Any Jam Makers or Home Canners Out There?

Thank you! I think it’s about 2 years. Next time I’ll buy less.

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Pretty sure I’ve used pectin that old without a problem, but wouldn’t want to lead you astray…

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Red and black currant jam. The black currants are the biggest pain to process… but that flavour is not like anything else!

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What makes the black currant difficult to process? We plan on adding them to our garden next year.

I love black and red currant jam, sometimes add raspberries or blueberries. To get some of the seeds out, I put the lightly cooked (or mashed & macerated) berries through a food mill with the medium sieve.

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On the 2022 list.

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Haven’t made anything yet, and can’t believe it! Garden is just starting to come on, at last. Yay! Envious of your beautiful harvest!

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Our green beans came in two days ago, and I picked our first cucumber and corn yesterday. The cherry tomatoes are just a few days out. Seems like high summer finally is here.

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Fantastic! We actually had our first zucchini and yellow squash for dinner last night - the rest should be coming along, finally. The heat is helping!

Debearding them…

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Ahh… like huckleberries, getting all that flotsom out of there.

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This recipe was also 2:1 fruit, but it seemed really sweet, and more like a preserve than a jam. Could be because the Flavor Grenade pluots are quite crunchy and sweet.

I couldn’t resist adding one Scotch Bonnet with a few slices in it, which was the saving grace for me. Husband didn’t think it was too sweet and says while he can’t imagine spreading it 9n anything, he could eat it straight.

Any ideas for how to use a sweet and hot pluot preserve?

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Cream cheese or Brie and crackers - or aged cheddar!

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In place of hot pepper jelly for baked brie (spread and nuke / bake, or wrap in puff first if you’re so inclined).

You could also use it in cooking, anywhere the sweet and hot profile would work - to roast chicken or pork, or even in a curry or stew.

I could see it in Asian food too.

Ooh adding another - spread on toast with fresh ricotta.

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I really like (any bread product, toasted) + schmear of goat cheese + schmear of any jam or preserve.

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I freeze corn (rather than can it) and I’m in the thick of it over here. I’ve found that my FoodSaver is most reliably successful when the corn has been flash-frozen first, then bagged, then sealed, and my mom’s freezers are all in side-by-side fridges so the size of the sheet pan I can get in there with blanched kernels on is TINy - basically I can get three ears’ worth onto one pan, and I have two pans, so my corn preservation is proceeding six ears at a time, which is glacial.

I’ve got a surfeit of peaches but they aren’t freestone yet, so I don’t want to can peach halves just yet. First, jam (peach is mom’s favorite) and a batch of peach frozen yogurt (will churn tomorrow.)

Tonight I also roasted half the beets I grew in my garden (which was just a single row), then skinned them, cubed them, and tossed them into a big mason jar with a drizzle of rice wine vinegar. I’ll use them on salads next week.

I haven’t tried to preserve the shishitos I grow, so I just keep eating them blistered for lunch after I pull them off the plant.

My tomatoes are coming in finally and they are… really incredibly huge. Monsters. The first one we sliced open for BLT’s was incredible which was a relief ( I was worried their size meant they were full of water.) I’m planning to can chopped tomatoes, like I do every year, as well as make a batch or two of tomato jam.

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I’d love to hear more about that!

I make two very different kinds:

  1. the famous Amy’s Tomato Jam from foodinjars. This I eat with cheese and crackers or hummus and crackers. Many people enjoy it as a sandwich condiment, served alongside roasted veg, or on meatloaf.

  2. the traditional “tomato butter” of my youth, which is simply tomato jam (deskinned tomatoes + sugar. I don’t have a recipe so I use something between 2:1 and 3:1.) This I eat for breakfast on toast or English muffins.

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Can you say more about that; do you mean you can wait between putting in the bottle and the water bath? More opportunities to safely procrastinate would be awesome!