Kitchen Jam

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ORANGE JUICE JELLY *

2 (6 oz.) cans frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
2 1/2 c. water
4 1/2 c. sugar
1 pkg. powdered pectin

Directions:

• Thoroughly mix orange juice concentrate with water.
• Combine juice mixture and pectin in a large non-reactive saucepan.
• Stir constantly over high heat until bubbles form around edge.
• When bubbles form and can’t be stirred away, sdd sugar all at once.
• Bring to full rolling boil and boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat; skim off any foam that has formed.
• Fill sterilized jars leaving about 1/2 inch headspace. Put tops on jars and screw band on firmly.
• Process in boiling water bath 5 minutes (add 1 minute for over 5000 feet).

Makes 6 eight-ounce jars, approximately 6 cups of jam.

VARIATIONS:
Tangerine Jelly: substitute frozen tangerine juice concentrate for orange.
Pineapple Jelly: substitute frozen pineapple juice concentrate for orange.

* inspired by a recipe found at Cooks.com

Image via Wikipedia

No, it’s not a medieval torture implement – it’s the means by which we get the nectar of fall, something you can easily find by the quart, half and full gallons in your local supermarket. Get organic, if possible, unsweetened and check the label to be sure that nothing’s been added to your fresh cider except possibly some potassium sorbate or ascorbic acid to preserve freshness. And then pick up a half-gallon for jelly. You’ll need six cups, and you’ll have some leftover for a nice mug of hot spiced cider when you’re done!

APPLE CIDER JELLY

6 cups apple cider
4 cups sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 (1 ¾ ounce) box powdered pectin (Sure-Jell or Ball)

• In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 cup of the sugar and the powdered pectin. Set aside.
• Pour the apple cider into a cooking pot. Add the pectin/sugar mixture to juice in the cooking pot. Stir vigorously and well.
• Bring mixture to full rolling boil stirring constantly. Stir in remaining sugar and the cinnamon.
• Return to full rolling boil and boil for one-minute, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat. Skim off any foam.
• Ladle into sterilized jars to within 1/8 inch of tops.
• Seal and process five-minutes in boiling water bath.

Makes 7 – 8 cups of jam (8oz. jam jars)

The first recipe is Cranberry Orange Jam, which I published in November. It’s an easy four-ingredient jam (no added pectin, lower sugar) which takes only a half-hour of stovetop cooking and is suitable for hot-water-bath canning, freezing or immediate eating. Enjoy!

Cranberry-Orange Jam

3 cups fresh or frozen whole cranberries (about one 12 oz. bag)
1 1/2 cups orange juice (I juiced five large blood oranges; you can also include regular orange juice)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

• In a saucepan, mix together the orange juice, brown sugar and ginger. Heat the mixture, and when the sugar begins to dissolve, stir in the cranberries.
• Cook the cranberries until they pop open, stirring over medium heat to prevent scorching. Add more orange juice or water if the mixture thickens too quickly. Cook for 15-20 minutes on medium, or until the berries break down.
• Put the berries through a food grinder or food mill to create a puree and separate out the cranberry skins. If you don’t have a food mill, pulse the mixture in a blender and then push the fruit puree through a sieve or colandar to catch (most of) the skins.

Once pureed, this makes about three cups of jam. Either process in a hot water bath according to USDA recommendations, freeze or keep in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 weeks.

Image by campbelj45ca via Flickr

As I write this, it’s Sunday evening, December 13 – only 12 full days left until Christmas morning. If you celebrate Hanukkah, you’re already half-way through the holiday. If you celebrate Kwanzaa, you’ve got 13 full days left until the holiday begins on December 26. Bottom line, if you were planning to make homemade holiday gifts, the time to start was yesterday – or maybe last week.

Unless, of course, you’d like to make some jam – and that’s where Kitchen Jam can help.

Jam, you say? In the middle of December? There’s no fresh fruit – I don’t have time – it’s too hard to make jam – maybe I should just go buy presents. Now, don’t get me wrong – buying presents is great if you have the time and the cash. But we’re running out of time, sports fans, and cash at this time of year is always in shorter supply than demand.

