Canning
Jam Making Basics: – High Acid vs. Low Acid Fruits
Making jam successfully requires 3 basic components; pectin, sugar, and acid. Since I have already covered pectin and sugar previously, today we tackle acidity.
Jam Making Basics: – The Role of Sugar
Learn how to make jam successfully – by understanding why sugar is integral to soft spreads. Although it seems that late spring is a long way off (as I write the east coast is getting walloped with snow and the Plains are expecting a blizzard), the early berries and...
Jam Making Basics – What is Pectin?
Learn how to make jam successfully – with a little help from pectin
Technique Tuesday: How to Can Summer Fruit at Home
Now is the time to can ripe summer apricots, peaches, berries and other fruit. August – when summer fruits are at their best. This week at the local Farmer’s Market I found lipstick-red strawberries, plump blueberries, sweet (not mouth-puckering) blackberries,...
Technique Tuesday: How to Check for the Jam Setting Point
Don’t overcook your delicious homemade jam – count on one of these 4 methods to successfully check the jam setting point. Making jam or jelly with prepared pectin is supposed to be an easy project. Add the pectin, bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes and voila!...
Is it Jam? Is it Jelly? -The Difference Between Soft Spreads
Sweet spreads, like chocolates, come in many textures and varieties. While a box of chocolates might have nuts and jellies, cremes and caramels, in the sweet spread world we have jams and preserves, marmalades and fruit butters. Often, we resort to calling them all...
All About Marmalade
Cure winter’s gloomy days with sunny citrus marmalade I fell in love with marmalade when very young. Probably because it combined two of my favorite things; oranges and English culture. That’s what happens when you are a child who reads too many stories about queens...
How to Label Your Home Canned Creations
Don’t forget to label your homemade jams, jellies and other treats for safe gift-giving. A few years ago my mother-in-law bought us a jar of homemade onion relish at the local harvest fair. The relish certainly looked festive, but we didn’t dare eat it. Why? Because...
Everything You Need to Know About Pickling
Ok, maybe not everything, but enough to fill your pantry! Now is the time to clean up the garden and get the pickling done. If you have never made pickles before, you are in for a nice surprise. Canning pickles is an easy project that allows more creativity than the...
