I used 3 lbs. of strawberries (washed, hulled, and quartered), 3C of sugar, and 1/3C lemon juice. Aside from my timing being all off (the jam was ready and the jars weren't) it was much easier than I'd imagined.
I mashed the berries in the stock pot and let them simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Then I added the sugar and lemon juice, stirred for about 2 minutes and then brought the mixture to a full boil. After about 5 minutes it really started to roll, bubble, and froth. I skimmed the foam off and stirred it quite frequently. I had chilled a plate in the freezer so I could check the consistency and after about 15 minutes it seemed to be jelling nicely. If the jars had been ready it would have been a snap. I had to wait for the jars to boil for 10 minutes and the lids for 5 minutes. Then I filled the jars (5 1/2 pint jars), leaving 1/4 inch headspace, put on the lids, screwed on the rings and put the jars back in the water bath for 15 minutes. I pulled them out and let them cool on a rack. And they all popped indicating they were sealed!
The second batch I made tonight went much more smoothly. I got the jars boiling before I even began the jam making and let them sit in the water bath until I was ready to fill them.
In this batch I used about 5C strawberries, 1C raspberries (frozen from last summer), and 2C rhubarb (fresh from our farm share today), 3C sugar, and 2T lemon juice. I used the same method as above for cooking up the mix and ended up with 4 1/2 pint jars.
I lucked out finding the Ball canning kit with the jar tongs, a magnet to get the lids out of boiling water, a canning funnel, and a little tool to measure the headspace. However, I had much less luck finding a round cooling rack to fit in the bottom of the stock pot. All the racks I found were 12 inch cake racks and they don't fit in the stock pot, it would have to be about 11 1/2 inches instead, argh. I put the jars right on the bottom of the pot and they didn't break, but that may have been good luck!
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If you are going to experiment further with canning, it is well worth it to get a canning kettle with a jar rack. For jams and jellies,that don't require cooking after you fill the jars, I used to sterilize the jars in the oven.
ReplyDeleteMeant to say, you don't really need to put jam back in the water bath as long as your jars are sterile....
ReplyDeletemmmmmm......jam!
I sure do hope someone gives me some jam.
ReplyDeleteI found a canning kit that had everything you mentioned but also a large kettle with a jar rack. I had to do a little McGuyver-ing with my jar rack, but it works great now. (I added additional wire in a grid pattern - the spaces were so large my half-pint jam jars were falling through.) Definitely try to find one - it makes the process so much easier! Can't wait to hear how your jam turns out!
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