Jam recipes please?

HollyChubb

I know this question may be better posed to the WC board but I was hoping that someone might also throw in some advice on canning for a newbie. What supplies do I need? Is it hard to do? And finally is jam an OK thing to start with for a my 1st canning venture?

WendyGR

This website is a good place to start: http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/preserve__fresh_preserving__home_canning_/33.php

It's not hard, it's fun!

SuperGreen

Canning is fun, you'll like it!  I highly recommend the Ball Canning Kit, that gives you everything you need all together.  The Amazon link lists out all the usual stuff.  Yes, jam is a good canning project to start with.  It's important to remember that canning doesn't make the food any better, so you want to start with unblemished, ripe fruit.  Personally I wouldn't spend the time canning out-of-season produce from the grocery store.  I would wait until spring and can local strawberries or whatever fruit you want to make jam out of.

It's also important to use USDA canning guidelines, which are part of the Ball "Blue Book," which is what most people use for canning.  The Blue Book lists out all the canning steps very clearly, plus tons of recipes and tips.

jennyk213

This was my first year canning and it was fun.  I actually went to a canning class at the local co-op but I probably didn't need to. Just read the book linked above or the one I linked to really carefully and follow the recipes and you'll be fine.

The Ball Complete Book of Home Canning has some good recipes.  I particularly loved the strawberry margarita jam and DH liked the Oktoberfest mustard.  I found that the recipes that call for regular pectin and a ton of sugar were way too sugary.  You couldn't even taste the fruit.  I ended up throwing 2 batches away. 

I was so grossed out by those recipes that I tried  Pamona's pectin.  It gives you these mix and match sort of recipes that call for way less sugar and you can sub other types of sweetener.  I made a strawberry jam with honey instead of sugar that turned out amazing.

SuperGreen

jennyk213:

The Ball Complete Book of Home Canning has some good recipes.  I particularly loved the strawberry margarita jam and DH liked the Oktoberfest mustard.  I found that the recipes that call for regular pectin and a ton of sugar were way too sugary.  You couldn't even taste the fruit.  I ended up throwing 2 batches away.

There's a section in the back for "low sugar recipes", we use those.  I'm super wary of using recipes from other sources.  Without the right balance of acidity, water bath canning (like for jams) could cause botulism.  Only the USDA recipes, like the one in the Ball Book, have been tested to ensure they have the right balance.

rubyiu

I use agave nectar instead of sugar and pectin to make mine. I also use honey occasionally. It's really easy!! Check out my blog for my adventures with raspberry jam:

http://chroniclesofwit.blogspot.com/2010/06/raspberry-adventures.html

 

I bought a standard large canning pot from the hardware store. Also Bell jars. I bought a canning kit from Amazon, which included a funnel, tongs, and jar tongs. That was enough! 

rubyiu

Oh, here is my strawberry canning adventure, and pics of my supplies are up with it:

http://chroniclesofwit.blogspot.com/2010/05/strawberry-jam-canning-session.html

jebuell

I recently started canning and have been blogging about it.  I haven't updated it in a while and I really need to...

ETA: Here's my Canning Intro post where I go into what I use, how much I spent, what else you can use, what you need, etc...