Kitchen Jam

I’d set aside jars for strawberry balsamic jam, but I wanted to do the work Sunday afternoon, not Saturday night. Enter one of my favorite kitchen tools — the zip-top plastic bag – and a great technique called maceration. Maceration extracts the juices from ripening fruit while ‘holding’ it until you actually have time to use it. For this maceration, a bit of sugar is all I used, but alcohol or flavored liqueur certainly wouldn’t hurt!

• Wash, hull and quarter the berries. Layer them in a gallon zip-top bag with 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) of granulated sugar. Refrigerate to allow the berries to macerate in the sugar for up to 24** hours.
• Crush the strawberries and juice, one layer at a time, in a large mixing bowl. (I like to use my Pyrex(R) 2-qt. measuring cup/bowl for this job.) You can also press the berries through a food mill to remove some of the seeds, and create a finer pulp for the jam.
• Mix the balsamic vinegar into the berries, and add water if needed to measure at least 4 cups of berries and juice.
• Prepare your containers and lids by washing them in warm, soapy water; rinse and hold them in boiling water until ready to fill. If you have a dishwasher, you can prepare containers and hold them on the ‘dry’ cycle while you cook the sugar and pectin.
• Mix together the sugar, granulated pectin and water in a 2qt. saucepain. Using medium-heat and stirring constantly to prevent scorching, bring the mixture to a boil that can’t be stirred down.
• Boil 1 minutes; remove the sugar-pectin mixture from heat and stir immediately into the strawberries and juice. Stir for 1 minute, or until the sugar-pectin mixture is dissolved into the berries and juice.
• Ladle the jam into clean, prepared containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace if you intend to freeze the jam.

* If you use a different type of pectin, follow the general directions for strawberry freezer jam on the brand that you use.

** The 24-hour ‘resting’ period is flexible. If you are processing your jam, you can skip it. If it’s very humid on jam-making day, refrigerate as soon as the jam cools.

To freeze: Cap the containers and allow them to set for 24 hours at room temperature to jell. Confirm the set and freeze, or refrigerate and use within 3 weeks.

To process: Cap the containers and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath, according to the directions from the USDA Canning and Preserving Guide.

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2009 NYS Fair Jam & Canning Winners

If you look hard at this picture of all canned food and jam entries which won 1sts, 2nds, 3rds, or honorable mention ribbons, you’ll see a 4-oz. jam jar with a white plastic cap and a red ribbon in the upper left corner of the display. That’s my Apricot Chipotle Jam, which took second place in this year’s New York State Fair Culinary Competition, Freezer Jam category. The bright green rosette in the top left corner is on Kathy Wood’s 1st-place, Canned Foods section-winning jar of Red Pepper Relish. Blue = 1st place, red = second, white = 3rd, and the yellow ribbons are awarded to NYS Fair entries which earn an Honorable Mention.

Second place isn’t a big cash prize (but it’s $5 more than I had yesterday!) My jam earned 97 points: 38/40 for taste, 29/30 for originality and 30/30 for appearance. The judges commented that my jam was ‘Very spicy & hot but very good, nice texture & appearance.’ Helen Lyon’s beautiful 1st-place Apricot Freezer Jam earned 98/100 points (and I’ll try to get that recipe!) All of the canning, jamming and preserving prize winners are on honor display for the entire 12 days of the fair in the showcase corner of the Art & Home Center at the Fairgrounds, where the culinary judging takes place every day.

Come by and visit–and be sure to pick up your copies of free recipes from class and competition sponsors, and a copy of last year’s grand prize winning entries!

