Citrus Marmalade

3/4 cup zested or thinly sliced orange peel (do not pack)
1/4 cup zested or thinly sliced lemon peel (do not pack)
1 cup water
1/2 cup strained fresh orange juice
3/4 cup water
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/3 cups supremed (fruit removed from skins) and finely chopped orange segments plus enough reserved juice to equal 1 1/2 cups (8-10 Valencia oranges)
7/8 cup supremed and finely chopped grapefruit segments plus enough reserved juice to equal 1 cup (2-3 large grapefruits)
1/2 cup prepared lemons supremed and finely chopped segments and juice of 3-4 lemons
5 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon unsalted butter
1 (3oz.) pouch liquid pectin

In a small bowl, combine the orange and lemon peels and 1 cup water. Let soak for 10 minutes. Drain the peel and discard the water.

In an 8-quart pan, combine the peel with the orange juice, 3/4 cup water and baking soda. Over medium-high heat, bring to a full boil. reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the citrus fruits, Cover and simmer 10 minutes more. 

Remove the cover and stir in the sugar and butter. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Sim off any foam. 

To prevent floating fruit, allow the marmalade to cool 5 minutes before filling jars. Gently stir the marmalade to distribute the fruit. Ladle the marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F (93C) water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Yields 5-6 1/2 pt. and 10-12 1/4 pt. jars

Source: Blue Ribbon Preserves, Linda J. Amendt

Dead-Easy Ghoulish Jelly

This Halloween I decided to put a little spin on the jams & jellies and make something a little 'ghoulish.' But I don't think anyone will really eat this, so I made something 'dead-easy' that didn't take a lot of time and will be fun to give to friends.

You can use this jelly recipe for any jellies you make from bottled juice, but if you'd like a ghoulish idea here is the recipe for my 'eye-popping' jelly!

4 cups bottled white grape juice (I chose this flavor so you can see the eyeballs)

7 cups sugar

2 3oz. pouches liquid pectin

In an 8 qt. pan, over medium heat, heat the juice until warm. Add the sugar and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the enter contents of both pectin pouches. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute (or also test the gelling point on a spoon - the jelly will sheet the spoon completely when gelled).

Quickly skim off any foam and immediately ladle the hot jelly into hot jars with the eyes already in the jar. The eyes will float when you pour the jelly in the jar, so push them down with a knife so you can measure there is 1/4 headspace between the jelly and the jar rim. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Flip the jars so the eyes float to the top and let set until the jelly is cool.

This jelly should be eaten (if your friends/family choose to eat it!) within a few weeks because the jars haven't been water processed. I think if it's eaten any later it could truly be 'ghoulish!'

Wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween.

Peach Butter with a Little Spice Kick

This recipe makes a fruity butter with a little spice kick to reflect the fall season.

4lbs. ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped

1/3 cup strained fresh orange juice

1 tsp. antioxidant crystals or ascorbic acid (find at health food stores - it maintains the color of your preserve)

¾ tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

2 tbsp. strained fresh lemon juice

In an 8-quart pan, combine the peaches, orange juice, antioxidant crystals and butter.

Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the peaches are soft, about 10 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

Press the peaches and juice through a food mill or fine-meshed sieve. Return the peach pulp to the pan. Stir in the sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice.

Over medium-low heat, heat the mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is complexly dissolved. Increase the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat and simmer until thick, about 20 to 30 minutes. As the butter thickens, stir constantly to prevent sticking or scorching. Remove the plan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

Ladle the hot butter into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Blueberry-Peach Jam: Recipe

I'm starting to test making preserves without pectin. The recipe below I pulled together and was told it's one of the best I've prepared, so thought I'd share! (This is also what I entered into the Topsfield Fair this year.) This recipe yields only three 1/2 pint jars, but the trick with no pectin is use 1/2 the weight of sugar to your fruit. So if you have 4 lbs. of fruit use 2 lbs. of sugar. This will vary per recipe depending upon how sweet a fruit is inherently, but this is a good guide to start with.

2lbs. blueberries

2lbs. peaches

2lbs. cane sugar

4 tbsps. lemon juice

Wash and drain blueberries.

Peel peaches and remove pits. Roughly chop and mash fruit.

In one 8 qt. saucepan add the blueberries and 1lb. sugar. Mix thoroughly. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid sticking.

In another 8 qt. saucepan add the mashed peaches and 1lb. sugar. Mix thoroughly. Cook over medium heat stirring frequently to avoid sticking.

