How to Make Homemade JamJAM INGREDIENTS AND EQUIPMENT: * Fruit - preferably fresh, but frozen (without syrup works, too) * Pectin (it's a natural product, made from apples and available at grocery stores). * Jar funnel * Sugar - About 4 cups of dry, granulated (table) sugar. * Jar grabber (it's tremendously useful to put jars in the canner and take the hot jars out without scalding yourself!). * At least 1 large pot; I prefer 16 to 20 quart Teflon lined pots for easy cleanup. * Large spoons and ladles. * 1 Canner (a huge pot to sterilize the jars after filling). * Ball jars * Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They may only be used once.
* Rings - metal bands that secure the lids to the jars. They may be reused many times.
DirectionsThis following recipe shows you how to make either Strawberry or Strawberry - Raspberry - Blackberry Jam - also called Triple Berry, but you can use this recipe to make any type of jam. The yield from this recipe is about 8 eight-ounce jars (which is the same as 4 pints). STEP 1: Pick the berries! (or buy them already picked) It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better quality ones! As mentioned in the Ingredients section; you may use frozen berries (those without syrup or added sugar); which is especially useful if you want to make some jam in December to give away at Christmas! Jam can ONLY be made in rather small batches - about 6 cups at a time - like the directions on the pectin say, DO NOT increase the recipes or the jam won't "set" (jell, thicken). WHY? Alton Brown on the Food Channel says pectin can overcook easily and lose its thickening properties. It is easier and faster to get an even heat distribution in smaller batches. It takes about 8 cups of raw, unprepared berries per batch. For TRIPLE BERRY: I use 4 cups of mushed (slightly crushed) strawberries, 1 cup of raspberries and 1 cup of blackberries. For STRAWBERRY: you’ll need 6 cups of mushed strawberries. STEP 2: Wash the jars and lids Now's a good time to get the jars ready, so you won't be rushed later. The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sterilize" cycle, the water bath processing will sterilize them as well as the contents! If you don't have a dishwasher with a sterilize cycle, you can wash the containers in hot, soapy water and rinse, then sterilize the jars by boiling them 10 minutes, and keep the jars in hot water until they are used. Put the lids into a pan of hot, but not quite boiling water for 5 minutes, and use the magnetic "lid lifter wand" to pull them out. If using the dishwasher, leave the jars in the dishwasher on "heated dry" until you are ready to use them. Keeping them hot will prevent the jars from breaking when you fill them with the hot jam. STEP 3: Wash and hull the fruit! Wash the fruit in plain cold water. With strawberries you must remove the hulls. With other berries, just pick off any stems and leaves. STEP 4: Crush the fruit Then you just mash them up a bit - not completely crushed, but mostly. Most people seem to like large chunks of fruit but crushing them releases the natural pectin so it can thicken. You'll need about 6 cups, mashed up. If you want seedless jam, you may need to run the crushed berries through a Foley food mill. They cost about $30.
It works well for blackberries, not so well for raspberries, and no one tries to remove strawberry seeds (they're too small).
Depending upon which type of jam you're making (strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, apricot, peach, grape, etc.) you will need to use a different amount of sugar, jam and pectin. The precise measurements are found in each and every box of pectin sold. For most fruit; like berries, with the low sugar pectin, you'll need 4 cups of sugar. With regular pectin, about 7 cups of sugar. STEP 6: Mix the berries with the pectin and cook to a full boil Stir the pectin into the berries and put the mix in a big pot on the stove over medium to high heat (stir often enough to prevent burning). It should take about 5 to 10 minutes to get it to a full boil (the kind that can not be stirred away). Why use pectin? You may run into grandmotherly types who sniff "I never used pectin!" at you. Old fashioned ways are not always better nor healthier. Pectin, which occurs naturally in fruit, is what makes the jam "set" or thicken. The pectin you buy is just natural apple pectin, more concentrated. Using pectin dramatically reduces the cooking time, which helps to preserve the vitamins and flavor of the fruit, and uses much less added sugar. Another tip: use the no-sugar needed pectin. You can still add sugar to it and it cuts the amount of sugar you need from 7 cups per batch to 4 cups or less! And it tastes even better! On the other hand; I have never had success with the No-sugar pectin without adding ANY sugar. It always turned out runny and bland. You might want to try using the no-sugar recipe with a mixture of sugar and Splenda; sugar and white grape juice, or just white grape juice - that will cut down the sugar, but still preserve the flavor. Is your jam too runny? Pectin enables you to turn out perfectly set jam every time. Made from natural apples, there are also low-sugar pectins that allow you to reduce the sugar you add by almost half! STEP 7: Get the lids warming in hot (but not boiling) water Lids: put the lids into a pan of hot water for at