I am by no means an expert jammer (novice preserves, remember), but I’m definitely more comfortable with the flow and timing of jam making than I was with my first ever batch from 2019. I have the prep work down, and the two-burner system of heating up the jars while heating up the fruit. And I no longer overcook it so that it becomes a solid mass of chewy pectin.
Here is my first attempt at jamming, using Marisa’s pear vanilla jam recipe. Overcooked, I called it caramelized. But it was still good. And good on crackers with (vegan) cheese. No regrets, I’m only getting better.
The apple jam I made last year, from a mix of pink lady and gala apples, was also too thick and chewy, but was great spread on quick breads and made excellent hand pies. I used both pie crust and store-bought puff pastry, just spread the jam on one side and folded it over onto itself, brushed with some oatmilk, and baked. Yum. As far as recipes, I used this one, and let the apples cook down a little longer. Maybe too long with the added pectin from the apple peels. It is very, very difficult to find apple jam recipes on the Internet with how terrible algorithms are now, but I would likely use this method again and cook for a much shorter time.
For the strawberry jam, though, I wanted tried something new to me that required a bit more finesse (in my opinion): Pomona’s Pectin mashed strawberry jam. The four pints of strawberries from yesterday’s CSA haul crushed into almost exactly four cups. I messed up and added the calcium water before the pectin sugar, but let it cook for a couple extra minutes and it came out great. I had to shake it up (gently) a few times while it cooled, because the juice separated from the fruit, but it solidified into one single layer. I hear it tastes like real jam you’d get from the store. 🙂
Rhubarb Season 