Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam (about 6 half-pints)
2 c strawberries, roughly chopped
2 c rhubarb, chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
5 1/2 c sugar
1 c homemade pectin (recipe here)

Combine berries, rhubarb, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot sterilized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two-piece canning lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Enjoy

Blueberry Jam

Blueberry Jam (about 6 half-pints)

4 1/2 c blueberries, roughly chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
5 c sugar
1 c homemade pectin (recipe here)

Combine berries, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot sterilized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two-piece canning lids. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Enjoy!

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Strawberry Jam

Strawberry Jam (about 8 half-pints)
2 qts strawberries, roughly chopped
1/4 c lemon juice
7 c sugar
1 c homemade pectin (recipe here)

Crush chopped strawberries. Combine berries, pectin and lemon juice in a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil. Add sugar, stirring until dissolved. Bring to a boil. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Skim foam if necessary. Ladle into hot sterilized canning jars leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust  two-piece canning lids. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner. Enjoy!

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No Pectin Peach Jam

  Not much to say about this item except that it FREAKIN ROCKS and we are going to make more next year. This is good stuff. This may be my favorite thing out of all the items we canned this year. This was simple to do although, like the plum jam, it took some patience because we didn't add any pectin. I read through several recipes until I found a couple of pectin free versions. This is what we used:

Pectin Free Peach Jam (Makes 3 pints)

6 c peaches (pealed, pitted and finely chopped)

1/4 c lemon juice

3 c sugar

  We found using our food processor worked best for chopping the peaches. Combine peaches, lemon juice and sugar in an appropriate sized pot. Mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil and immediately lower the heat to medium low. We left it at this stage for 2 hours making sure to stir often. Skim any foam and discard. This was the part that took patience. You can certainly speed things up by using pectin. You could also raise the heat a little and stir almost constantly for 45 minutes to an hour. The Ball Blue Book explains the consistency to look for when a jam is ready to put in jars. This link explains it as well. We used the sheet method. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head space, seal and process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes. Enjoy! :-)

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No Pectin Plum Jam

  A week or so ago I posted a couple of updates about a marathon canning session due to some free produce we acquired. Twenty four pints of plum jam are one of the fruits (pun intended) of our labor. I only made a few pints the first time around, but it came out so well we did twenty one more. Plum jam isn't something you hear about every day and quite frankly I am surprised. We are not big jam eaters here, but I can foresee several uses for this recipe beyond your typical pb&j application. Currently I am planning to use it as a base for a liqueur, barbecue sauce for pork ribs and glaze for roasted meats. We used the Damson Plum recipe out of the Ball Blue Book and as it turns out I believe these are actually Damson Plums, though I didn't know it at the time.

No Pectin Plum Jam (yields three pints)

5 c coarsely chopped plums

3 c sugar

1/2 c water

  We used our food processor to chop the plums. Combine plums, sugar, and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil slowly, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.. Cook rapidly to the gelling point. This takes about 30 to 40 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and skim any foam. Ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling-water canner.

  We changed two things. We used less water than the original recipe calls for because the cooking time is a little long and I processed my jars in a pressure canner for 10 minutes. By 'no pectin' I really mean no pectin added. Plums are naturally high in pectin and if you are patient, you don't need to add any. I prefer not to add anything besides simple ingredients to any of my food if not absolutely necessary.

  I haven't done anything with the jam yet, but you can bet it will show up in at least one recipe here at some point. Enjoy,

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