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Sometimes it's feast or famine. In the winter months, nothing sounds better than fresh strawberries, raspberries, peaches and plums. And then comes summertime, and you don't know what to do with all the surplus fruit!
Capture the flavor of summer by making jam and jelly.
If you're new to canning fruit preserves, relax. It's not hard—after all, if your mom and grandmother did it year after year, it must not be too tough. Here are some tips to get you started.
Pectin is the substance that makes fruit gel. Some occurs naturally in fruit, and to make jam and jelly, we supplement with packaged pectin. Under ripe fruit contains more pectin than ripe, so a good ratio is to use 3/4 ripe fruit, and 1/4 slightly under ripe fruit. That will help your jam gel better.
Jams and jellies tend to boil over, so be sure to use a large, heavy pot. It's best not to double a recipe. Doubled recipes don't always gel properly. You can substitute honey or corn syrup for sugar, but they have stronger flavors and may affect the taste of the jelly.
Because honey and corn syrup add liquid to the recipe, leave out one to two tablespoons of fruit juice for every 1/4 cup of liquid sweetener used in the recipe. Putting the lid on the jar does not seal the product. All jams and jellies need to be processed in sterilized jars in a boiling water bath for five minutes to assure food safety.
For start-to-finish information on canning, visit the Ball Canning Website. http://www.homecanning.com
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