When both fruit/sugar mixes start thickening (about 35 minutes) add 2 tbsps lemon juice to each.

When both fruit mixes sheet the spoon (about 40 minutes) and are at gelling point remove from heat.

Work blueberry mixture through a food mill and discard seeds and skins.

Fill hot jars with a layer of peaches and alternate with a layer of blueberries until ¼ inch from top of jar. Using a knife, mix the two together in the jar.

Wipe the jar rims and threads with a damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process ½ pt. jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes.

Entering State & Town Fairs

This year I am submitting a jam into the Topsfield Fair (Topsfield MA from Oct 2 - 12) and realized as I was getting ready that there's a bit to it! So I thought I'd share a few tips for anyone who might be considering entering.

• Read the rules thoroughly. The Topsfield Fair has about two pages of rules and not following them completely could result in disqualification. I recommend you read the rules before making your product (because you may have to process them a different way than you're used to) and after you make the jars so you label correctly.

• I pulled together such a pretty decoration for my lid and in my last read through of the rules I realized you can't decorate your jars! I think this is common, so read the rules clearly before losing time making your jar pretty.

• You may have enter before you submit. Topsfield requires you send in an entry form a week before you bring in your product. You can say what you intend to bring, so if you add/subtract something it's okay.

• The judges. This year Topsfield has a food expert from Kraft and a woman who teaches how to make/preserve jams. This means my jam will be judged for flavor, quality of the preserve (clarity, etc.) and in how well I processed the jars.

I'll find out at the fair if I placed. I'm in the "jam-other" category for a Blueberry-Peach Jam. Fingers crossed!

And I wish all the best to anyone who enters - it's a bit of fun!

Putting Up Tomatoes

As the summer comes to an end it's time to pick and put up your garden tomatoes. This is one of my favorite home preserving projects because you can enjoy your garden tomatoes all winter long. Last year I used them twice in a tomato soup recipe I found in Ina Garten's latest book, Back to Basics. Highly recommend giving it a try, but your tomato sauce is also a GREAT base for pasta sauce and I'm looking forward to making that all winter with the dried herbs from the garden as well.

Putting up tomatoes takes a bit of time, so I recommend you make a day of it and give yourself time to enjoy it. And there are so many different recipes and approaches to putting up tomatoes so go with your favorite or one that was passed down to you, but if you need a recipe here is what I have followed for the past couple of years and been happy with the results. (This uses a fair amount of tomatoes, so adjust quantities as necessary.)

25 lbs. plum tomatoes, cored and quartered

2 tsps. salt

1/2 cup bottled lemon juice

In an 8 - 10qt. stainless steel pan over medium heat, bring the tomatoes to a boil, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the tomatoes are soft, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. remove the plan from the heat.

Press the tomatoes through a food mill or fine sieve. Discard the seeds and skins (unless you like to keep some in - this is a preference thing). Return the pulp to the pan. Stir in the salt.

Over medium heat, cook the pulp, stirring frequently, until it reduces by about half, or to the desired consistency. this may take 45 to 90 minutes, depending on the liquid content of the tomatoes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking or scorching. Remove the plan from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Ladle the sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. using a plastic knife, remove any trapped air bubbles. Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. (At this point we dropped a fresh basil leaf in the jar - just for a little flavor). Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process pint jars in a 212F (100C) water bath for 35 minutes, quart jars for 40 minutes.

Recipe courtesy of Blue Ribbon Preserves, by Linda J. Amendt

Making & Freezing Pesto

One of my favorite things to make at the end of every summer if fresh pesto in LOTS of batches. Pesto freezes well for several months and only seems to get better the longer it’s frozen. Throughout the year I make chicken, pesto & pasta as a quick meal that’s oh-so-good with this ‘fresh’ pesto.

Here’s the recipe I follow and prefer because it has a slightly bolder flavor:

1 cup well-packed basil leaves

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 tbsps. pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, crushed

salt

60g best-quality freshly grated parmesan cheese

Blend basil, oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt until smooth. This can be done most easily in a blender (stop once or twice to stir contents), food processor or large mortar and pestle. When evenly blended, scrape into a bowl and stir in the cheese.

Pour into a tupperware container and store in freezer.

So a couple of tips when making & using your pesto:

1) I’ve doubled this pesto recipe and it works okay, but you if you triple or quadruple it you may find the flavor gets distorted (too “hot” from the garlic, for example).

