Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Jammin'

I hit up the mulberry and serviceberry trees again to collect 6 more cups of fruit, this time with the aim to make jam. I ran out of pectin, but I'd heard that serviceberries are full of pectin so it's not necessary to add it when you make jam.



I opened M's 1997 edition of Joy and searched for the jam section but came up empty handed! Thankfully, my 1975 edition had a whole section dedicated to jam-making the old fashioned way, sans pectin. They suggest adding other fruits that have a high pectin content, so I grabbed some apples and chopped them up with the mulberries and serviceberries.



I filled six small jars and let them sit for 24 hours before determining that no, the jam didn't "set," or gel up. Poo. I probably didn't boil it for long enough or at high enough temperature. Ah well, it's more like a runny syrup with fruit in it, but it's delicious.





The recipe I used was a combination of recipes from Joy and from the internet. It was about 6 cups fruit, 1 apple, juice from 1 lime, and 4.5 cups sugar. Hmm, maybe I didn't add enough sugar. Well anyway, I'm on a roll with this fruit preservation thing, I'm currently up to my ears in sour cherries and ume plums. Check in later to find out what I'm going to do with them. Also check out this great blog I recently found, Food in Jars, out of Philadelphia!



1 comment:

Rosemary/sonrie said...

the jam/spread looks really good. I have never made jam, and though we picked a couple lbs. of strawberries last month, we have just put them in the freezer. I definitely learn by watching, and I would have to see someone do it first.