Jellies and Jams and Preserves, Oh my!

So you have your homemade pita bread, and you are wondering what to do with it.  Well how about a few homemade jams, jellies, or preserves to put on it?  Yes, you read that right.  In this episode you are going to learn how to make all three.  It really is quick and easy.  One thing I have learned in this process to become more self sufficient and less dependent on commercial food products is the ease at which these products are actually produced at a family level.  So what do you say?  Let's get to it.

First lets understand the difference between the three.  Jelly, jam and preserves are all made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. The difference between them comes in the form that the fruit base takes.

• In jelly, the fruit base comes in the form of fruit juice.
• In jam, the fruit base comes in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit (and is less stiff than jelly as a result).
• In preserves, the fruit base comes in the form of chunks in a syrup or a jam.

Pretty simple right?  Basically it comes down to how "chunky" you like your jelly or jam.

Now back in your grandma's days when preserving jams and jellies she probably didn't use pectin.  Pectin is an indigestible carbohydrate (fiber), meaning it does not provide energy. It is found in the cell walls of most fruit. When heated with sugar in water, it gels, giving jam, jelly and preserves their thickness.  Some fruits have more pectin than others.  You can cook down all of these without pectin to get the thickness but it removes some flavor in the process.  So all of the following recipes use an additional pectin added in during the boiling process.  Instead of boiling for 40 minutes to get the thickness desired we will be boiling for 10 minutes.  Is it cheating?  I don't feel that it is.  You can actually produce your own homemade pectin if you wish.

Lets start with the jelly.  For my jelly I choose to make something I little out of the norm.  Jalapeno jelly.  If you have never tried this, I highly recommend making a batch.  There is no heat whatsoever.  It tastes exactly the same as candied jalapenos.  Very sweet, very tasty.

Ingredients:
12 medium jalapenos stemmed and seeded
2 cups cider vinegar
6 cups of sugar
2 3oz pouches of liquid fruit pectin
Optional green food coloring
This recipe fills 3 pint or 6 half pint canning jars


Method:
Remove stems from jalapenos, cut open and remove seeds then quarter.  Puree peppers in a food processor or blender with 1 cup cider vinegar until completely smooth.  Combine puree with remaining vinegar and sugar.  Bring to a boil over high heat.  Boil 10 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid scorching or burning.

Add all of the liquid pectin at once and stir in well. Continue to hard boil for 1 minute stirring constantly.  Then remove from heat and skim foam if you wish.

Fill your sterlized jars and process for 10 min in your hot water bath canner.  Just like with all your other canning, check lids after jars have cooled.  Any unsealed jars can be put in the fridge and used immediately.  Should be good for about a month in the fridge.  Sealed jars should be good for about a year, stored in a dark cool dry shelf.

That's it.  Piece of cake right?  This jelly is best when served on a cracker with a little cream cheese on top.  It is also a terrific compliment to meats and poultry as well.

So we got our jelly covered.  Lets move on to the jam.  I decided to make my favorite jam for this batch.  Strawberry.

Ingredients:
32oz of fresh strawberries
3 cups of sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 .4oz packs of classic pectin
This recipe fills 2 pint or 4 half pint canning jars.

Method:
Remove all stems and leaves from strawberries.  Cut out any bruises or soft spots.  Mash up the berries with a manual potato masher.  Make sure they are good and smashed.  It releases all the natural pectin in the fruit and helps with the jelling process as we discussed earlier.

Mix the smashed berries with the pectin and lemon juice and bring to a good boil(one that cannot be stirred away).  Boil for 10 minutes.

Now add the sugar and bring back to a boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and spoon off the foam if you wish.

Fill your sterlized jars and process for 10 minutes in your hot water bath canner.  Just like with all your other canning, check lids after jars have cooled.  Any unsealed jars can be put in the fridge and used immediately.  Should be good for about a month in the fridge.  Sealed jars should be good for about a year, stored in a dark cool dry shelf.

Two down one more to go.  For my preserve I went with the peach version.  Good ripe locally grown peaches cannot be acquired in the winter, so it will be nice to have some preserved during the off season.

Ingredients:
5 medium peaches(I wasn't sure I had enough peaches so I threw in a couple of nectarines)
4 cups of sugar
1 .4oz pack of classic pectin
1/8 cup of lemon juice
This recipe fills 2 pint or 4 half pint canning jars.

Method:
Set a pot of water to boil.  Enough to cover a few of the peaches at a time.  Fill a bowl on the side with ice water.  We need to peel the peaches.  The skin does not soften and must be removed for our preserve.

Once the water is boiling put a couple of peaches in for 30 seconds.  Remove the peaches with a set of tongs or slotted spoon and immediately place them into the ice water.

If the peaches are ripe the skins will slide right off with little effort.  If parts of the skin seem stubborn you can peel the rest with a knife or you can try and reheat them for another 30 to 60 seconds.

Now that the skins are off cut the peaches up in quarters and remove stems and seeds.  Cut out any brown spots or mush areas as well.  Like with our strawberries mash them up a bit but leave larger chucks this time.

Mix in the lemon juice and stir well to make sure all the surfaces are covered.  This prevents the fruit from browning.   Add pectin at this time.

Bring peaches to a boil(one that cannot be stirred away).  Boil for 10 minutes.  Careful when stirring.  With the peaches I got burned multiple times by splashing hot fruit.   Add sugar and return to a boil for 1 minute.

Fill your sterlized jars and process for 10 minutes in your hot water bath canner.  Just like with all your other canning, check lids after jars have cooled.  Any unsealed jars can be put in the fridge and used immediately.  Should be good for about a month in the fridge.  Sealed jars should be good for about a year, stored in a dark cool dry shelf.

Well there you have it.  Jelly, jam, and preserves all in an afternoon.  We have been enjoying toast every morning ever since I finished these batches.  I would love to hear how yours turned out.  Leave a comment and let me know.  Don't forget to like me on Facebook or Twitter.

Y'all keep it straight out there.