 |
| Beautiful Mason Jars just waiting to be filled with peach jam! |
So, I've been wanting to post about canning and making jam for quite some time now. Over the past couple of months, I've made probably 4 or 5 batches of homemade jam. The problem was, it was such a new experience to me that I never felt comfortable taking pictures during the process. A few of the crucial steps take place in under 60 seconds, so I definitely didn't want to turn my back for a second and grab my camera! Luckily, this morning I made peach jam, and I felt comfortable with documenting the experience. But first, let me share a little bit about how I decided to start making my own jam.
This is something that I had wanted to try for several years. Ever since I got majorly into cooking and baking (which was probably around 5 years ago) I thought making my own jam would be fun. I even took books out about canning from the library. The problem was, these books all made it sound tremendously scary. You have to sterilize jars, process jars, cook the jam itself for a precise amount of time, and then hope and pray that your seals actually set, or else the whole exercise will have been for nothing. Needless to say, I never ended up making any jam!
Then, last winter, Megan and I started talking. She shared how Steve's family has always been big canners and how she, too, wanted to make her own jam. Since it was winter and most fruits were out of season, we decided to make pepper jelly. This was a pretty easy recipe for beginners, as it didn't require any processing of jars. (more on this soon) We were amazed at how easy it was to do! All you do is chop up some peppers, add vinegar and pectin, boil it, ladle it into jars, and voila, you have pepper jelly! Megan and I gave some jars of it out at Christmas, and I also put it on that old standby of pepper jelly, cream cheese and crackers. Let me tell you, it sounds like a simple snack, but it is one of those things that is truly heavenly. Similar to yogurt and honey...so simple yet it tastes out of this world.
 |
| The pepper jelly that Megan and I made last December. Note the cute little jars...these are great for jam but cost a bit more than your typical mason jars. We were so proud of this pepper jelly! Yay for our first canning try! |
This past spring, I started hearing a lot about The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. Her cookbook came out and I read a review of it in People magazine. Then my sister-in-law mentioned that she got the cookbook from the library and was enjoying it. Meredith mentioned that she occasionally reads Ree's blog. I decided to check out both the book and the blog, and I came upon possibly the best blog post I've ever read by Ree: how to make Strawberry Jam. This post is very long, and it takes place in 2 parts. What I love about it is that it covers ALL the bases of canning, but with pictures of her actually doing it and explanations of how it should look along the way, and why each step is vital. Though these were the same instructions as seen in the books about canning I took out from the library, they were SO much more helpful. I guess, as with most things, it really helps to see an ordinary, everyday person doing them. I can't imagine how long it took Ree to do this series of posts, but after I carefully read over both of them, I decided I would be able to make my own strawberry jam! I followed her blog to the letter, and it worked out perfectly!
In this post, I'm going to talk about making peach jam. But, before I do that, it is absolutely worth checking out Ree's Canning 101 and Strawberry jam post here. This is the link to part 1, but you will find part 2 at the bottom of the initial post. Seriously, there's no way I could ever devote as much time to beginning canning and in such ideal fashion as Ree has. I can't say enough about this fabulous post, as it introduced me to canning!
So, in around May when strawberries were hitting their zenith, I made a batch of strawberry jam. My lovely comrade Nicole let me have a case of leftover Mason Jars from her wedding. (she made adorable vases out of them to display gerber daisies as centerpieces at her wedding...Nicole, I think you should post about this sometime! They were some of the most lovely homemade centerpieces I've ever seen!) I gave a jar to my parents, Carl's parents, Carl's grandpa (who loves homemade jam) and left one for us to sample. (I used pint jars so the recipe only made 4...typically you would use half-pint jars for strawberry jam and end up with 8) I have to say, homemade jam is fabulous. And I'm not tooting my own horn, because all I did was follow directions. Plus, the only ingredients are strawberries, pectin, sugar and a pat of butter. So I didn't add any of my own personal flair to it. On the contrary, you have to be pretty straight and narrow when it comes to making jam. Follow directions and measure ingredients exactly, or else! (haha...but that's pretty much how canning books make it sound!)