New York State Fair (unofficial) Results: Culinary, Canned Foods
Thursday, August 27, 2009 – Class First Prize & *Section Winners

Chili Sauce: Kathy Wood
Vegetable Relish: Kathy Wood *
Chutney: Geri Bilotti
Dill Pickles: James Kluga
Sweet Pickles: John Gross
Canned or Pickled Fruit: Janet Bender
Canned or Pickled Vegetables: Mary Jane Kovachi
Canned Fruit or Vegetable Juice: no entry

New York State Fair (unofficial) Results: Culinary, Jams & Jellies

Friday, August 28, 2009 – Class First Prize & *Section Winners
Sweet Jelly: Yvonne Bakowski
Savory Jelly: Helen Lyons *
Jam or Marmalade: Rosemary Tomasetti
Preserves: no winner
Freezer Jam: Joan Archambeau (Apricot)

* Kathy Wood’s winning entry – Red Pepper Relish – won the Canned Foods Section. Helen Lyon’s winning entry – Flashy Red Onion Jelly - won the Jam & Jelly Section. Both Kathy and Helen will compete again on Labor Day in the New York State Fair Culinary competition section winners cook-off, where Kathy’s relish and Helen’s jelly will be judged against section winners from the other days of culinary judging.

And if I can get those prize-winning recipes, then with Kathy and Helen’s permissions I’ll share them here. Congratulations to everyone who entered and to those who took home a ribbon!

Most people who are bringing jam to the New York State Fair jam competitions today (yes, toDAY) probably made their jams days ago. I’d certainly planned to make mine earlier than 2 a.m. the day the entry was due, but it didn’t quite work out that way.

It was humid last weekend. If you make jam in humid weather, you need to either eat it right away, or freeze it right away — if you don’t , it may mold. Tuesday night I went out to dinner with my cousin and her daughter, who came into town so my younger cousin could start her freshman year at Syracuse University. Wednesday night, I came home from work and crashed, slept straight through ’til morning. Thursday when I got home from work, the old dog had a rough evening and needed a quick bath.

So it’s 2 a.m. Friday morning, and I just finished the jam that is due at the fair for culinary competition at 8:15 a.m.. I am not a morning person, but I think this freezer jam will wake up everyone who tastes it.

Because I was 24 hours short on time, I needed to modify the original recipe for peach jam I found on the back of the Ball Simple Creations (R) No Cook Freezer Jam Pectin. I’d already decided to use apricots instead of peaching (stone fruits like peaches, apricots and plums can be substituted for each other.) But apricots can take a bit longer to set in jams, sometimes as long as 24 hours. That meant I had to use a bit of kitchen magic: if you bring them to a slow boil and hold them there for about five minutes, apricots will jell more quickly. So while I prepared the other ingredients and washed containers, I brought my crushed apricots and juice to a slow boil.

The recipe called for lemon juice; I also added lemon zest and grated ginger root to increase the jam’s bright citrus-y flavor (and sing harmony with the heat of the chipotle pepper puree.) I ran out of white granulated sugar, so used 1/4 cup of dark brown sugar to make up the correct amount — this will darken jam, so use it sparingly with light colored fruits. And for a little kick in the jam, I stirred in a tablespoon of finely pureed chipotle peppers. Fingers crossed that my improvisation of one jam from another wows the freezer jam judges this morning!

Apricot Chipotle Freezer Jam

(makes 3 1/2 cups, or seven 4-oz. jelly jars)

2 lbs. apricots, pitted and quartered (about 3 cups, crushed)
1 1/4 cups white granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest
1 /2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1 tablespoon pureed chipotle pepper*
1 package no-cook freezer jam pectin (I used Ball Simple Creations (R))

• Pit the apricots, quarter them and crush in a food mill or processor until you have a slightly chunky puree.
• Bring the crushed apricots slowly to a boil over medium heat.
• While the apricots come to a boil, stir the sugars, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger and pureed chipotle pepper together.
• When the apricots come to a boil that can’t be stirred down, remove from the heat and stir them into the sugar mixture until well-blended. Let stand 10 minutes.
• While the apricot and sugar mixture is standing, prepare the containers and their lids. Wash them in hot soapy water, rinse them and dry thoroughly.
• After 10 minutes, stir the no-cook freezer jam pectin into the fruit-sugar mixture and stir until the pectin is dissolved. Stir continuously for three minutes.
• Ladle the jam into the prepared containers (suitable for freezing), leaving about 1/2 inch head-space in each jar.
• Let jam stand in containers for 30 minutes. Confirm that the jam has set, and then cap the containers. Jam can be frozen for up to 1 year, or refrigerate and use within 3 weeks.