least several minutes; to soften up the gummed surface and clean the lids. STEP 8: Add the remaining sugar and bring to a boil again for 1 minute When the berry-pectin mix has reached a full boil, add the rest of the sugar (about 4 cups of sugar per 6 cup batch of berries) and then bring it back to a boil and boil hard for 1 minute... If you bring it back to a full boil fairly slowly (on medium heat rather than high) that will help reduce foaming. Remove from the heat. STEP 9: Skim any excessive foam I usually add 1 teaspoon of butter or margarine to the mix in step 6 to reduce foaming, but food experts debate whether that may contribute to earlier spoilage, so many people omit it and skim. STEP 10: Testing for "jell" (thickness) I keep a metal tablespoon sitting in a glass of ice water, then take a half spoonful of the mix and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. If it thickens up to the consistency I like, then I know the jam is ready. If not, I mix in a little more pectin (about 1/4 to 1/2 of another package) and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute. Notes about "set" (thickening or jell): It takes 3 ingredients for jams and jellies to set: pectin, sugar and acidity. The amount of pectin that is naturally occurring in the fruit varies from one type of fruit to another and by ripeness (counter intuitively, unripe contains more pectin). It takes the right balance, and sufficient amounts of each of pectin, sugar and acidity to result in a firm jam or jelly. Lastly, it takes a brief period (1 minute) of a hard boil, to provide enough heat to bring the three together. Generally speaking, if your jam doesn't firm up, you were short in pectin, sugar or acidity or didn't get a hard boil. STEP 11: Optional: Let stand for 5 minutes and stir completely. Why? Otherwise, the fruit will often float to the top of the jar. This isn't a particular problem; you can always stir the jars later when you open them. Skipping this step won't affect the quality of the jam at all. I don't bother. You’ll also notice that the less sugar you use, the more the fruit will float (chemists will tell you it is due to the decreased density of the solution!) STEP 12: Fill the jars and put the lid and rings on Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top, wipe any spilled jam off the top, seat the lid and tighten the ring around them. Then put them into the boiling water canner!
This is where the jar tongs come in really handy!
Keep the jars covered with at least 2 inches of water. Keep the water boiling. In general, boil them for 5 minutes, which is what SureJell (the makers of the pectin) recommend. I say "in general" because you have to process (boil) them longer at higher altitudes than sea level, or if you use larger jars, or if you did not sterilize the jars and lids right before using them. The directions inside every box of pectin will tell you exactly. The directions on the pectin tend to be pretty conservative. Clemson University says you only need to process them for 5 minutes. I usually start pulling them out after 5 minutes, and the last jars were probably in for 10. I rarely have a jar spoil, so it seems to work. But you don't want to process them too long, or the jam will turn dark and get runny. See the chart below for altitude adjustment to processing times, if you are not in the sea level to 1,000ft above sea level range. Note 1: If you plan to eat the jam immediately, or don't have canning equipment, you can let it cool, then store it in the fridge or freezer! It will keep for a month or two in the fridge and almost indefinitely in the freezer Note 2: Some people don't even boil the jars; they just ladle it hot into hot jars, put the lids and rings on and invert them. No authority I know recommends this, and putting the jars in the boiling water bath REALLY helps to reduce spoilage! To me, it makes little sense to put all the working into making the jam and then not to process the jars to be sure they don't spoil! Recommended process time for jams in a boiling water canner. Process Time at Altitudes of Style of Pack Jar Size 0-1,000 ft 1,001-6,000 ft Above 6,000 ftHot Half-pints or Pints 5 min 10 15 STEP 14: Remove and cool the jars - Done! Lift the jars out of the water with your jar lifter tongs and let them cool without touching or bumping them in a draft-free place (usually takes overnight). You can then remove the rings if you like. Once the jars are cool, you can check that they are sealed verifying that the lid has been sucked down. Just press in the center, gently, with your finger. If it pops up and down (often making a popping sound), it is not sealed. If you put the jar in the refrigerator right away, you can still use it. Some people replace the lid and reprocess the jar, then that's a bit iffy. If you heat the contents back up, re-jar them (with a new lid) and the full time in the canner, it's usually ok.
Once cooled, they're ready to store. I find they last up to 12 months. But after about 6 to 8 months, they get darker in color and start to get runny. They still are safe to eat, but the flavor and texture aren't as good. So eat them in the first 6 months after you prepare them! Another trick is to keep the uncooked berries or other fruit in the freezer and make and can the jam as needed, so it's always fresh.
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