Homemade jams and jellies are enjoying a new popularity in the past few years, as people try to stretch their food budgets and eat more local, natural foods.
With food prices rising and paychecks decreasing, gardening and home canning have both made a comeback.
But food safety guidelines have been updated from the days when Grandma used paraffin wax as a sealer and didn't bother with water-bath processing.
To make sure you don't "put up" a nice case of botulism, cooks have two options: Follow the recipes and directions in a reputable guide, such as the USDA's Extension Service, the Ball Blue Book of Preserving, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, online at www.uga.edu/nchfp or www.freshpreserving.com, in order to make preserves that are shelf-stable.
The other option is to make spreads that only need freezing or refrigeration.
The refrigeration route is the one taken by Pamela Bennett, author of "Jams & Jellies in Less Than 30 Minutes" (Gibbs Smith, $16.99) www.amazon.com/Jams-Jellies-Less-Than-Minutes/dp/1423618718.
The Provo author shares 55 easy-to-make spreads for parties, holiday meals, gift-giving and everyday eating. Her jams and jellies don't require water-bath processing, or special lids, because they are stored in the freezer or refrigerator.
"I am trying to get this away from the idea of your grandma having to work in the kitchen all day," Bennett said in a telephone interview. "People are wanting to tackle new things in the kitchen, but they don't have a lot of time. I want them to get over the notion that this is difficult, because it's easy."
Bennett grew up in North Carolina, where she learned about jams and jellies from her mother.
"She had great recipes and I have been making them for years," she said. "I worked with them to take all that laborious process out. They are intended to be kept in the fridge or freezer, not for food storage purposes. So they are fresh-tasting and the colors are more vivacious."
Although standards such as No-Cook Strawberry Jam or Grape Jelly are great on a biscuit or slice of bread, many recipes can do double-duty as a dip, sauce or grilling glaze for meat.
"A lot of the recipes aren't what people normally think of as preserves," she said. To name a few: Onion Jam, Papaya Tropics and Jalapeno Jelly.
"I do what I call exotics. When you make it and serve it, people will ask, 'Where did you get this? I can't find anything like this is in the store.' Then you tell them, 'Oh, I made it myself.' "
Her recipes are small batches. "Each recipe makes only one, two, four jars, so it's enough to have one or two at the house and maybe one or two to give away," Bennett said. "They're really nice for bridal showers or brunches, or when you want to show off a little bit."
Gift jars should include instructions to refrigerate it and consume within two to three weeks.
"But you don't have to worry, because they will be gone within two or three days! People just love to eat them."
One unusual recipe is a Mock Raspberry Jam, made with chopped green tomatoes and raspberry-flavored gelatin.
"It tastes out of this world," she said. "You don't tell people what it is, because the brain is tricked to think that it's raspberry jam. They think the little tomato seeds are from raspberries. Every time I serve it, no one has ever guessed that it's made from tomatoes."
She said it's an old Southern recipe, born from necessity during the Great Depression. "The Southern cooks had lot of green tomatoes in their gardens but no raspberries. So they came up with this recipe so they could eat raspberry jam all year."
It's something to do with all those green tomatoes still on the vine when the frost hits, too.
Should you decide on the home-canning option, you will be among many others who are "putting up" their own jams and jellies.
Melanie Jewkes, assistant professor with Salt Lake County's USU Extension, said last summer she received a high volume of requests for home canning information. Since crops are ripening later this year due to the wet, cool spring, she expects more calls once the harvest season is underway.
"With people wanting to eat and grow local, they are canning more," she said. The Salt Lake Extension will schedule group classes at 801-468-3170.
Jarden Home Brands, which makes Ball canning jars and products, has seen an increased interest in jam and jelly making, according to Lauren Devine-Hager, the company's test kitchen scientist and editor of the "Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving."
"We've helped hundreds of first-time jam and jelly makers through FreshPerserving.com, Facebook and our toll-free help line," she said.
Some key steps for success:
1. Follow a tested recipe such those given on the pectin manufacturer's package, or a legitimate website or cookbook, such as FreshPreserving.com or the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
2. Measure ingredients exactly as stated in the recipe.
3. Use only the type of pectin as called for in the recipe. The different types of pectin are not interchangeable.
4. Cook the jam or jelly at a "rolling" boil for the full cooking time required.
5. Process in a water-bath canner, and adjust the processing time for your altitude.
In general, jams and jellies, or "preserves," are made from fruits, preserved with sugar, and jelled, or thickened. The "jelled" quality comes from a correct balance of fruit, acid, sugar and pectin.
Pectin is a natural substance in fruit that forms a gel when combined with the right amounts of acid and sugar. Apples, gooseberries and some plums and grapes usually contain enough natural pectin to form a gel, according to the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Other fruits, such as strawberries, cherries and blueberries, contain little pectin, and need to be combined with high-pectin fruit, or with a commercially made pectin product such as Sure-Jell, Certo Pectin or RealFruit Pectin.
