Jam 101

Living in the Pacific Northwest we are very blessed with fruits and veggies. Hermiston Watermelons, Walla Walla Sweet Onions, Washington Apples, Rainer Cherries, and Hood Strawberries. With all this fruit you can do your best to eat it all, but eventually you have had enough dang fruit… unless you're my dad who pounds down a whole box of peaches in two days. Then the winter comes and you just want fruit. BOOM! Problem: too much fruit in the summer not enough fruit in the winter. Solution: can it! Put it in a jar and save it for all year long. I have watched my mom for years can fruit, but have never been brave enough to do it myself… until now.

SO lets get to the jam… My Uncle was kind enough to bring us Hood Strawberries a couple weeks ago, and I felt like this would be the perfect opportunity for me to make jam.

Don't they look so good!! There are two different methods for making jam; freezer jam and canned jam.  The first few steps for both freezer jam and canned jam are the same, so I'm going to go over those steps. 

Step 1: Hull the strawberries. This just means take off the stem. I have seem many people use a spoon, but I just pinched it with my fingers and twisted. It was a lot faster. 

This is what the strawberry should look like after you have hulled it. I would really just skip the whole spoon thing and just pinch and twist. 

Step 2: Put the strawberries on on a cookie sheet with a lip. Then you will take a potato masher or fork and mash the strawberries. This is why it is important to have the lip on the cookies sheet, because without that lip juice will go everywhere. 

I like my jam a little more chunky so this is what the strawberries looked like when I was finished. 

Now this where the freezer jam and the canned jam take different paths. I'm going to tell you the last steps of the freezer jam and then go into the canned jam. Here are the products that you will need for the freezer jam. 

You will need pectin and 8oz. jars with lids and rings. 

Step 3 (for freezer jam): Mix four cups of strawberries with the fruit pectin and 1 and half cups sugar or sugar substitute. 

Step 4: Stir for 3 minutes. 

Step 5: Put in the jars, and then in the fridge for 1 hour. 

Finally you can now enjoy your freezer jam!!

Here are the products that you will need for canned jam

You will need a canning pot, tongs, 8 oz. jars with lids and rings, pectin (I like the liquid kind, but the powder kind will work as well.), and a canning lifter (thats what my mom calls it). 

Step 3 (for canning): Put five cups strawberries, 4 tablespoons lemon juice, and pectin in a large sauce pan. Start to heat on a medium high heat. 

You will also need to start your canning pot. Fill it about half way with water and get it boiling. (this is something that I didn't do, so I had to wait a little bit… not fun just get it started now)

That goopy clear stuff is the pectin. Now you can use the powder pectin, but some people say that it doesn't dissolve as well. I will give you some advice about the liquid pectin it can firm up or go bad. If you get the liquid only get enough for what you are going to use. 

Stir the mixture until all the pectin is mixed in. This may take just a little bit. The pectin looked like dark spots in my mixture, so I just stirred until all the dark spots were gone. 

While you are getting all the dark spots out get your sugar ready in a bowl, so you can add it all in at once. You will need 7 cups of sugar. 

If you have ever made jam before you know about the foam that builds up, so I got a great tip: just throw a pad of butter on the top before you throw your sugar in. This will help you have less foam to skim off. If you have never made jam before just throw the butter in it will help later. 

You are going to get your mixture to a good little boil before you add the sugar. There should be just a little bit of foam. You are looking for a boil that you can get rid of by stirring. 

One last thing before you add the sugar is you get a little sauce pan with some water starting to boil for the lids.  At this point this is what your stove should look like.

I know a lot is going on, but you don't really have to worry about the canning pot or the lid pot. Just focus on the jam. Getting the other pots going will only help you in the long run.

Step 4: Add the sugar. You will need to add 7 cups of sugar… thats a lot I know, but it will taste so good! (plus that is for 9 jars of jam, so less than a cup of sugar per jar) You will need to add the sugar all at once. I will say this when you add the sugar you will see why it is important that you have a big sauce pan, because your mixture will double. 

Step 5: Stir, stir, stir. The sugar just kind of fell in a glob, so stir all that sugar until it dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved you will want to get it into a boil like you have never seen. The big thing with this boil is that it won't stop when you stir it. 

This is the boil that you are looking for. Now you see that foam, which leads to your next step.

Step 6: Skim off the foam. I used a large spoon and a rubber spatula. The rubber spatula worked great for large amounts of foam, and the spoon worked great at the end to get the little amounts. This is what your jam should look like this when all the foam is gone. 

