Jelly Day!

 

 

When I lived in the country, my husband built me a large pantry full of shelves, particularly to store the many canning jars accumulated over the summer season. There was a great sense of accomplishment, when during the fall months I could look upon the hours of labor, knowing there were months of food ready for eating! It was also a pretty site, all the colored jars lined up sparkling with goodness.

 

I couldn't resist doing a little bit of canning this week, so I chose some easy jam recipes to get my feet wet again. Here are the two I tried. One turned out bright red (no added food coloring needed), and the other: a pretty orange.

 

Orange Plum Jam

5 cups     finely chopped pitted plums

2 tbsp      grated orange zest

1              package regular powerdered fruit pectin

5 1/2        granulated sugar

1/4 cup    orange-flavored liqueur

 

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids: fill water bath canner up with enough water to cover jars and heat water just till simmering. Leave lids and jars in water till ready to use.

2. In large, deep stainless steel saucepan, combine plums and orange zest. Whisk in pectin until dissolved. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Add sugar all at once and return to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Immediately stir in orange-flavored liqueur, if using. Remove from heat and skim off foam.

3. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbes and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot jam. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

4. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.   

 

 

Orange-Mint Jam

1 cup fresh spearmint leaves, loosely packed

4 cups sugar

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 packet of liquid pectin

 

Bring juice to a boil then pour over mint. Steep for 20-30 minutes.

Strain, pressing mint leaves.

Return the juice mixture to saucepan and add sugar and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil and boil till sugar dissoves.

Stir in pectin and return to a rolling boil. Stir for 1 minute and remove from heat.

Skim off foam and pour into 4 prepared pint jars.

Put jars in water bath canner and cover with water. Bring to a boil and boil for  minutes.

 

 

Enjoy!

OK, I don't sweat the sugar content in jam. When I use it on biscuits, I use only a teaspoon. There is the old fashioned way of making jams and jellies without pectin and little sugar, but the yields are small and you can spend over an hour stiring over a hot pot. Use evaporated cane sugar, it provides a bit more minerals, and no matter what your recipe says, don't use food coloring!