Putting Food By - Janet Greene [134]
Steps for Cooked Jams and Marmalades
Sugar and Pectin
The general proportions for substituting other non-artificial sweeteners for called-for sugar are the same for jams and marmalades as for jelly.
When powdered pectin is added it is mixed with the unheated prepared fruit. Liquid pectin is added to the cooked fruit-and-sugar mixture after the kettle is removed from heat. With either form of pectin the cooking time is the same: 1 minute at a full boil.
Without added pectin, the cooking time is increased to a range of from 15 to 40 minutes, depending on the character of the fruit. Jam is more likely to scorch than jelly is, so stir it often during cooking.
If you have worries with long cooking, put your jam kettle in a 300 F/ 149 C oven, as for Butters later.
The so-called Diet jams and jellies are “set” with gelatin and their non-nutritive (artificial) sweetening is not cooked with the fruit, but is added just before pouring and sealing. See the section With Low Sugar/No Sugar, later in this chapter.
Testing for Doneness
Jams, etc., with added pectin will be done when they are boiled according to the individual instructions for time and quantity.
Without added pectin, jam is done when it reaches 7 F above the boiling point of water, usually 219 F at 1000 feet of altitude or below.
No thermometer? Jam is ready when it begins to hold shape in the spoon. Or use the Refrigerator (or Freezer) Test for jelly, above.
Pouring, Sealing, Processing, Storing
Remove the kettle from heat, skim carefully, and then stir the jam gently to cool it slightly and thus prevent floating fruit.
Ladle the still-hot jam or marmalade carefully into hot sterile canning jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom in ½-pint jars; wipe the sealing rims carefully with a clean paper towel dipped in boiling water; cap and process in a Boiling–Water Bath (212 F/100 C) for 5 minutes. Complete seals if using bailed jars. Cool upright and naturally, twirling the containers several times in the first 30 minutes of sitting: doing this distributes any floating fruit well through the contents. Hours later, when the contents have cooled, clean the containers, removing screwbands if you used this two-piece closure, and carefully wiping the threads and around the seal. Label; store in a dry, cool, dark place.
Special note: Because the general methods for making Preserves, etc., and Butters are described as part of the recipes, and are quite brief, the procedures for them are given with the specific instructions at the end of the next major section, With Old-style Use of Sugar.
Steps for Freezer (Uncooked) Jelly and Jam
The general handling of these jellies differs from that for conventional ones in several ways. Not being sterilized through boiling, they must be stored in the freezer to prevent spoilage—although freshly made or defrosted jelly will keep well for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Also, because their natural pectin is not activated by boiling, pectin must be added; and it is added after the sugar, regardless of whether it is liquid or powdered. And finally, the jellies must be packed in sterilized freezer-proof jars, with headroom to allow for expansion; and must be sealed with sterilized tight-fitting lids.
Filled and capped, the containers must stand at room temperature until the jelly is set—which can take up to 24 hours—before going into the freezer.
The juice for this jelly is made from unheated fresh fruit. However, it can be made with frozen juice not heat-extracted or sweetened; or with juice from berries that have been frozen, without added sugar, for making jelly later on. It cannot be made successfully from canned fruit juices, because there the natural pectin has been impaired by the heat of processing.
People seem to make more freezer jams than jellies perhaps because there is more leeway to a jam’s consistency than there is for jelly. Certainly the lovely garden-fresh flavor of berries and fruits is more pronounced in jams. Like their jelly counterparts, opened