Kitchen Jam

Image by trekkyandy via Flickr

Cranberries have appeared several times in the Kitchen Jam cupboard – and they’ve already lent their holiday tang and color to two of the 12 jams of Christmas. But in selecting #12, the final jam of this series, I wanted to improv a simple riff on a wonderful recipe I discovered in Aimee’s Under the High Chair Virtual Jam Swap – a variation on Grapefruit Cranberry Marmalade which was submitted to the swap by Cheri of Kitchen Simplicity.

I’ve made Cheri’s original recipe – and it’s wonderful! But we’re for real at the wire now when it comes to holiday gifting; no time for the extra steps of zesting whole grapefruits and boiling the fruits for an hour to get them to the gel point. We (or at least I) need quick and easy. We need bottled juices that metamorphize into jam – and if they can be transformed into lower-sugar jam, even better!

I used Florida’s Natural brand 100% unsweetened ruby red grapefruit juice (the original version, not the one with added calcium.) This brand has no-added-anything. I also used some pureed (hello, food processor or blender) fresh cranberries. It’s a slightly different consistency than Cheri’s no-pectin, slow-cooked marmalade, but the clear and bright tastes are a beautifully rosy way to wake up a morning. Make sure to let your gift recipients know that this is an unprocessed jam that should be kept refrigerated and used quickly, or kept frozen for longer storage. Enjoy!

BTW, once again, no compensation was received from Florida’s Natural Brand for their mention in this blog. But hey, gang, if you’re interested in sponsoring me, by all means drop me an email – I have no problem accepting money from products I actually use.

Grapefruit-Cranberry Jam
3 1/2 cups refrigerated ruby red grapefruit juice
1 cup pureed fresh cranberries
3 cups sugar
1 box/package of low or no-sugar pectin
1 cup water

• Mix the sugar and the package of pectin thoroughly in a large saucepan.
• Stir in the cranberry puree and one cup of water, and mix thoroughly.
• Bring the mixture up to a boil on medium-high heat, stirring constantly.
• When the cranberry-sugar-pectin mixture reaches a boil that can’t be stirred down, boil for one minute. Remove from the heat.
• Add the grapefruit juice to the hot cranberry-sugar-pectin mixture. Stir for one minute until thoroughly mixed.
• Pour the mixture into prepared (sterilized, hot) jars or freezer containers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
• Allow to cool and set for 24 hours at room temperature. Check for gelling, label with a use-by date and store for up to three weeks in the refrigerator, or up to one year in the freezer.

Makes about 6 one-cup jars of jam.

Image via Wikipedia

I’d love to say this recipe is all mine – it’s so simple, it took me more time to type it up than to make it. But I can’t take any credit for inventing it; I just followed directions.

This jelly comes straight out of the insert in the package of Ball (R) No-Sugar Needed Pectin. I didn’t even juice whole pomegranates (which is quite the process) to get the raw juice for this jelly; I used POM bottled juice from the grocery store. One bottle of unsweetened 100% pomegranate juice, some lemon juice, 3/4 cup of sugar per cup of juice, 1 box of low sugar pectin – mix, boil, pour into containers and serve, can or freeze. It really is that simple. Enjoy!

BTW – full disclosure – neither POM nor Ball nor Sure-Jell/Kraft Foods have contributed in any way to the sponsorship of this post or my blog. But hey, folks at POM, Ball and Kraft, I’m sure open to the idea. Call me, or drop me an email. When it comes to jamming, I can (sometimes) be bought!

Pomegranate Jelly
1 box Ball (R) low or no-sugar pectin
3 cups sugar
4 cups pomegranate juice (100% juice, unsweetened)
2 tablespoons lemon juice

• Prepare the jars (sterilize, and then keep hot in either a pan of hot water, your dishwasher after the hot rinse cycle, or your oven set at around 200 degrees F.
• In a large saucepot, combine pectin with pomegranate and lemon juices and bring to a full boil. This jelly foams up and the bubbling doubles its volume, so use a large pot even if the amount of juice in the pan seems very shallow.
• Add sugar and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat, and skim off the foam with large metal spoon.
• Pour the jam into hot sterilized jars, cover with lids and rings.
• Process jars in a hot-water bath for 5 minutes according to the directions for hot-water-bath canning from the USDA.

Makes 5-6 one-cup jars of jam.