Jams, Jellies, and Preserves

Making homemade conserve (jam or preserves) and jellies is a rewarding hobby.  Thanks to a steady decline in home-canning, items like boiling water canners and pressure canners have become obsolete in many parts of the country (well, the U.S. anyway).  While that is a shame, you do not have to have a canner to make jams, jellies, and preserves!  Truthfully, you really only need glass canning jars, lids, rings, tongs of some sort, pectin (sometimes you don't even need that), a wire mesh strainer, and two kettles (one with a thick bottom).  You can also create your own boiling water canner and I'll show you how.  First, let's talk jam!

Here's our sample recipe:

Cranberry-Apple Jam

3 pound bag of fresh cranberries

4 apples (peeled, cored, and chopped)

2 cups water

5 cups sugar

1 cup cranberry juice

1 box Sure-Jell Lite

Step One:

Wash the jars you plan to use (just buy a pack of jars with lids and rings to start out).  For the cran-apple jam, you'll need about a dozen half-pint jars.  Place them in a kettle with the metal lids and cover them with water.  Place on the stove to boil while you follow the other steps:

Step Two:

Place cranberries in a thick-bottomed kettle (I like my cast iron kettle) and pour 2 cups of water over them.  Cook until nice and soft.

Step Three:

Place your wire mesh strainer into a bowl and spoon the soft cranberries into the strainers.  Mash until you have 1 quart + 1 cup of puree (can add a tiny bit of apple juice or cranberry juice to make up the difference but you shouldn't have to).

Step Four:

Cook the apple slices in one cup of cranberry juice until soft.  Pour into a blender and puree.  Pour into a large, thick bottom kettle with your cranberry puree.

 

Step Five:

In a small bowl, mix a box of Sure-Jell Lite with 1 cup of sugar.  Stir into the apple-cranberry puree and bring to a boil over med-low heat.  Stir constantly.  When it reaches a boil, add 4 cups of sugar (STIR!).  Bring back to a boil (over med-low heat).  Simmer, stirring often, until mixture forms a soft ball when dripped from a spoon.

Step Six: 

Fish out a jar and lid from your boiling water with your tongs (be sure that you pour out all the water!).  Now use a funnel of some type to fill each jar to the start of the glass lid ridges and place a hot lid on top.  Screw a ring on tightly and then set each jar to cool on the counter.  You should hear the lids popping down.  Be sure you only wrk with one jar at a time.  Allow to set up overnight and then remove your rings for later use.

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