Kitchen Jam

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I decided to make pear butter (and several kinds of pear jams) when this year’s pear harvest flooded the farmer stands and supermarkets. This was inspired by a recipe from Elise Bauer at Simply Recipes which I found earlier this summer. Pears, right now, are $1/pound. And pear butter made in the crockpot is 15 minutes of work, and 6-8 hours of set-it-forget-it time…perfect for holiday jams!

A friend suggested roasting the pears first – a variation I haven’t yet tried. However, any process that softens the pears will work, and roasting would definitely deepen the pear flavors.

I changed up Elise’s spices; her original recipe uses star anise, ginger, nutmeg and cardomem. For me, the simplicity of vanilla, ginger and pears just works better – but if you prefer the more intense spices of apple butter (cinnamon, ginger, and cloves) they work well, too. If you don’t have a food mill, a colander and the back of a metal spoon to press the pears into puree will also work. You could also peel the pears, which will save work straining out the bits that don’t make a good butter – but the peels help add pectin and consistency (and flavor) to the finished butter. If you don’t have a crockpot, you can cook the puree into butter on the stovetop, on very low heat in a heavy pan; you’ll need to stir it often to make sure it doesn’t burn or stick. The crockpot does eliminate that problem. Enjoy!

(crockpot) PEAR BUTTER
3 lbs chopped Bartlett pears
1 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup lemon juice
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon lemon zest
½ (about 3 inches) of fresh vanilla bean, whole

• Chop and core the pears, removing the bruised parts. No need to peel them, unless you don’t have a food mill and want easier straining later.
• Put chopped pears, ginger and piece of vanilla bean into a large pot with the water and lemon juice.
• Bring the pears to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer 25-30 minutes or until the pears are completely soft.
• Remove from the heat. Remove the vanilla bean from the puree and set aside.
• Put the pears and liquid through a food mill, catching the puree in large measuring bowl (I like to use my Pyrex® 8-cup measuring cup/bowl.)
• Discard the peels and unusable bits, and measure the puree. You should have approximately five cups of puree.
• For every cup of pear purée, stir in 1/2 cup of sugar, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.
• Split and scrape the vanilla bean to remove the seeds. Add the vanilla bean seeds to the pear puree, stirring well.
• Pour the mixture into a 3-4 qt. crockpot. Set the crockpot to medium and let the mixture cook down overnight or between six and seven hours. The cooked pear puree should be very thick.
• Test for ‘butter’ consistency by putting about a teaspoon of the mixture onto a chilled plate; if it’s not runny, it’s done. If it’s runny, cook for another hour or two and repeat the test.
• Place the hot pear butter into hot sterilized canning jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace.
• Process in a hot-water-bath according to the USDA instructions: 10 minutes for one-cup jars.

Makes 6 to 8 half-pint jars.

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Okay, I couldn’t resist – I decided to try this recipe for Cherry Apple Jam, which uses frozen cherries. This recipe is slightly different from the basic Frozen Fruit Freezer Jam (see 12 Jams of Christmas #6) – and it’s a canned, processed jam. It’s a beautiful dark-red jam; I added almond extract to make the cherry flavor smile and the chopped apple helps the jam texture. Enjoy!

CHERRY APPLE JAM
1 16 oz pkg frozen unsweetened (pitted) tart cherries, thawed
1 medium tart apple, cored & finely chopped (about ¾ cup chopped)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 teaspoon almond extract
5 c. sugar
1 (3/4 oz.) pkg. powdered pectin

• Thaw the frozen cherries in a colander over a bowl, reserving the juice.
• Check the cherries for pits and finely chop them (you can use a food processor or blender.) Finely chop (but don’t peel) the apple (I use a Granny Smith or other tart apple.)
• Mix the chopped cherries, chopped apple, almond extract and reserved cherry juice together.
• Measure to make sure you have 3 cups of chopped fruit and juice. If you need more fruit, increase the amount of chopped apple.
• In an 8-10 qt saucepan, put the 3 cups of chopped fruit and juice.
• Add the lemon juice and pectin to the cherry-apple mixture and stire well.
• Bring the cherries, juices and pectin to a full rolling boil, stirring often.
• Boil hard for 1 minute.
• Remove the fruit mixture from the heat and quickly skim off any foam with a metal spoon.
• Ladle the jam into into hot jars, leaving 1/4″ headspace, and wipe the jar rims.
• Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes according to the directions for hot-water-bath canning from the USDA.

Makes about 5 one-cup or 10 half-cup jars of jam.

Making jam when fruit is fresh is a wonderful way to save the season, but it can be hot work. Peaches usually show up in central New York markets when the days are around 85 degrees and 100% humidity! Some years, I will freeze fruit slices or berries when they’re fresh, and make jam later in the fall after temperature and humidity have dropped and cut me some slack.

I didn’t freeze any fruit of my own this year, but the growers who supply frozen fruit to my local supermarkets did. Right now I can buy these fruits frozen without sugar: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, mango (!), and cherries — along with several variations of berry mixes. That means that a simple, no-canning-required freezer jam is only 15 mintues and my supermarket freezer case away, all year long.