Makes about 3 1/2 cups jam, enough to fill seven 4-oz. jam jars.

* Chipotle puree can be very spicy. You may want to stir it into the sugar mixture 1 teaspoon at a time, or to your taste.

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But wait, Pat – I’ve never made jam in my life. I don’t have a water-bath canner. I don’t have the time or space to make dozens of jars of jam. It might taste great but I’ll have to spend a fortune gearing up for a couple jars.

Whoa, slow down – jam is slow food! No experience? Jamming is easy. No canner? No problem; for freezer jams, you may only need to boil a couple cups of water with the pectin — with some recipes, you won’t even need to do that. No space or no time? Scale down – cut the recipe in half, and use smaller or larger jars than called for in the recipe to store your bounty.

I confess, as a kid I hated the kind of strawberry jam that came out of the enormous jars sold at the IGA. But one year, my mom decided we should pick-our-own strawberries. We had a big chest freezer that had plenty of room, and mom made our first batch of homemade no-cook strawberry freezer jam. I became a strawberry jam devotee that summer, and every summer after.

No-cook freezer jams are some of the simplest jams, requiring only the correct amount of prepared fruit, sugar, acid, liquid or powdered pectin and a few minutes of fruit preparation (depending on the type of fruit.) Strawberries need only washing, hulling, and crushing – they’re pretty low-effort. Other berries which don’t require hulling are even lower-effort. Stone fruits like peaches and nectarines do require peeling and pitting and grinding or chopping in the food processor, which takes a bit longer — but it’s still only half the time a cooked jam takes to prepare and process. Equipment is equally minimal: chances are you already own most of the things you’ll need.

• large non-reactive fruit prep bowl (glass, stainless steel or enameled)
• measuring cup (for the sugar)
  
• potato masher
• long-handled stirring spoon (I like wooden and stainless steel spoons)
• ladle (see below for a way you can skip this…)
  
• funnel (only needed if you’re using jars; skip it if you’re using square freezer containers)
  
• freezer containers

That’s right – although you can use canning jars labeled “Safe for Freezing,” and special plastic freezer jam jars, any container sold at the Dollar Store and labeled suitable for freezer use will work just fine. I have even put freezer jam into plastic zip-top freezer bags (they stored flat in the freezer, but it was too hard to get the thawed goodness out!) Every freezer container that seals airtight is fair game. My favorite fruit prep bowl is an 8-cup glass Pyrex(R) mixing cup/bowl with a pour spout. Amounts are graded on the side of the bowl, so I know exactly how much mashed fruit I have. The pour spout means I can neatly fill my freezer containers without a ladle (one less thing to wash!)

Whether you use liquid or powdered commercial pectin, all no-cook freezer jams start with two basic steps:

1. wash and prepare fruit (hull, peel, slice)
2. crush fruit with the masher or grind it finely with a food processor or food grinder, and measure it into the large mixing bowl

At this point, the next step depends on the type of pectin. Liquid pectins usually direct you to stir them directly into the fruit and let the mixture sit for a few minutes. Some powdred pectins direct you to mix the pectin into a small amount of water, bring the water to the boil, and then stir the water-pectin mixture into the fruit. Some of the newer pectins designed specifically for freezer jams (such as Ball Simple Creations (R) Freezer Jam Pectin) direct you to mix the package of pectin with the specified amount of sugar, stir it into the mashed or crushed fruit until all crystals are dissolved, and ladle into containers to freeze. Follow the directions for the pectin product that you’re using.

Most freezer jams are soft-set jams which need time to fully jell. While they’re jelling they still taste terrific, but all need some time at room temperature to come to full texture before you freeze them.

Where lemon juice is called for in no-cook recipes, you can use bottled lemon juice (which has a higher and more consistent acidity level than fresh.) More acied is usually a good thing in jam.

No freezer space? Still no problem! Although they’re called ‘freezer’ jams, any jam can be safely kept in the refrigerator after it’s made — just use it up within three weeks. Cut your recipe so that it only makes 3 pints (6 cups.) After you fill the three pint containers, keep one in the refrigerator, one in the freezer for later, and give one to a friend or neighbor. They’ll think you fussed. You’ll know how simple it really was. Or make one large container for the fridge and four smaller cup-size containers to squeeze in your ‘fridge.