2) When I cook with the frozen pesto I’ll take it out and leave it on the counter while I cook the chicken. This softens it just enough to scrape out some pesto for your meal.

A great way to enjoy basil from your garden for months and taste a little summer in winter!

Blueberry Marmalade – A Friend Favorite

One of my favorite marmalades to make and eat is Blueberry Marmalade. This isn’t a flavor most of my friends and family would chose as a first or even third choice in the store, but when you share this homemade marmalade with them it seems to be the crowd favorite! Blueberry is a strong flavor and it needs something else to break up the bold; the orange and lemon segments in this recipe are the perfect complement.

Here’s the recipe I follow and a photo of my getting it ready this year.

1 large Valencia orange

1 lemon

¼ cup water

¼ cup strained fresh orange juice

¼ cup strained fresh lemon juice

½ cup water

4 cups blueberries (about 2-3 pints)

½ teaspoon unsalted butter

5 cups sugar

1 (3-ounce) pouch liquid pectin

Using a zester, remove only the outer colored peel of the orange and lemon. Peel the fruit, removing all the white pith (the pith will make your marmalade bitter). Separate the orange and lemon segments from the white membrane and remove any seeds. Discard the membrane and seeds. Finely chop the fruit and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the drained peel, chopped citrus fruit, orange juice, lemon juice and ½ cup water. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Sort, stem and rinse the blueberries.

Add the blueberries and butter to the citrus mixture and simmer, uncover, for 3 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent sticking. Gradually stir in the sugar. Heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

Increase the heat to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Stir in the entire contents of the pectin pouch. Return the mixture to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat. Skim off any foam.

To prevent floating fruit, allow the marmalade to cool 5 minutes before filling jars. Gently stir the marmalade to distribute the fruit. Ladle the marmalade into hot jars, leaving ¼-inch headspace Wipe the jar rims and threads with a clean, damp cloth. Cover with hot lids and apply screw rings. Process half-pint jars in a 200F water bath for 10 minutes, pint jars for 15 minutes.

Recipe from, “Blue Ribbon Preserves” by Linda J. Amendt

Favorite Summertime Drink: Blackberry Infused Vodka

I’ve tried a couple different vodka infusions, but one of my all time fav’s is blackberry and this is for a few reasons: 1) you can’t buy it at the bottle shop 2) it has this cool purple color in the end and 3) it comes out REAL nice.

I’ve have tried raspberry, but there is something to it where you need to add sugar to bring out a ‘true’ raspberry flavor. With blackberry it’s just vodka & berries.

So now that we’re in the hot days of August (at least here in Boston!) and we’re planning end of summer activities, why not add a vodka infusion to your September bbq! Here’s how you make it:

You can use any size bottle of vodka and any brand you prefer (I have used Absolut in the past). For larger sized bottles I use two punnets of blackberries.

In a larger pot heat the vodka so it’s warm, but not boiling. While you’re doing that, wash out a lidded glass container with hot soap and water. Rinse well and dry.

Lightly crush the blackberries and add them to the clean, glass container.

Gently pour the vodka over the berries and swirl the mixture around a few times.

Cover the opening of the glass container with two layers of plastic cling wrap then put on the lid.

Put the container in a paper bag and store in a cool, dark place for one month. Swirl it every week to keep things moving a little.

After a month, pour the mixture through a sieve to separate the fruit from the vodka. Then, line the sieve with four layers of cheesecloth and pour the liquid through. Repeat this a couple of times rinsing the cheesecloth between each pour.

If you’re super neurotic (like myself) you can then line your sieve with coffee filters and pour the liquid through a few times (changing the filter each time).

Now you should have a clear vodka that’s ready to drink! Mix with tonic or soda water and a lime and you’d think you’re drinking summer…. :-) (Drink responsibly, of course!)

Sterilizing Jars – What’s the “Right” Way?

I’ve spoken to a few different people about how they process jars and each one has a different approach. Some keep the traditions grandma taught them, while others will say grandma’s techniques are outdated.

So what’s the “right” way? How you can you be confident you won’t give your friends botulism if you hand them a jar more than 2 months old?

Well, no pun intended, but this is kind of a “hot topic” in home canning and that’s the trick I have learned – it’s all in the temperature.

Now, my mom worked in quality control so I’m about as neurotic as they come when processing jars. I wash my jars in either the dishwasher on the hot cycle or with soap and hot water in the sink. Then I sterilize them in water at 212 degrees for at least 10 minutes. The lids I wash in soap and hot water and I keep the lids hot/warm in water so the rubber seals well on the jar. The jars are hot when I pack them with my jam/jelly, etc. and after I seal the jar it’s back in the water at 212 degrees for 10 minutes of processing. This is truly the neurotic approach.