In reality, it's not a big deal to make jam, and it's pretty easy. I've made strawberry jam 3 different times, blueberry jam, and just this morning I made peach jam. My plan is to take advantage of canning season now and make several batches of jam, of which I will arrange in baskets and give out as part of my Christmas gifts to family. (sorry if I'm spoiling the surprise to any of my family who are reading this...yes, you will be getting a few jars of homemade jam, but of course that's not all you'll be getting! The jam is one component of the gift....!)
The first step in making jam is preparing the fruit. This is the most time-consuming part, especially for the strawberries because you have to hull and chop each individual strawberry. Blueberries are easier because it's just a matter of crushing them with a fork. I thought peaches would be super-annoying, because you have to peel them, pit them and finely chop them. So, I did an amazing thing this time around: yesterday after work, I prepared the peaches. Turns out, it was really easy to do. Peaches are so soft that they chopped easily under the knife and the whole job took maybe 10 minutes. I then measured out the 4 cups I needed and refrigerated the fruit until this morning when I needed it. Knocking out this step the day before made the actual jam preparation SO easy!! To give you an idea of the time frame, I woke up at 7:30 this morning and watched some TV and went online. At 8, I put the jars and the lids in a pot of simmering water. While they simmered, I had cereal and coffee. At 8:30, I started making the jam. By 9:15, I was done...and that includes the 15 minutes where the jam sits in a pot of boiling water and I do nothing at all!! It's now 10 AM and I've been blogging about it for about 20 minutes. So fast, so easy!
After preparing the fruit, you combine it with lemon juice (if needed...some recipes call for it, as the peach recipe does, because certain fruits need a little extra acidity.) Then you add the pectin. I whisk it in everytime to make sure it's fully incorporated. An insider tip from Ree is to add a pat of butter to your fruit at this time. It reduces the foam that could always show up at the end. If foam indeed does show up, you end up having to skim it off before you ladle it into your jars. Not a huge deal, but it's nice to skip a step!
 |
| Peaches mixed with Pectin...Note the pat of butter! |
At this point, you bring everything to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Once the boil can't be stirred down, you add your sugar ALL AT ONCE. It's pretty imperative to have your sugar all measured out (in this case, 5 cups were ready and waiting) because if you add one cup at a time, you're disrupting the boiling process. Once you add all the sugar, you stir it all in and return the mixture to another hard boil. Once it's boiling violently, you time it for 60 seconds. (Ree says 1 minute 15 seconds...I find I usually add a few extra seconds onto the timing too, just in case!) Immediately take the jam off the heat. At this point, it will look thick and jam-like...woo hoo! If there's foam, skim it off. Honestly, since I add a pat of butter to it, I never have a foam problem.
 |
| The finished jam waiting to be ladled...ta da!! |
Up until just today, I would ladle my jam into a spouted Pyrex measuring cup, then pour it into my jars. Then I came across this fantastic kit at Walmart. (side note: I generally am not Walmart's biggest fan, but they carry almost an entire aisle worth of canning supplies. This makes life easier for me, as I would much rather buy canning jars and pectin at a store versus paying for shipping on such heavy items!) There is an entire canning kit you can buy, but I think that's pretty ridiculous. Up until now, I used my own stockpot and tongs to process jars. This was fairly tricky though, because tongs never get a great grip on the jars and I was always afraid I'd drop one out of the hot water. Last time I was at Walmart, I came across a canning tools kit. For a mere $6.97, you get a jar lifter (which was worth the entire price of the kit, in my book, as it made lifting the jars in and out of boiling water a cinch!) a headspace measuring device that doubles as an air bubble remover, a magnetic wand to retrieve lids from the simmering water (again not an essential tool as tongs will do the job...but this did it much faster and with way less hassle!) and a wide-mouth funnel that can fit inside either pint or half-pint jars. This time, I simply took my simmering jar and lid out of the water (you keep them in simmering water so they won't break or crack when hot jam is added to them) and ladled the hot jam into the wide-mouth funnel. Genius! I made way less of a mess and I ended up having more jam at the end than if I transferred the jam to a pyrex measuring cup and then poured it into the jars. I recommend buying this time-saving and anxiety-reducing kit, though I probably wouldn't buy an entire canning set since, truly, you can just use your own stockpot for making and processing jam!
