To Pectin or not to Pectin...
When I lived in Oregon, there was a pick your own berry farm about 4 miles from my apartment. For just a couple dollars, you could take a bucket and fill it with sweet, succulent berries in just a few minutes. Berry season is not quite the same in Southern California. The store bought blackberries and raspberries are terrible and tasteless. Farmers markets are a little better. We tend to go more for strawberries and just plan to vacation in Oregon or Washington each year during berry season.
For my first attempt at jamming, I made a mixed berry jam from the motley assortment of raspberries and blackberries we picked at a you-pick farm in Oak Glen, CA. The jam turned out decent for a first attempt but I felt the amount of sugar in the recipe was a little out of control and I am not a huge fan of the texture from the pectin. The pectin gel texture of the jam is a little unnerving to me. It also seemed a little strange to be adding a chemical into the preserves when the point of making my own is to know what is in my food and to be assured that I am consuming natural and fresh ingredients.
I decided to go au natural for my next attempts. I opted for strawberry preserves with half the sugar of the previous recipe and no pectin. The preservative in this recipe was lemon juice and lemon zest. I am not sure how well this will hold up in the cupboard compared to the pectin recipe. I think it is worth the risk to go natural.
The canning process went smoothly. Instead of boiling the jars to sterilize them, I saw a suggestion online to heat the jars in the oven. I opted for the toaster oven instead so our apartment did not overheat. The jars were super hot but it seemed to work. We left a little jam out of the jars to taste test today. The strawberry jam and fresh peanut butter made a delightfully delicious sandwich on fresh sourdough from the farmers market. And we will have jam left for when Keith makes his fresh bread from scratch!
Now the science experiment begins to see how long the jams will hold up in the cupboard. And I was very brave and gave my new in-laws a jar of strawberry jam. I have yet to get a response. Hope that is not a bad sign...
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| Sterilizing the jars |
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| Looks like carnage, tastes delicious! |
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| Steamy |
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| Our giant kitchen |
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