If, like me, you struggle to find unique gifts for people who don’t really need much of anything, and if, like me, you’re on a budget (both of money and time), then this might be the season to channel your inner homebody and make this a homemade holiday. If you’re not usually a kitchen magician, an afternoon or an evening making homemade jam won’t turn you into Martha Stewart – but these simple, easy recipes *will* impress your family and friends!

In under an hour, you can prepare a simple freezer jam using bottled juice or frozen fruit that will be ready for gift-giving the next day! A home-canned or preserved jam (hot-water-bath canning) will take about two hours of prep work, including cleanup – and it will be ready to tie up with ribbons as soon as it’s cooled. Oh – and that gift-wrapping chore? If you’ve got a roll of ribbon and some name tags, the wrap will be a snap.

As for the budget – for under $3/jar (or less, maybe *much* less, depending on stores in your area) one batch of jam or jelly will produce 6-12 gifts that sparkle with your personal touch – gifts guaranteed to be different from anything else your giftees receive this year (unless you share this blog with everyone you know.) If you’re game to bring a little more personality and a lot less same-old-same-old to your 2009 holidays, try one of these jams. I promise, you’ll never think of holiday gifts the same way again.

And I promise you won’t need to pick up a department store full of specialty equipment. All you’ll need to bring some jam to your holiday are:

• 4-6 quart pot with a non-reactive interior cooking surface*
• glass measuring cup
• a long-handled stirring spoon
• measuring spoons
• a potato masher
• a ladle
• containers in which to store or can your jam (plastic freezer containers, 4 or 8 oz. glass canning jars with lids)

* Use stainless steel, enamel, enameled cast-iron, even non-stick surfaced pans. Avoid plain untreated aluminum; it’s reactive and can turn the taste and/or color of your jam(s).

To can your jams and jellies by the hot-water bath method, you’ll need a canning pot with a rack. Don’t have one? Don’t worry – an 8qt or larger pasta pot with a colander insert will work just fine.
Optional (nice to have, not critical):

• chopper-blender-processor to make quicker work of mashing up whole fruit
• wide-mouth, wide-bottomed funnel to keep things neat while filling containers
• jar lifter if you plan to hot-water-bath can your jams
• cooling rack to elevate the filled hot containers a bit to help them cool more quickly

Over the next week, I’ll be posting recipes for jams and jellies made from fall-season fresh fruit, frozen fruit and bottled juices – each full of bright holiday flavors. Most use packaged pectin, but a couple (pear butter, cranberry orange jam) have enough natural pectin to gel on their own. All are simple enough for even first-time jam makers, and special enough to present as gifts. Look for recipes for:

(roasted) APPLE-PUMPKIN BUTTER
APPLE CIDER JELLY
BANANAS FOSTER JAM
CHERRY-APPLE JAM
CRANBERRY ORANGE JAM
GRAPE JELLY
RED GRAPEFRUIT CRANBERRY JAM (lower sugar)
MOJITO JALAPENO JELLY
ORANGE JUICE JELLY (plus tangerine & pineapple variations)
PEACH FREEZER JAM (plus strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, blueberry & mango variations)
(crockpot) PEAR BUTTER
POMENGRANATE JELLY (lower sugar)

As a blog-warming gift from me to all of you, I’ll also be launching an e-cookbook, “The 12 Jams of Christmas” – featuring complete preserving instructions for each jam and jelly, both a handy reference and terrific present for any home cook on your gift list. The ebook won’t be ready for holiday giving this year – but these jams can be!

Are you ready to make yourself a personalized home-made holiday? Let’s jam!

Moving blogs is a long process – but I’m finally all in.
The jams are out of their virtual packing boxes, the first badge is up.
The blog roll is still being rebuilt, and my December posts are all backed up waiting to be published. Posts should start getting back to normal (if improv is ever ‘normal’) sometime this weekend.
Welcome to the new neighborhood – hope you like Kitchen Jam’s new home!