But is all this fuss necessary? Maybe not. Technically speaking you need to be operating at 212 degrees – how you sterilize with that temperature can vary.

I’ve watched a very talented jam/jelly maker pack their hot (212 degrees) product into cold jars, seal the jar with cold lids and tip the jar over until it seals. This is because the product is the right temperature so it sterilizes the inside of the jar and seals it. She’s never had a problem and sells her product at boutiques in New York!

There’s also the oven approach. You can oven heat your jars to 212 degrees and pack your hot product into those. You can either flip the jars over after you’ve put the lids on or put them into a water bath for 10 minutes (or less time if you’re working with ¼ pt. jars).

So after all this, what is the best way? Well, I think it’s a comfort level thing. I’m comfortable being neurotic about my approach because I know it’s about 99% fool proof. But it’s fussy and, technically, you’d probably be just as okay packing the product into cold jars and flipping them over to seal.

So have a play around with an approach that works best for you, but don’t forget it’s the temperature that will make or break it – you’ve got to be at that hot 212 temp. And these tips are for small batches for home canners – if you’re doing anything on a larger more commercial scale you need to do your proper research.

Will it set??

No matter how long you’ve been making home preserves there’s nothing more disappointing then when the jam, jelly, marmalade, etc. doesn’t set. Sure, you can open and pour ALL your jars back into a pot, add MORE sugar and pectin only to do the process all over again, but how frustrating is that?

So, how do you know if you’re recipe has set? There’s a few different approaches out there (get it to a certain temp., roll boil for a defined amount of time, etc.), but the only tried and true method I have found is the spoon test. I found this in the Better Homes & Garden cookbook most of us probably have on our shelves (that our mom’s bought for us!).

Now, I’ve seen this work for both pectin and non-pectin recipes. Once you’ve roll boiled for at least a minute (or when you feel it getting thick for non-pectin recipes) start dipping a larger sized spoon in the mixture. When the mixture completely coats the spoon and forms one complete drop at the bottom of the spoon you can feel confident your mixture will set. On average (for pectin recipes) I’ve found this ranges from 1 ½ to 2 minutes of roll boiling – I like to make sure it’s going to set!

But this is also a preference thing. If you like a softer spread you may only want one minute of roll boiling. I prefer a more set spread, so will let it go for another 30-45 seconds. I’ve made one too many marmalades that haven’t set and been devastated after four hours of prep!

This is a part of home preserving I’ve enjoyed experimenting with and I continue to play around with it. When making non-pectin recipes get yourself a LARGE spoon (like serving size) and when you get one consistent drip at the bottom of the spoon you’re done.

Good luck – we all need it at that crucial stage!

Raspberry Jam - Softening Seeds with Champagne

Earlier this year I came across a raspberry jam made with champagne to soften the seeds. I’ve made raspberry jam in the past using a standard recipe and I thought it came out fine (all my friends seemed to like it!), but it is rather ‘seedy’. I know you can work some of the fruit through a food mill or sieve to reduce the amount of seeds, but that also reduces your amount of fruit meaning you need to buy more to get to four cups (or however much your recipe calls for). And we all know, raspberries aren’t the cheapest berry you’ll buy!

So this year I thought I’d give the champagne trick a try (and it’s not hard figuring out what to do with your leftover champagne!). I had the opportunity to ask the jam maker how he added the champagne to the recipe and he adds it during the roll boil stage. But I decided to experiment a little.

My recipe called for four cups of crushed fruit and I did want to remove some seeds, so I put about half the crushed fruit through a food mill using a plate with larger holes (you just get juice otherwise). Then I added the crushed raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, bit of butter and about ½ cup of champagne to my 8 quart pot. (I did add pectin in the roll boil stage).

The results: not bad, but I think it needs more champagne! I only added ½ a cup because I didn’t want to taste champagne in the jam, but next time I’ll go closer to ¾ cup. The seeds are softer and so it’s a nicer spread, but they could use a little bit more.

I also decided to add the champagne at the beginning so the raspberries had a longer cooking time with the champagne – so more time to soften. While I can’t know either way, I think it wasn’t a bad idea.

Another great benefit – more foam! The bubbles from the champagne make a lot more foam to skim off, which I put in a little container and froze. This is another experiment – making foam candy! YUM!!