Commercial pectin comes in liquid, powdered, no-cook (for freezer jam) and no-sugar-needed types. Make sure you're using the type of pectin specified in your recipe, or the jam may not set properly, advises Devine-Hager.
If you want to cut down on the amount of sugar, use a designated reduced-sugar or no-sugar pectin and follow the guidelines carefully, said Devine-Hager. If you simply reduce the sugar in a regular recipe, the jam won't set properly.
Also, pectin does not keep indefinitely, Bennett said. It can lose its potency after the "use by" date on the package, which affect the gelling quality.
Fruits have varying amounts of acidity; most recipes call for added lemon juice to aid in the preservation and gelling processes.
Sugar acts as a preservative by combining with pectin and the fruit's acid to bind the moisture and help keep microorganisms from growing. But mold can still grow, because it doesn't require much moisture. Even if you scrape mold off the top of a jar of jam, the mold spore can penetrate deeply into the jam or jelly and cause illness.
This is the reason for processing in a boiling water bath canner. The processing time depends on the recipe, altitude and size of jar.
This is a departure from the old method of packing the jam in jars while hot, then inverting them for the lid to seal as the jam cooled.
"It is essential to heat-process jam, jelly and other soft spreads in a boiling water canner to ensure all yeasts and molds that could cause spoilage are destroyed," said Devine-Hager. "We never recommend inverting a sealed jar. Jars should always be set upright to cool so the seal is not broken."
Without the water bath, "You may get the lid to seal, but in the water canner you are getting a vacuum seal, so the mold and yeast don't grow as easily," said Jewkes.
Most recipes are written for sea-level altitude, so you need to add more processing time if you live in a higher altitude. At higher altitudes, boiling temperatures are lower, so the products are under-processed if more time isn't added. For 3,000-6,000 elevations (typical of most of Utah) you should add 10 minutes to the time given in the recipe, according to the "Ball Blue Book of Preserving."
Also, using paraffin wax as a sealer has not been recommended for more than 50 years, said Devine-Hager. "Often jam and jelly spoils when air enters the product from trapped air bubbles in the paraffin wax, or when the seal shrinks away from the side of the jar."
One reason people like to do freezer or refrigerator jam is that the colors are more bright and vibrant than the canned version.
"It is natural for fruit to change color when exposed to air after peeling and chopping or when heated during cooking," said Devine-Hager. She recommended using Ball Fruit-Fresh Produce Protector to retain the color of apples, peaches, pears and apricots. Color retention is less noticeable when used for darker fruits and berries.
Valerie Phillips is the former Deseret News food editor. She blogs at www.chewandchat.blogspot.com.
Email: vphillips@desnews.com
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Mock Raspberry Jam
(Green Tomato Jelly)
(Refrigerator)
Southern Depression-era cooks longed for the taste of raspberries, but such delicacies were scarce. So they improvised.
5 cups finely chopped green tomatoes
4 cups sugar
6 ounces (2 small packages) raspberry Jell-O
Measure tomatoes into a large saucepan.
Add sugar and bring to a boil over medium heat; let cook for 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Skim foam from the top and discard.
Add the Jell-O and stir well so the mixture doesn't stick to the pan. Bring to a low boil and boil for 1 minute.
Pour into sterilized jars or plastic containers and cover tightly. Let cool before refrigerating.
Keeps in refrigerator for about 3 weeks. Makes 4-6 half-pint jars.
— "Jams and Jellies in 30 Minutes," by Pamela Bennett
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Guava Jelly
(Refrigerator)
This is delicious on banana bread, nut breads and drizzled over fresh fruits or ice cream.
1 can (12-ounce) Hawaii's Own Guava Raspberry frozen juice, undiluted
2 cups sugar
Juice of 1 small lime
1 package powdered pectin
In a medium saucepan, combine juice with sugar. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, then simmer until it reaches a syrupy consistency, about 5 minutes.
Add lime juice to the mixture and bring to a boil for an additional 1 minute.
Stir in the pectin and bring back to a boil for 1 minute more, stirring vigorously.
Pour into prepared jars or plastic containers and cover tightly. Cool before refrigerating.
Keeps for 2 weeks in the refrigerator. Makes 2-3 half-pint jars.
Note: Other brands of frozen or canned guava juice can be substituted.
— "Jams and Jellies in 30 Minutes,"by Pamela Bennett
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Pineapple-Carrot Jam
(Refrigerator)
This jam can also be used as a glaze when grilling.
1 can (20 ounces) crushed pineapple, with juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups grated carrots
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Bring all ingredients except lemon zest to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan.
Reduce heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until mixture is the consistency of applesauce.
Stir in lemon zest.
Pour into sterilized jars or containers and cover tightly.
Cool and refrigerate.
Will last up to 1 month in the refrigerator. Makes 2 half-pint jars.
