Putting Food By - Janet Greene [144]
This is especially good as topping for ice cream or plain white or yellow cake.
Louisiana Pear Conserve
7 or 8 pints
5 pounds firm pears—ideally Kieffer—cut small
10 cups sugar
1 pound raisins
Rind of 2 oranges
Juice of 3 oranges
Juice of 1 lemon
Peel pears, remove core and midvein, cut in small pieces. Stir pears and sugar together in a large bowl; let stand overnight. Next day, in a large stainless steel or enameled kettle, combine pears and juices, raisins, chopped orange rind and orange and lemon juice. Bring to a gentle boil, and cook, stirring, until thick (about 30 to 35 minutes). Ladle promptly into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch of headroom; remove any air bubbles from contents, wipe jars’ sealing rims; adjust lids and process 15 minutes in a simmering Hot–Water Bath at 180 F/82 C for ½-pints, 30 minutes for pints. Remove jars; complete seals if using bailed jars.
WITH LOW SUGAR/NO SUGAR
Many things are called “diet” these days: it depends, really, on what one is trying to stay away from: sucrose, sodium, cholesterol—the list can go on. But here the word indicates that the amount of white sugar has been reduced, by using specially formulated pectins that require less sugar than regular pectins or no sugar at all to gel. Currently there are three such pectins on the market: dry lower-sugar pectin; dry no-sugar pectin; and low-methoxyl pectin, which can be used either with less sugar or no sugar. All of these pectins make good jams and jellies. Low-methoxyl pectin must be activated by calcium, which comes in the package; this pectin is particularly recommended for hard-to-set jellies like Hot Pepper Jelly and Mint Jelly. Recipes for jams and jellies using these specialized pectins are included in the packages. Still more recipes are available online.
“Diet” (Sugar-free) Jams and Jellies
These are perishable and therefore must be stored in the refrigerator. Unopened, they will keep 3 to 4 weeks in the fridge, so make only small batches at a time. (Gelatin sweets “weep” when frozen unless they have added solids; sometimes the gelatin toughens in the separation. So don’t freeze: freezing is for pectin-added jams that take sugar to help form a gel.)
For refrigerator storage, headroom is ⅛ inch in ½-pint containers, maximum ¼ inch in pint-size jars.
Generally, jams have a more expectable consistency than jellies do. Fruit “butters”—which are cooked down for a fairly long time—do not need gelatin to give them body: just add some sweetener, perhaps a spice or zest of orange or lemon.
Procedure
Wash jars and boil for 15 minutes to sterilize; hold in hot water until used. Prepare new disc lids according to manufacturer’s directions; wash and boil used screwbands; hold in hot water. Use unblemished ripe fruit. Wash, core; peel as necessary.
FOR JAMS
Put ½-inch layer of berries or chopped fruit in a stainless steel or enameled kettle, mash with pastry blender, then add succeeding layers and crush. Add ½ cup water, set over medium heat, bring to simmer; increase heat, bring to boiling, boil 1 minute. Off heat, add gelatin softened in ½ cup water; stir 1 minute. Add lemon juice or spice flavors, stir in sweetener. Pour into sterilized containers, leaving appropriate headroom. Cap, seal, cool, refrigerate.
FOR JELLIES
Use bottled juice or fresh cider. Or prepare and cook fruit as for jam. Press blackberry or raspberry pulp through a fine strainer to remove most seeds, then strain through, jelly bag. “Let down” juice by diluting with boiling water to equal ½ the volume of juice (or to taste); experiment—without the traditional load of sugar to lessen its impact, the undiluted juice is likely to be “too much of a good thing.” Add softened gelatin, any flavorings, and heat until steaming; stir in sweetener. Pour into sterilized jars, cap, seal, cool, refrigerate.
Unopened,