Strawberry Plum Jam: Part 2

So the results of my first foray into jam making? Pretty awesome.

As a recap, I hastily embarked upon my first jam venture by buying a ton of fruit, but lacked all of the other necessary equipment, like... jars, pectin, large pots, a clue as to what I was doing.

Between fruit buying on Tuesday and jamming on Saturday, most things came together. I bought jars, forsook pectin, borrowed a large pot, and started to have a clue. Strawberry plum jam was made. And it's good.

The cooking down of all the fruit with sugar was simple. No issues there. However, I was reading various methods for processing the jars from websites, friends, and the
instructions from the jar manufacturer. (Processing is the term for pressurizing the cans and sealing them. I was specifically doing a boiling water process.)

I made my jam in two batches, starting with the small jars. None of these sealed properly and I don't know why. However, my three large jars all sealed. The big difference was that I used the jar manufacturer instructions with the small jars. They specified keeping the jars in the canning water till they reached room temperature. Other instructions said to take the jars out immediately after boiling and let them cool at room temperature outside of the water, which is what I did for the large jars. I also may not have filled the small jars enough, the excess room at the top making it harder to create a vacuum. The recipe below outlines what I did for the large jars.



Strawberry Plum Jam
(aka Jackson’s Jam, since I was mascerating berries and plums while listening to Thriller just a few hours after MJ passed. It seems appropriate.)

3 lbs. strawberries
2 lbs. plums
2 cups sugar + 8 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean
2 lemons, juiced

Optional step 1: Mascerate berries and plums in 2 cups sugar and the seeds of one vanilla bean, let sit over night, covered and refrigerated. (I used about equal parts light brown sugar and white sugar. I also let it sit for two nights.)

Prepare your canning pot before starting to cook the fruit. I used a large pot and lined the bottom with a towel before filling it with water. I filled it with water till about 3/4 full.

In a large pot, cook all fruit with the 8 cups of sugar and lemon juice for 25 to 30 minutes on medium-high heat. Stir continuously once fruit starts to boil. Skim off any foam that may accumulate on the top.

Let cool for a couple minutes then fill the jars, leaving about 1/4 inch space between the jam and the top of the jar. Screw on lids and wipe off any excess jam with a towel dipped in boiling water.



Place jars in the canning pot, placing towels in between the jars to prevent them from touching. Bring water to a boil. Then, depending on your elevation and jar size, boil for the recommended time. In Philadelphia, the pint jars needed to boil for 20 minutes. Water needs to completely cover the jars, so if the water levels starts to get low, add more.

After the recommended processing time, remove jars using a pair of tongs and let them sit, untouched, till they are properly pressurized.

Thanks to Marisa for her inspirational strawberry jam recipe and the advice along the way! Also E, Mike, Jim and Aditi.

Strawberry Plum Jam: Part 1

I didn’t exactly go about this the right way. I mean, most people get their ducks in a row before embarking on a project like jam. Apparently, I am not one of those people. Rather, I prefer starting with 5 pounds of fruit, crossing my fingers and hoping I get my act together before the fruit spoils.

Wednesday morning I was wooed by the strawberries and plums at Reading Terminal Market. They were pretty, cheap and I’ve been meaning to jam anyway so… I bought 5 pounds of them.

I started poking around the internet and asking friends for advice:

“So what’s up with this “jar” business? Where do I find them?”
“Pectin… is it really necessary?”
“I’m sorry, you need a pot that’s HOW large?”

Thursday night I got to work, ignoring for a few hours the fact that Acme was sold-out of jars, meaning I was still jar-less. I took advantage of the optional first step in Marisa McClellan’s strawberry jam recipe: let the fruit stew overnight in sugar and vanilla bean. This would buy me some time. With Thriller playing in the background, I mashed up the berries and plums, brainstorming other places I could go for some proper canning jars.

Marisa and E had both suggested the Shop-Rite on Snyder Avenue for jars and pectin, but that was very out of my way and I had a window of about two hours before work in which to make something happen. Kitchen Kapers on 17th looked promising and it was on my way to the office.

Indeed, I made it into work on Friday with 8 jars, 4 5-oz (so cute!) and 4 17-oz. Kitchen Kapers carried three different types of jars, including French jars. The ones I bought had caps for vacuum sealing, which seemed appropriate. (Again, I really didn’t know what I was looking for, but they were jars with lids, so I bought them!)

So my next question was, how long does jamming take? Taking another look at Marisa’s strawberry jam post reminded me that she herself had even left the berries in the fridge for two nights and they were fine. I decided to take the chance and spend early Saturday morning jamming. I figured if I started around 9, that would leave me enough time before heading out for the day.

So here I am. It's now Saturday morning and jamming has begun. I started around 7:30, just to be safe. I'm cooking the fruit in two batches since I don't have enough big pots. I was lucky enough last night to score a large pot for canning from Jim and Aditi. I also never got pectin. Mike said he never uses it when he jams and plums have pectin naturally. It's all been working out so far, I'm hoping my good luck continues. What's the worse that could happen?

Strawberry Jam!

So my 2009 Food-to-Do including jamming. My trip this morning to Reading Terminal Market included the purchase of three pounds of strawberries and two pounds of plums. See where this is going?

I haven't found a recipe yet but I trust that strawberries and plums will taste and look lovely together. My first stop for a possible recipe will be Food in Jars, local writer Marisa McClellan's blog about, well, jars with food inside of them. (Her blog was even recently featured on The Kitchn!)

Does anyone have any advice for a novice jammer? Or a great recipe to share?