, over the summer I've been drying my own cherries and blueberreis, as well as candying orange and lemon peel.  Love to try my hand at candying Angelica, but don't know enough to grow it and don't know where to buy it.  Next year maybe.....

Right now it's fruit cake time, and other than the the raisins and sultanas, all the other fruit has either been candied or dried by "Moi".  It's usually a good seller
 
#11 ·
Angelica, but don't know enough to grow it

Foodpump, once you start it, Angelica is relatively easy to grow. Unfortunately, starting it can be difficult, because angelica seed is relatively nonviable (about 16%), and doesn't last long; shelflife on angelica seed is considered to be six months. So most new plants are started by root division. Which means, of course, that you need access to a plant in the first place.

Sort of an herbal catch 22.

The group of herbs in the angelica group (there are about 50 of them) are either biennials or weak perennials (that is, they last 3-5 years is all).

Much of the Angelica used by herbalists is wildcrafted rather than grown. But you might check with Richo Cech at Horizon Herbs (www.horizonherbs.com) about availability of seeds, plants, or roots.
 
#12 ·
Only do a few variities for my shop.

By far the best seller is orange marmalade. These get "put up" in 250 ml /1/2 pint jars. I use about 50% peel in the marmalade, and with the rest of the peel, I candy it, using it in my confections and chocolates.

I also do strawberry and blueberry, usually buying these locally at peak of season. They don't sell as well as the marmalade though.

I use a 15 qt electric steam kettle to cook the marmalade in, and the old-fashioned closed lid canner. My commerical d/washer comes in handy keeping the jars hot and moist. Fairly plain jane stuff, I guess, but then again, I'm selling it in my store.

Sometime next week I'll try my hand at making and canning mince meat. All-fruit mincemeat that is, over the summer I've been drying my own cherries and blueberreis, as well as candying orange and lemon peel. Love to try my hand at candying Angelica, but don't know enough to grow it and don't know where to buy it. Next year maybe.....

Right now it's fruit cake time, and other than the the raisins and sultanas, all the other fruit has either been candied or dried by "Moi". It's usually a good seller

I too use the old method for canning my tomatoes and fruits. (simmered for 30 minutes for quarts and 10 minutes for pints)

It bums me to only be able to do 7 jars at a time because of stove space where I work, but se la vie.

I make a bitter citrus marmalade that never stays on the shelves long enough to age.

I made plum jam, concord grape jam, and rhubarb berry jam this year. Someday there'll be enough blackberries to make a preserve from, but not yet.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for the info BDL, I'll be contacting them after the "silly season" ('bout now till January) is over and I have a chance to look at my garden again. 

--And no sly jokes about Vancouverites and "gardening"!!!!!!!....

I read somewhere it was a Gourmand's dream to have angelica flavoured brioches served warm accompanied with a good shop of Benidictine.  Can't remember whom, but it sure sounds good
 
#16 ·
Dead simple.

10 kg peeled oranges

4 kg orange peel

7.7 kg sugar

Process fruit in the robot-coupe

blanch peel 3 times, chop up fine

Combine all three and gently cook until it "sheets" when dropping from a spoon,

Process in hot water bath 

This batch is sized to fit my 15 qt steam kettle and gives me about 48-- 250 ml jars
 
#19 ·
Hi foodpump -- do you think blood oranges would work for your marmalade? I love the colour, but maybe too sweet for marmalade? (and no jokes from me about a Vancouver garden!)
blood oranges too sweet??? blood oranges are rarely very sweet at all.
 
#20 ·
Thanks for the info BDL, I'll be contacting them after the "silly season" ('bout now till January) is over and I have a chance to look at my garden again.

--And no sly jokes about Vancouverites and "gardening"!!!!!!!....

I read somewhere it was a Gourmand's dream to have angelica flavoured brioches served warm accompanied with a good shop of Benidictine. Can't remember whom, but it sure sounds good
Uhhh... Sorry about that KY Heirloomer, I made a big mistake. Thank you for the information.
 
#21 ·
Not a problem, Foodpump.

BTW, check out Richters, up in your neck of the woods. They are (or were) a rather large herbal supply company, including mail order. If they're still in business you should be able to find them with a quick search.
 
#22 ·
hi chris

i loooooove making jams n jellies, i just picked quinces  and grapes from the garden n made jelly (not together though) n it was very yummy!!!! last year i was short of time so i boiled the grapes until soft, put it over night hanging in the cheesecloth and the following morning put the liquid in plastic bags n straight to the freezer!!! a couple of weeks later, when i had the time, i defrosted the juice and carried on w the process n the result was perfect!!!!!!!
 
#23 ·
I enjoyed reading everyone's ideas and recipes. I like to try different jams, although I am now trying different ideas on how to make low sugar recipes since my daughter was just diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. My mother in law used to make a pear spread/preserve that was simply full of the pear flavor- not a lot of other spices. She can't remember how she did it. So I tried cooking the pears like I would apples for sauce, then added some xylitol and sugar and then tried thickening it with some cooked type clear jel. It turned out fairly well, but not like I remember it. I should have put a little lemon juice. Any other ideas or recipes you all may have would be welcomed.
 
#25 · (Edited)
@Patriciagb; Thanks for the idea of freezing the juice!

@ Worldcook; I really hope you find a nice recipe for your little girl. Sugar is not really necessary for the gelification of fruitjuices. You could experiment a little with "agar-agar", it is vegetal (sea alges) and comes in powder or in branches. Easy to find in Asian food chops as a substitute for gelatine. I know people make healthy sweets from just unsweetened fruitjuice and agar-agar. It's a bit tricky how many you should use. It has double the gelfication power than gelatine (per the same weight).

You could heat some natural pressed applejuice without sugar, leave to cool just below cooking temperature and then add agar-agar; contrary to gelatine, agar-agar needs higher temperature to dissolve. I would guess half a teaspoon powdered one per 500cc juice is more than enough. This preparation won't keep forever and needs to be in the fridge. Agar-agar solutions are also used in labs as a feeding ground for... added bacteria. Don't let that alarm you too much, bacteria loooove a classic jam too when not kept properly. Applejuice sweetener is another problem. Maybe search for "stevia", a little controversial, but I know too little about sugar alternatives in general to be very helpful.

@HomeMadeCook; thanks!
 
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