Putting Food By - Janet Greene [136]
Mold. Imperfect seals, unsterilized jars and lids; warm and damp storage—take your choice of causes. While the mold on these high-sugar products does not offer the danger that it would on a lower-acid product like canned fruit or tomatoes, the safe advice is to discard the product. However, if you are a risk-taking type, the mold may be scraped off so long as it does not have “feeler roots” deep into the product. Dig out at least ½ inch beyond any sign of mold. If the jar is contaminated more than one-fourth its depth, throw out the contents.
Fermentation. The stuff has spoiled. Heave it.
WITH OLD-STYLE USE OF SUGAR
These recipes are indeed old-style. What could be more so than proportions or methods followed since sugar became a staple for the common man as well as for the rich? For tastes more hurried, there will be the confections made with that relatively new thing: store-bought pectin, which increased the size of the batches by asking for so much more sweetening.
Some of the following “receipts,” to use the pleasant old term, are translated into today’s methods. Ingredients for all are given for small, easy-to-work-with batches; especially with jellies, you get best results if you handle no more than 3 to 6 cups of juice at a time.
Random and handy: 1 cup juice + 1 cup sugar = 1¼ cups jelly. Overboiling will reduce the gelling ability of the natural gel in the juice.
I. With No Added Pectin
Strawberry Jam with No Added Pectin
Four to five ½-pint jars
4 cups prepared crushed berries (about 2¼ to 2½ quarts fresh)
4 cups sugar
Sort and wash and crush berries. Bring to boiling over medium-high heat. Measure pulp into a kettle, add an equal amount of sugar; over medium-high heat bring to boiling and, stirring constantly, cook until jam begins to thicken (but not so much as jelly does at this stage). Remove from heat, skim, and stir a couple of minutes, then ladle into clean, hot ½-pint jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom. Cap with two-piece screwband lids. Process in a Boiling–Water Bath for 5 minutes after the canner returns to a full boil. Remove jars. Cool.
Red Currant Jelly with No Added Pectin
Five to six ½-pint jars
4 cups currant juice (about 2½ quarts currants)
3½ cups sugar
Pick over the currants, discarding overripe or spoiled ones; wash quickly but carefully, and drain off excess water. Measure the washed currants into a large kettle, and add no more than ¼ as much water as currants. Over moderate heat, cook the currants until they are soft and translucent, stirring as needed to ensure that they cook evenly—about 10 minutes. Strain the currants with their juice through a damp jelly bag; do not squeeze, lest the juice become cloudy (this classic jelly should always be sparkling clear and jewel-like). Measure 4 cups of juice into a large kettle, bring to boiling, and boil briskly for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, stirring to dissolve it, and boil rapidly until the jelly sheets from a cold spoon or the temperature reaches 8 F/4.4 C above the boiling point of water in your kitchen. Remove from heat and skim off the foam; pour immediately into hot ½-pint jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom; cap with two-piece screwband lids; process in a 5-minute B–W Bath. Remove jars; cool upright and naturally.
Blackberry Jam with No Added Pectin
About four ½-pint jars
4 cups crushed prepared blackberries (3 quarts fresh if to be seeded)
4 cups sugar
You may need only about 2½ quarts if you are not going to remove seeds. But the exact amount is not vital, because you will be adding an amount of sugar equal to the measurement of prepared berry pulp.
Sort and wash berries, remove stems and caps; crush well. Put berries into