jam recipes

[gwentevis]

Here are the recipes for the peach jam and strawberry jam.  I'll try to post others as I find time over the next few days.  These recipes are from Blue Ribbon Preserves which explains a lot of the information behind canning and making high-quality jams and other soft spreads.  If you've never canned before, I'd highly recommend reading that book or

Comments

[la_directora]

The one thing I never had before was a canning rack, and the sound of the jars rattling against one another always concerned me a little. But I ordered one, and I should have it by tomorrow. This weekend, I'm planning to can a big pot of pasta sauce, and possibly something fruit related. But when peaches come into season up here, I'm DEFINITELY canning some fresh peaches, and possibly some peach jam.

Thanks for the recipes!

[gwentevis]

I still don't have a canning rack. :) My canning setup consists of an 18-qt stock pot with a round cake cooling rack in the bottom. It's a bit ghetto, but it works just fine. I've never had a problem with jars rattling into each other, but sometimes it can be fun getting them to all fit using my jar lifter.

Pasta sauce sounds like a good idea of something to can that would make weeknight cooking easy and tasty. I've also been thinking about making soups, but I'd need a pressure canner or a larger freezer for that.

[la_directora]

I hadn't had any problems without the rack yet, either. But it turned out it was so cheap, I figured why not? :)

At this point, I'm only canning things that can be done in a boiling water canner. I don't own a pressure cooker, and don't plan to change that anytime soon. But I canned pasta sauce a few years ago, and it worked great. I'm looking forward to doing it again. I'm even thinking of canning it in smaller jars - maybe half pint - so it's easier to keep it fresh and cook for one at the same time.

[gwentevis]

I'd love to have your pasta sauce recipe if you're willing to share.

I've been sitting on the fence on the pressure canner. They're expensive. But, I love coming home and quickly heating up homemade soup for dinner. There are two ways to make that happen - pressure canning and freezing. I'm currently thinking that a small chest freezer might be a better investment since it would be more versatile. I'd just have to clean out the space in the garage.

[psyko_kitty]

Our peach tree has approximately one billion tiny peaches on it. Want some?

[gwentevis]

Are they ripe and sweet? If so, sure, I'll take some. I can even return some as jam if you'd like.