If you're interested in making preserves, you've came to the right place! This is like a beginner's crash course in making preserves! I'm going to keep it short, but jump right in about what you need to know BEFORE you start making preserves, and then I'll follow up by putting my tried and true reciepes at the bottom :)
What you should know:
Don't think you're going to accomplish everything in ONE day. It literally took my husband, grandmother and I an entire day to make 3 jars of jam, and then all of our peaches and pears (which is in the sugar syrup). 3 jars of jam doesn't seem like a lot, but I didn't buy enough strawberries, and the recipe I'm putting below is for 7 cups of jam (which is about 3 mason jars). You can double, triple, or quadrupil the recipe if you want, but I prefer working with small amounts. I find they're easier to handle and they're not as heavy to move.
When buying your fruit, buy fresh (or hand picked), and buy what's in season. Don't expect to make blueberry jam at the beginning of summer when it comes in season towards the end!!
Go slow. Don't rush...when you rush, you make mistakes, and one small mistake can and will spoil an entire batch. Learned the hard way a few years ago when we first started doing this...and it ended with fermented preserved peach....disgustingness.
Prepare your jars WHILE you're cooking. Whether you're boiling your jars, or using the dishwasher, do this WHILE you're cooking and preparing your preserves. If your jar cools down before you're ready to use them, don't worry! Put a metal butter knife IN your jar before your pour in your jams, jellies, or syrups! The knife will apparently absorb all of the heat ensuring that your jar doesn't crack or bust!
The lids from the mason jars should ALWAYS be boiled. The rings can go into the dishwasher, but the middle circle should be boiled in a small pot of water. This year, after the lids were boiling in the pot, I kept the burner on low to keep it warm.
When you're done your canning and have all of your lids and caps on, if you decided not to use Paraffin wax, DON'T WORRY!! Turn your jars onto their lids and let them cool completely that way. Sounds weird, but while the sugar is cooling, it's going to make it's own sugar seal around the jar keeping air out and your fruit and jams from spoiling!
Use Liquid Pectin. I've used powdered pectin SOOO many times in the past, and it's not BAD or anything like that, I just like the result better when I use the liquid pouches of pectin. I feel like my jams...jellify a lot better than with the powder packages. My opinion, but I'm nit picky when it comes to jams I suppose!
HAVE FUN!!! If you can get 2 or 3 friends together to do this, or make it a family event, Go for it!! Life is nothing if you can't have fun, and the more fun you have, the more you're going to want to do it next year!
Here's my SUPER SIMPLE recipes for homemade jam, and canned peaches and pears :)
What you should know:
Don't think you're going to accomplish everything in ONE day. It literally took my husband, grandmother and I an entire day to make 3 jars of jam, and then all of our peaches and pears (which is in the sugar syrup). 3 jars of jam doesn't seem like a lot, but I didn't buy enough strawberries, and the recipe I'm putting below is for 7 cups of jam (which is about 3 mason jars). You can double, triple, or quadrupil the recipe if you want, but I prefer working with small amounts. I find they're easier to handle and they're not as heavy to move.
When buying your fruit, buy fresh (or hand picked), and buy what's in season. Don't expect to make blueberry jam at the beginning of summer when it comes in season towards the end!!
Go slow. Don't rush...when you rush, you make mistakes, and one small mistake can and will spoil an entire batch. Learned the hard way a few years ago when we first started doing this...and it ended with fermented preserved peach....disgustingness.
Prepare your jars WHILE you're cooking. Whether you're boiling your jars, or using the dishwasher, do this WHILE you're cooking and preparing your preserves. If your jar cools down before you're ready to use them, don't worry! Put a metal butter knife IN your jar before your pour in your jams, jellies, or syrups! The knife will apparently absorb all of the heat ensuring that your jar doesn't crack or bust!
The lids from the mason jars should ALWAYS be boiled. The rings can go into the dishwasher, but the middle circle should be boiled in a small pot of water. This year, after the lids were boiling in the pot, I kept the burner on low to keep it warm.
When you're done your canning and have all of your lids and caps on, if you decided not to use Paraffin wax, DON'T WORRY!! Turn your jars onto their lids and let them cool completely that way. Sounds weird, but while the sugar is cooling, it's going to make it's own sugar seal around the jar keeping air out and your fruit and jams from spoiling!
Use Liquid Pectin. I've used powdered pectin SOOO many times in the past, and it's not BAD or anything like that, I just like the result better when I use the liquid pouches of pectin. I feel like my jams...jellify a lot better than with the powder packages. My opinion, but I'm nit picky when it comes to jams I suppose!
HAVE FUN!!! If you can get 2 or 3 friends together to do this, or make it a family event, Go for it!! Life is nothing if you can't have fun, and the more fun you have, the more you're going to want to do it next year!
Here's my SUPER SIMPLE recipes for homemade jam, and canned peaches and pears :)
Strawberry Jam (for about 7 cups)
3 and 3/4 cups strawberries (hulled and crushed...hulled is just taking off the stems, and use a potato smasher to crush them!!)
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch Liquid Pectin
In a large saucepan, combine fruit, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil on high heat and let boil hard (rolling boil) for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in pectin. Stir and skim (taking off all of the pink foam from the top) for about 5 minutes to enture that jam is fully combined and no peices of fruit is floating at the top.
Pour into warm mason jars, fill it until it's about 1/4 inch from the top. Let cool down until it's cool enough to handle the jar (without burning yourself), and turn over the jar to make sugar seal.
Peaches and Pears in Syrup
3 and 1/4 cups white sugar
5 cups of water
Bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm until ready to use. DO NOT boil the syrup down too much. If your syrup get's too thick, it'll be hard to work with and won't taste the same as just a light simple syrup.
Cut the fruit (peaches and pears), and place in jars BEFORE you put the syrup in, leaving about an inch of space from the top. Ladle syrup into the fruit filled jars until fruit is completely covered. Put on tops, and turn over immediately to ensure a good sugar seal.
3 and 3/4 cups strawberries (hulled and crushed...hulled is just taking off the stems, and use a potato smasher to crush them!!)
1/4 cup lemon juice
7 cups granulated sugar
1 pouch Liquid Pectin
In a large saucepan, combine fruit, sugar, and lemon juice. Bring to a boil on high heat and let boil hard (rolling boil) for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in pectin. Stir and skim (taking off all of the pink foam from the top) for about 5 minutes to enture that jam is fully combined and no peices of fruit is floating at the top.
Pour into warm mason jars, fill it until it's about 1/4 inch from the top. Let cool down until it's cool enough to handle the jar (without burning yourself), and turn over the jar to make sugar seal.
Peaches and Pears in Syrup
3 and 1/4 cups white sugar
5 cups of water
Bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Reduce heat to low, and keep warm until ready to use. DO NOT boil the syrup down too much. If your syrup get's too thick, it'll be hard to work with and won't taste the same as just a light simple syrup.
Cut the fruit (peaches and pears), and place in jars BEFORE you put the syrup in, leaving about an inch of space from the top. Ladle syrup into the fruit filled jars until fruit is completely covered. Put on tops, and turn over immediately to ensure a good sugar seal.
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