The yucky foam. There was a lot more than I thought. Why get rid of the foam right? You just don't want that sitting on top of your jam when you can it. Also you could end up getting more foam than jam in your first couple of jars, and that would be horrible. I mean who wants to eat foam. Really?

Step 7: Prep your jars and lids. We are getting close guys! Put your jars in the canning pot with the boiling water using the tongs. This serves a couple purposes. First it sanitizes the jars, and it allows you to put hot jam in hot jars. Another way to do this is just put the jars in the dish washer. (this is what my mom does) Now put the lids in the boiling water and turn off the heat, and just let the lids heat in the water to soften the rubber. After a few minutes pull out the jars with the tongs. Make sure you empty all the water out of the jars. 

Step 8: Fill the jars. You will want to fill them to the bottom lip in the jar. There are the lips for the rings but not those lips the lip on the jar it self. Then you are going to take a knife and just stir around the edges to make sure that you have a good constancy for your jam.  Fill all your jars. Make sure to wipe off any jam from the sides or top where the ring and lids will be placed. 

Step 8: Put the lids on the jar, and screw on the rings. You want the rings to be hand tight. 

Step 9: Take the lifter and place the jars in the canning pot with the boiling water. Let the jars sit in the pot for 10- 13 minutes.  Then turn off your heat and let the jars sit in the pot for about 5 mins.

Step 10:  Pull the jars out of the water and let them sit over night. In the morning check the lids to make sure they sealed. Just push down on the lids and if they pop they are not sealed, but don't worry they will be sealed.

Then enjoy! You just made canned jam!!

Freezer jam:

1 package no cook pectin

4 cups smashed strawberries

1 1/2 cups sugar

8 oz. Jars with lids and rings

1. Hull the strawberries

2. Put the strawberries on on a cookie sheet with a lip. Then you will take a potato masher or fork and mash the strawberries.

3. Mix four cups of strawberries with the fruit pectin and 1 and half cups sugar or sugar substitute. 

4. Stir for 3 minutes. 

5. Put in the jars, and then in the fridge for 1 hour. 

The low down on freezer jam:

Freezer jam is jam that you can store in you fridge or freezer for 3 to 6 months (3 in the fridge and 6 in the freezer). This jam is great if you have the room for it. Since freezer jam is not sealed it doesn't keep that bacteria and bad enzymes out so it will spoil. Another great thing about freezer jam is that you can use sugar substitute. This is awesome for those of you watching you sugar intake. 

Canned Jam

1 package of liquid pectin or powder pectin

5 cups smashed strawberries

4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

7 cups sugar

8 oz. jars with lids and rings

1. Hull the strawberries

2. Put the strawberries on on a cookie sheet with a lip. Then you will take a potato masher or fork and mash the strawberries.

4. Put five cups strawberries, 4 tablespoons lemon juice, and pectin in a large sauce pan. Start to heat on a medium high heat. 

5. Add the sugar. You will need to add 7 cups of sugar. You will need to add the sugar all at once.

6. Skim off the foam.

7. Prep your jars and lids.  Put your jars in the canning pot with the boiling water using the tongs. Now put the lids in the boiling water and turn off the heat, and just let the lids heat in the water to soften the rubber. After a few minutes pull out the jars with the tongs. Make sure you empty all the water out of the jars. 

8. Put the lids on the jar, and screw on the rings. 

9. Take the lifter and place the jars in the canning pot with the boiling water. Let the jars sit in the pot for 10- 13 minutes.  Then turn off your heat and let the jars sit in the pot for about 5 mins. 

10.   Pull the jars out of the water and let them sit over night. In the morning check the lids to make sure they sealed. Just push down on the lids and if they pop they are not sealed, but don't worry they will be sealed. 

The low down on canning:

1. Canning is used to keep fruit around for a year without taking up space in your freezer or fridge. I also feel that it helps with transporting fruit.

2. There are two different types of canning: water bath (the most common), and pressure.

3. Water bath is for food that has a high acidic level foods such as fruits, jams, and pickling (this is why we added the lemon juice to help with the acid level). Pressure is for low acidic foods such as vegetables and meats.

4. Canning helps keep the bacteria and bad enzymes that spoils food out, therefore you have the fruit all year long.

5. It is really easy!! I promise.

Really when all is said and done ask yourself what are you going to do with the jam. I think the answer to that question will help you decide what type of jam you are going to make. Both freezer jam and canned jam are really easy and not too time consuming.

Which jam process you prefer freezer or canning?