Busy Sunday morning here!
I was about to make peach butter when I realized that my peaches just weren’t ripe enough… so I pulled some of my frozen sour cherries out of the freezer, and made another batch of vanilla sour cherry.
Beautiful! Mine ( peach and nectarine) came out waay too sweet.
I used a “Food In Jars” stonefruit jam recipe.
How long do you think you cooked yours for?
ETA
Stumbled on this
I’m wondering if this thread has gotten more popular since 2020.
Is that the FIJ Mixed Stonefruit Jam recipe? I see she calls for 3 cups fruit and 2 cups sugar. Seems like a lot of sweetener to me. I think Ball calls for 9 cups (mashed) fruit and 6 cups sugar (ie. the same). I cut back a little from there, and opt for 5 cups sugar ( or a little less) for each 9 cups of packed or mashed fruit. If you’re measuring fruit loosely, you might need even less.
Mine took 20 minutes to bring to a boil and another 18 to get to the jammy stage. This was for a full canner load, however.
BTW nice read. I think canning appeals to me for a little of each of the reasons it appeals to all the types of people described in the article.
Yes!
Peaches are glorious here this year: I made maple vanilla peach conserves ( from the pomona pectin cookbook). Very easy and delicious jam.
I grew a San Marzano plant this year expressly for canning. I put the ripened tomatoes in the fridge until I have enough to make a small load of pint jars (up to 4.) So far I’ve done two batches.
Because of the added step of dip-shock-peel, it’s really labor-intensive. I kind of enjoy the process, though.
These are paler than other Roma-style tomatoes I’ve seen, but I tasted some stewed today and the flavor is outstanding.
I’m not sure I’ll get the 20 or so jars I need for the winter out of this one plant, so I’ll supplement with farmstand tomatoes once my plant signals it has given all it can give.
Chilling tomatoes usually negatively affects their flavor. You may want to taste one, after it has been in the fridge a while, and compare it to those not chilled. I don’t know if, once removed from the fridge, they’ll flavor up after 1-3 days.
Another option is to just cook some first, before chilling; that will “kill” the fruit and enzymes.
I do know, because I’ve done it and tested it for years. After water-bath processing a paste tomato for 35 min, you cannot tell the difference.
Thank you for the information! That’s good to know. I’ve never chilled, processed paste types. The paste, sauce varieties are usually planted in quantities which wouldn’t fit in a fridge. I did chill some slicers and their flavor was off and the fruits got grainy.
Vanilla plum jam https://www.marthastewart.com/332882/plum-vanilla-jam I’ve making this for years: super fast and easy…
Today I cleared foraged blackberries and wineberries out of the freezer and made jams from each. I oopsed with adding the pectin too soon to the blackberry and it didn’t set properly - oh well. Guess we’ll be having a lot of blackberry crepes and ice cream topping.
As it cools it’s thickening a bit
I make ice cream from berry syrups … you could try that?
When it’s too loose I claim that it’s " a rustic compote"…
I “fixed” a few bottles on Saturday. I’m going to find the link in case anyone is interested. Actually, in this case I added the “fixing” mixture when making a batch from a macerating mixture because I had iffy results with the batch before, I needed it for “jammy bars”, and I didn’t want to cook it to 220 degrees f.
The method I used involved mixing the pectin with a bit of sugar, water, and lemon juice first.
[https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_07/remake_soft_jelly.html#:~:text=To%20Remake%20With%20Powdered%20Pectin,Boil%20hard%20½%20minute.](https://This one from National Home Foods Preservation website has a handy chart.)
Apparently you might have to add pectin before sugar or it gets grainy, or mix it with something first, like this…
, but this remedy has you stir the pectin right in.
peach butter. One of my favourites… but always makes a complete mess of my kitchen (
big time spattering…) https://smittenkitchen.com/2011/09/peach-butter/
Picture from last summer, but generally the same effect!
I’ve been stirring my drippier jams and compotes into water, and enjoying them as juice or nectars.
I also use the water to rinse out my pan as a drink. Tumblers of of various fruity drinks in my fridge.
Sort of inspired by this