Help me make jam & jelly

I´m back.
Had a busy day because we´ve got an Indian Feast coming up on Saturday and I´m cooking, so had to source some ingredients.
If you´re going to make jam (marmalade, jelly, whatever you want to call it!) then it´s pretty straightforward. For each kilo/pound of fruit, you´ll need about 800 gms/12-13 ozs sugar. Clean the fruit and dump it in a pan (I suggest you use a large one because it might boil over) with the sugar, bring to a boil, stir frequently and allow to simmer for about 20-25 minutes, until the jam "sets".
How do you know when it´s set? You take a tsp of the jam and put it on a cold saucer or plate. Leave it for a couple of minutes and if it´s not runny, it´s done.
Here`s the thing though: starfruit has pretty tough "wings" on the outside skin, so you might want to remove those. You´ll also need to remove the seeds and the seed covering: it´s a bit like the covering on apple seeds. I doubt you´ll need any pectin because the fruit is high in pectin - around 13%.
Posting the pepper jelly recipe right now...
 
Ok from my memory bank.
I make raspberry and strawberry jam/jelly here all the time. I've a batch of each ready to go now.
Berries =sugar, so 1kg berries 1 kg sugar.
Boil until it breaks down, dont rush it. It's simple. I use a whisk to help break it down. My fruit is picked fresh at picked fresh at our back door.
Now prior to bottling the jam developes a bit of froth on top. I put 2 lemon cubes into it then to remove it.
I DONT use pectin. It sets perfectly every time.
Coulis JAS_OH1 I do the same but add about 50ml water to thin it so you can pour it easily. And sieve before bottling. That part is labourious.
Have a go, it's so easy.

Russ
 
rascal said:
Ok from my memory bank.
I make raspberry and strawberry jam/jelly here all the time. I've a batch of each ready to go now.
Berries =sugar, so 1kg berries 1 kg sugar.
Boil until it breaks down, dont rush it. It's simple. I use a whisk to help break it down. My fruit is picked fresh at picked fresh at our back door.
Now prior to bottling the jam developes a bit of froth on top. I put 2 lemon cubes into it then to remove it.
I DONT use pectin. It sets perfectly every time.
Coulis JAS_OH1 I do the same but add about 50ml water to thin it so you can pour it easily. And sieve before bottling. That part is labourious.
Have a go, it's so easy.

Russ
Click to expand...
I'll have to wait, fresh fruit is astronomically expensive here in winter.
 
karadekoolaid said:
I´m back.
Had a busy day because we´ve got an Indian Feast coming up on Saturday and I´m cooking, so had to source some ingredients.
If you´re going to make jam (marmalade, jelly, whatever you want to call it!) then it´s pretty straightforward. For each kilo/pound of fruit, you´ll need about 800 gms/12-13 ozs sugar. Clean the fruit and dump it in a pan (I suggest you use a large one because it might boil over) with the sugar, bring to a boil, stir frequently and allow to simmer for about 20-25 minutes, until the jam "sets".
How do you know when it´s set? You take a tsp of the jam and put it on a cold saucer or plate. Leave it for a couple of minutes and if it´s not runny, it´s done.
Here`s the thing though: starfruit has pretty tough "wings" on the outside skin, so you might want to remove those. You´ll also need to remove the seeds and the seed covering: it´s a bit like the covering on apple seeds. I doubt you´ll need any pectin because the fruit is high in pectin - around 13%.
Posting the pepper jelly recipe right now...
Click to expand...
My mum.used to use the saucer method too, I've never. :)

Russ
 
Morning Glory said:
I've no idea what butter is doing in there! I've never come across it in either a jam or jelly.
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Adding butter to jam is an old housewives trick to prevent foaming. It works. My Grannie taught it to me and that was the way I always made strawberry jam until becoming anaphylactic to dairy. It also adds a little something to the taste making it much nicer on toast. It's something I have to be very careful with because even after boiling the fruit with a knob of butter in it, I'll still go into anaphylactic shock on the first bite. So i have to check when we buy homemade jam.

PabloLerntKochen said:
The only reason why some acidic source has to be added to some sorts of jarred food, is the botulinus bacteria. It creates one of the deadliest venoms known, the bacteria is already on all kinds of stuff (food, trees, grass) and it's procreating in vacuum, what's created by you in the jar.
Click to expand...

It took a while but the pectin he's adding had added acid already.

Ingredients​

Dextrose, Fruit Pectin, Fumaric Acid (for Tartness), Sodium Citrate.
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SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Adding butter to jam is an old housewives trick to prevent foaming. It works. My Grannie taught it to me and that was the way I always made strawberry jam until becoming anaphylactic to dairy. It also adds a little something to the taste making it much nicer on toast. It's something I have to be very careful with because even after boiling the fruit with a knob of butter in it, I'll still go into anaphylactic shock on the first bite. So i have to check when we buy homemade jam.



It took a while but the pectin he's adding had added acid already.
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I'm 3rd generation lemon. Havnt tried butter.
Btw our meyer lemons are quite sweet.

Russ
 
Red Pepper Jelly
Here´s the recipe. If you want to use hot peppers (chiles) it´s entirely up to you whether you leave the seeds or not. I remove them for purely aesthetic reasons.
I´ve successfully made this with red and green bell peppers, sweet chile peppers, hot (Rocoto) peppers, red jalapeno peppers and even balsamic vinegar and red grapes.
 
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rascal said:
You can buy frozen, I saw some here a week or so ago , $8 500gm.
Incidentally these were from middle European place . Croatia I think because I had a grin and thought of burt blank at the time, lol.

Russ
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My ex-wife made lots of jellies and jams. She often used frozen fruit, as it was picked ripe, and had lots of natural sugars.

CD
 
rascal said:
I'm 3rd generation lemon. Havnt tried butter.
Btw our meyer lemons are quite sweet.

Russ
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I always add lemon juice as well. It contains pectin as do the pips iirc.

I think ours is a Meyer lemon tree as well. Usually the skin is quite thin, the fruit much larger and definitely sweeter than a shop bought lemon. I just tend to double the volume of lemon juice needed with a recipe to make up for the sweetness. They peel very much like an orange as well. We've actually considered eating them in a similar manner to grapefruit tbh. I do find that the inners have a habit of detaching from the rind when juicing them by hand or on a glass juicer.
 
rascal said:
Does texas grow raspberry canes? Have you thought about it?

Russ
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Not as a cash crop, as far as I know. I'm sure home gardeners grow all kinds of things that aren't commercially viable in Texas (like tomatoes). I'm not a big fan of raspberries, so I haven't even thought about it.

CD
 
Craig's brother came up with this recipe years and years and years ago. It always works and we love the serving suggestion with the cream cheese and Ritz below. I've also used it as a glaze for shrimp.

Lee Clark's Pepper Jelly
1-1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3/4 cup sweet red bell peppers
1/2 cup jalapeno peppers
All peppers seeded and coarsely chopped
6 cups sugar
1 envelope Certo

Combine 1/2 cup vinegar with peppers in blender; pulse to fine chop (not mush). Add to sugar in large sauce pan. Rinse blender with remaining 3/4 cup vinegar and add to sugar. Mix sugar, peppers, vinegar and heat on high stirring constantly until mixture boils. Turn down heat, add Certo, return to boil for 2 minutes. Pour into sterilized pint jars, seal, and can in water bath for 20 minutes. Store in cool dark place and refrigerate after opening.

I usually make several recipes to store and give away as gifts.

Serving suggestion: Soften a block of cream cheese, pour pepper jelly over and use Ritz crackers to scoop and dip.
 
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