The only problem with my recipes for freezer jam is that they don’t include the best steps: Stand back; admire your work; taste; enjoy!

———-

No-cook Berry Freezer Jam

4 c. crushed berries (about 2 quarts) *
8 c. sugar
2 80-ml pouches Certo ® (liquid pectin)
4 tbsp. lemon juice (bottled, not fresh)

• Mix fruit and sugar together and let stand for 10 minutes.
• While fruit mixture is standing (macerating), mix lemon juice and pectin together, and then stir into fruit mixture until sugar crystals are dissolved.
• Fill 5 pint (16 oz) freezer containers wihin ½ inch of top.
• Cover and let the jam stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Freeze, or refrigerate and use within three weeks. Makes 5 pints.

(half-recipe: 2 cups (1 qt.) crushed berries, 4c. sugar, 1 pouch Certo (R), 2 T. lemon juice: makes 2 ½ pints, or 5 8-oz. freezer containers.)

* strawberries, raspberries & other seeded berries, and blueberries all work well in this recipe

———-

No-cook Peach* Freezer Jam

1 pkg. (1 5/8 oz.) Ball Simple Creations(R) no-cook freezer jam pectin (or equivalent)

1 ½ c. granulated sugar

3 ½ c. crushed fresh peaches (peeled, pitted & mashed)

• Stir sugar and contents of pectin pkg. into a bowl; blend well.
• Add crushed peaches to sugar/pectin mixture and stir for 3 minutes.
• Ladle jam into clean plastic or glass freezer containers.
• Twist on container lids and let stand about 30 minutes at room temperature, or until thickened.
• Refrigerate up to 3 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 year.

This recipe also works with plums, nectarines and apricots; use 4 c. crushed fruit (about 2 lbs. of whole fruit) to 1 ½ c. granulated sugar and 1 pkg. powdered pectin.

* about 12 medium peaches.

Before powdered and liquified pectin, jam makers slow-cooked jam long enough for it to reach a jellying point (8-10 degrees above the temperature where water would boil.) At sea level, water boils at 212 degrees F. and the jellying point of liquids is around 220 degrees F.

Sugars and sweet syrups along with a small amount of acid in each recipe helped the jellying process and helped preserve the jams. But some fruits naturally contain more pectin than others (apples, crabapples, gooseberries, some varieties of plums, high-bush cranberries.) Underripe fruits always contain more pectin than their fully-ripe versions.

Often, slow-cooked jams combine a high pectin fruit with a lower pectin fruit to firm up the jam. Cranberries, one of my favorite fruits, contain so much natural pectin that most will jell on their own when boiled without the addition of extra sugar. My pear honey recipe, inspired by a ‘Reba’s Pear Honey’ variation originally printed in the Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook uses a small amount of fresh (or frozen) whole cranberries and their natural pectin to make a firmer spread. Enjoy!

Pear-Orange Honey with Cranberries

4 cup peeled and finely chopped pears

1 small orange, finely chopped (fruit, juice and peel – about 2/3 cup)

2/3 cup of whole washed and stemmed cranberries (about ½ cup finely chopped)

¼ teaspoon kosher or coarse salt

• Using a food mill* or processor with a coarse blade, finely chop or grind the peeled pears and the orange together.
• Put the fruit in a heavy saucepan along with the sugar and salt and cook slowly over medium heat, stirring constantly until the sugar dissolves.
• Once the sugar is dissolved, cook at a slow boil about 15 minutes or until fruits in mixture are clear and the thick syrup from their juices reaches the jellying point.
• Pour into hot, sterilized jars and process for 10 minutes in a boiling water bath canner according to USDA recommendations.
• Makes 2 ½ pints (five 8-oz jars) of fruit honey

1950s Foley food mill

* To finely chop the fruits, you can use the modern day food-processor, or a farm-kitchen standard, the food mill. Mirro/Foley now make a stainless steel version of the traditional red-handled Foley Food Mill which is available in many hardware stores for $30-35.