— "Jams and Jellies in 30 Minutes,"
by Pamela Bennett
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Peach Jelly
(Water-bath canned)
31/2 cups prepared juice (about 11 medium peaches)
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 3-ounce pouches liquid pectin (such as Ball RealFruit)
1/2 teaspoons butter or margarine, optional
71/2 cups sugar
7 8-ounce half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands
1. Prepare peaches by removing pits and finely chopping them. Place in saucepan; add 11/2 cups water. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes. Place prepared peaches in dampened jelly bag or several layers of dampened cheesecloth. Let juice drip, undisturbed, for at least 2 hours or overnight. Note: Squeezing the jelly bag may cause jelly to be cloudy.
2. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside. Measure juice and other ingredients. If you need more juice, simply add water to fruit pulp and extract.
3. Combine prepared juice with lemon juice and sugar in a 6-or 8-quart saucepan. Add up to 1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine to reduce foaming, if desired. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring frequently.
4. Add pectin, immediately squeezing entire contents from pouches. Continue hard boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
5. Ladle hot jelly into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
6. Process jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude (20 minutes for most Utah elevations). Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed. Makes about 7 half-pints (8 ounces each).
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GINGER PEAR PRESERVES
(Water-bath canned)
Pears with lime and ginger root combine to make a delicately flavored preserve with an exotic island taste.
51/2 cups finely chopped cored peeled pears (about 8 medium)
Grated zest and juice of 3 limes
21/3 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger root
7 8-ounce half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands
1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2. Combine pears, lime zest and juice, sugar and ginger root in a large stainless steel saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and test gel. If preserves break from spoon in a sheet or flake, it is at the gel stage. Skim off foam. If your mixture has not reached the gel stage, return the pan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for an additional 5 minutes. Repeat gel stage test and cooking as needed.
3. Ladle hot preserves into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
4. Process jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude (20 minutes for most Utah elevations). Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when center is pressed. Makes about 7 8-ounce half-pints.
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LIGHT BERRY-CHERRY JAM
(Water-bath canned)
A deliciously fruity jam without sugar.
2 cups crushed strawberries (about 2 1-pound containers)
1 cup finely chopped sweet cherries (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup crushed blackberries (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup unsweetened white grape juice
3 tablespoons no-sugar needed pecting (such as Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin)
6 8-ounce half pint glass preserving jars with lids and bands
1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
2. Combine strawberries, cherries, blackberries and juice in a 6- to 8-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
3. Ladle hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center hot lid on jar. Apply band and adjust until fit is fingertip tight.
4. Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude (20 minutes for most Utah elevations). Remove jars and cool. Check for seal after 24 hours. Lids should not flex up and down when center is pressed. Makes about 6 8-ounce half pints.
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APRICOT JAM
(Water-bath canned)
This recipe doesn't require pectin.
2 quarts crushed and peeled apricots
1/4 cup lemon juice
6 cups sugar
Combine apricots and lemon juice in a large sauce pot. Add sugar, stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring slowly to a boil. Cook rapidly to gelling point. As mixture thickens, stir frequently to preserve sticking. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle hot jam into about 5 hot pint-size jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner (25 minutes at Wasatch Front altitude). Makes about 5 pints.
— "Ball Blue Book of Preserving"
Can-It-Forward Day webcast
On Aug. 13, those who are curious about canning can learn more about it on Can-It-Forward Day. Jarden Home Brands, makers of the Ball brand home canning products, has teamed up with Canning Across America, a group committed to reviving the art of "putting up" locally grown food.
"We are seeing a tremendous resurgence for the art of home canning," said Brenda Schmidt, brand manager for Fresh Preserving at Jarden Home Brands. "Interest in learning the craft has never been higher as consumers want to eat fresh, local foods year-round. Can-It-Forward Day is all about teaching a new generation the joys and benefits of fresh preserving."
Jarden Home Brands is also providing instructions for consumers to host their own in-home "canning parties." Online resources will provide simple instructions for getting started, including an illustrated "how to," a checklist of necessary items, recipes and money-saving coupons for canning supplies.
A free, live webcast hosted at FreshPreserving.com will feature a day of instructional canning videos as well as cooking demonstratons on Aug. 13, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. MST. Viewers will be able to ask questions and post comments in real time.
The event will film at Seattle's Pike Place Market .
Visit FreshPreserving.com for a full schedule of National Can-It-Forward Day demos and to register to view the webcast and host a home canning party.Other tips
Here are some more tips from Lauren Devine-Hager, Jarden Home Brands company's test kitchen scientist and editor of the "Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving":
Assemble all ingredients and equipment before you start cooking, to make sure you have everything you need.
Use an 8- or 10-quart saucepan when cooking jam or jelly. This size will allow the room needed to bring the recipe to a "rolling" boil.
A jar funnel aids in filling jars without making a mess!
A jar lifter is helpful when handling hot jars before and after processing.