 | ||||
| My amazing $6.97 canning kit from Walmart that makes my life so much easier. Also, a packet of pectin! |
 |
| The fantastic wide-mouth funnel that fits inside your jars. Simply ladle the jam in this way! (sorry for the specks of jam on my stove...canning can be a messy process and since you work so quickly, I just clean-up everything at the end!) |
Once the jam is ladled into jars, take a knife and run it along the inside of the jam to remove air bubbles. This time, I used my headspace tool, which is pretty useful because it precisely measures how much headspace you've left at the top of the jar while removing air bubbles from the jam. Then, you run a wet cloth along the outside of the lid to make sure there isn't any residual jam left outside the jars that could ruin the sealing process. Finally, you place the lid on the center of the jar, then affix the bands to a "fingertip-tight" level. Basically, this means that you're not tightening so much that you can't easily remove them.
Once all the jars are ready, you use your handy dandy jar lifter and place the jars into the stockpot of simmering water. Once they're all inside and the water covers them by an inch or two, turn the water up and bring the jars to a gentle boil. Once boiling, cover your pot and process for 10 minutes. You will hear the water boiling like crazy in there, which is exactly what you want to hear. During this process, the boiling water is killing all germs and bacteria inside the jar, creating a vital seal that means you can keep this jam on your pantry for up to a year without it spoiling. Basically, you're preserving it the natural way...without any chemicals!
 |
| Here are the fully-processed jars in Nicole's stockpot on my stove. Note the bubbling and steaming. This is what you want to see! This is just at the point where I took off the lid and let them sit for 5 minutes to equalize the pressure inside the jars. |
After 10 minutes, take the lid off the pot and let the jars sit for 5 minutes. This allows the pressure to equalize inside the jars, or so I'm told! (Basically, canning, like soap-making, is a science lesson unto itself...creating air-tight seals, adding ingredients to turn fruit into a gel-like substance that can keep for a year, etc...I wish we had done this in school because it really helps you understand chemistry!) After 5 minutes, remove the jars using your jar lifter and set them somewhere where they can be undisturbed for 24 hours. During this time, you will hear little "pops" coming from the jars. This is your seals setting...and it's such a fun noise! In the past, sometimes I've made jam and then gone out shopping or to run errands while they've been sitting on my counter and I've missed the popping sound. In this case, after the 24 hours, you can test if your seals have set in a couple of ways. The one I always use is simple to press my finger on the center button of the lid. If there's no resistance, the jar has sealed. If you can press on the lid and feel it go down, it hasn't sealed. Luckily...and I say this while knocking on wood...all of the jars I've made have sealed. But if they don't, you can either re-process them in boiling water and hope to create a seal, or simply put the jar in your refrigerator and consume within 3 weeks!
I really, really love making my own jam. It tastes amazing, first of all. It's also free of chemicals and additives, which is another huge benefit. And also, it's a sustainable hobby: you can re-use the jars and the bands over and over again. So you aren't constantly buying new jars or throwing away old ones. Even if you don't re-use your mason jar for jam, guaranteed there's another use for it. Mason jars are so cute...you could use them as vases, like Nicole did, to put pens or supplies in, or just generally as a catch-all for various office or random items. The only parts of the jar you can't re-use are the lids. But you can pick up replacement lids, and I think they go for something like 8 lids for $2!
One last note: I find it ironic that you make jam in the sweltering summer, when it's really hard to stand over an entire pot full of boiling fruit. You definitely get your face steamed by the boiling sugar and fruit, and it gets pretty hot in the kitchen. But, the beauty of canning is that you're preserving fruit when it's at its natural peak and zenith. Definitely wear an apron when making jam, especially if you're making strawberry or blueberry. And keep your hair tied back so that your hair doesn't get damp and hang in your face while you're furiously stirring!
I plan on making perhaps another batch of peach jam, another batch of blueberry and a batch of hot pepper jelly (this one I will give out to friends and family who I know love hot things!) In the fall, I came across a recipe for a glorious jam called Apple Pie in a Jar that I can't wait to make!
Yay for canning!! On a side note, I know I've mentioned the jam I made and talked about some of the ingredients...if you want the full recipe, simply buy a package of pectin. Inside is a recipe booklet with instructions for making all types of jam. I've bought different brands of pectin and they all have their own recipe packet! Check out my finished jam below!
 |
| The finished product! |
No comments:
Post a Comment