Peaches are one of my favorite frozen-fruit jams, but this recipe will also work with an equal amount of thawed strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or mango puree. I haven’t tried it (yet) with cherries…that experiement is on my to-do list! The recipe started with frozen berries, and my peach and mango improvs are based directly on those instructions included in the inserts packed into years of Sure-Jell and Ball powdered pectin – check out the section with instructions for jams from frozen fruits, and let your imagination take over!

Since this is a freezer-refrigerator jam, make sure that you label the containers with a use-by date, and tell gift-ees to keep the jam either refrigerated, or frozen. Enjoy!

PEACH FREEZER JAM from frozen fruit *
3 c. frozen sliced peaches (or raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or blackberries)
1 1/2 c. 100% orange juice, unsweetened *
1/4 c. lemon juice
5 1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. powdered pectin

DIRECTIONS

• Thaw the peaches (or other fruit.)
• Blend or process the thawed fruit until pureed; you should have at least 2 cups of fruit puree.
• Pour the fruit puree into large, heat-proof bowl (I use my Pyrex(R) 8-cup measuring bowl.)
• Mix 3/4 cup of the orange (or other fruit) juice with the lemon juice, and stir into the fruit puree.
• Stir sugar into the fruit puree, mixing thoroughly (make sure no lumps remain.)
• Let the fruit puree stand for at least 10 minutes.
• While the puree-sugar mixture rests, combine in a 2qt or larger saucepan the remaining 3/4 cup of orange (or other fruit) juice and the powdered pectin.
• Bring the pectin-juice mixture to a boil, and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Stir the immediately into fruit mixture, and keep stirring for 3 minutes to be sure the pectin is well-distributed.
• Ladle the jam into sterilized freezer canning jars or containers, leaving 1/2 inch head space.
• Cover jars or containers with lids.
• Let the jams stand at room temperature 24 hours; check the gel.

Store the cooled jam in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks, or in your freezer for up to 1 year. Makes approximately 5 one-cup containers of jam.

* You can also use 1 ½ cups of 100% or blended, no-sugar added: pineapple, pineapple-orange or peach juice (mix and match the juices used with the fruit!)
This recipe also works with 3 cups of frozen unsweetened whole raspberries, strawberries, blueberries or blackberries, enough to make about 2 cups of pureed fruit before adding fruit juice.

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Earlier this year, I found myself with five pounds of fresh limes. I checked out (and saved) a number or recipes. I even ran a poll for suggestions about which recipe to make – and yes, I made Lime Curd. But I saved this recipe (originally posted at mixingbow.com by slfish) because its grown-up take on lime jam seemed perfect for holiday giving.

When I made it, I used unflavored vodka. The mint and fresh jalapenos turn the jam a beautiful pale green color that personifies a mohito – so I eliminated the original recipe’s optional green food coloring. Mohito Pepper Jelly isn’t a breakfast jam (unless you like to start your day with a kick…) but it does taste terrific spread over cream cheese, used as an appetizer dip, or combined with pepper jack on a cheese tray. Enjoy!

Mohito Pepper Jelly
3 c bottled limeade (use Simply Limeade(R) or Paul Newman’s Limeade)
1/2 c fresh mint leaves
6 fresh jalapeno peppers
1/4 c lime juice (two fresh limes)
1 tsp fresh lime zest
1 box powdered pectinm.
4 c sugar
1 1/4 c lime vodka (unflavored vodka will also work)

Directions:

• Remove the stems from the fresh jalapenos, finely chop them.
• Layer 1 c limeade, mint leaves and chopped jalapenos in the bowl or cup of an immersion blender and puree until smooth (can also use a regular blender or food processor.)
• In a large sauce pan combine puree, 2 more cups limeade, lime juice, lime zest and powdered pectin.
• Bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally.
• When the lime mixture reaches a continuous boil, stir in sugar until dissolved.
• Stirring constantly, bring the mixture back to a rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute.
• Remove from heat. When the jam pot is off the heat, stir in the vodka.
• Skim any foam from the top of the jam.
• Laddle into clean sterilized jars with two-piece caps.
• Process according to USDA hot-water-bath canning guidelines, in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.
• Remove the jars to a rack to cool. It may take up to 24 hours for the jam to gel.

Makes about 6 cups of jam (6 half-pint jars.)

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When I want peanut butter and jelly, I want fresh ground, no-sugar-added peanut butter slathered with good old fashioned grape jelly. But once I’d made my own grape jelly from this easy recipe inspired by one found in the insert of the Sure-Jell Low-Sugar pectin box, I could never look at a jar of Welch’s grape jelly with the same tastebuds.

Use the freshest, no-sugar-added bottled grape juice you can find – organic if possible. I prefer the fruity taste of Concord grape juice, but I’d like to try this with a white grape juice, too. But for the traditional sapphire-dark purple of concord grape jelly, start with concord grape juice.

Easy Grape Jelly
3 cups bottled no-sugar-added grape juice
1 package powdered low or no-sugar pectin
4 cups sugar

Directions:

• Combine grape juice and pectin in a large saucepan.
• Bring the juice mixture to a rolling boil.
• Stir in the sugar until it dissolves and return the jelly mixture to a rolling boil.
• Boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Remove from the heat and skim any foam that rises to the surface.
• Ladle hot jelly into hot, sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Process 5 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Makes 5 half-pints (5 cups)