Jams and Jellies for Preserving

With Autum's riches properly upon us now is the time to buy sugar and to begin making proper use of this season's fruit.

Making jams and jellies is an excellent way of preserving fruit for the winter and, depending on the type of jam you make you also have excellent bases for jam-based cakes, puddings and sauces.

In essence, preserving fruit in this manner allows you to keep the essence of the fruit whilst making it suitable for storage at room temperature for considerable lengths of time. The essence of these preserving methods is this: where a jam is made with whole fruit (including skins and seeds) and a jelly is made solely from the juice strained from the fruit. Both are cooked with sugar and use natural (or added) pectin as the gelling agent. They are boiled until they reached the 'setting point' (when a spoonful of the jam or jelly, when placed on a cold plate forms a skin when pushed with a fingernail).

For a jam or a jelly to set you typically need 60% sugar and about 0.2 to 0.5% pectin. And it's the boiling process that concentrates the sugars added to the jam and the natural sugars in the fruit down to this level. Of these components, pectin is probably the most important. Many will want to add pectin to their jams and jellies to ensure setting, whether this is by use of 'jelling sugars' that contain pectin as an additive, or by the addition of additional pectin.

However, the important thing to remember is that many fruit contain natural pectin; with apples, quinces, plums, gooseberries and oranges (or other citrus fruit) containing the most. Apples and apricots typically contain 1% pectin, with crab apples containing up to 3% pectin. Oranges vary between 0.5% and 3.5%, with the zest containing most pectin. Soft fruit like cherries, grapes, strawberries and blackberries contain little pectin and either have to be concentrated down or need to be mixed with apples and other fruit to achieve the setting or gelling point. It should be noted, however that seeds often contain lots of pectin which is why grape jellies are always made with grape seeds and why plum seeds are often added in a muslin bag to plum jams. You can also add citrus peel to other jams to add more pectin to them.

One interesting thing is that carrots can contain up to 1.5% pectin so you can add a muslin bag of grated carrot to a fruit jam or jelly to help them set. The same is true of rhubarb which also contains about 1.2% pectin.

This is illustrated with a classic Elderberry Jam recipe (elderberries being the fruit of the wild Elder tree:

Elderberry Jam
(This recipe is adapted from: Elderberry Jam Recipe)

Ingredients:
2.7kg sugar
1.8kg elderberries
1.8l water

Method:
Wash the elderberries, removing them from their stalks with the tines of a fork. Place the fruit in a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, mashing the fruit against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon until the fruit is tender.

Add the sugar to the saucepan, heat through, stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes. Test for setting by placing a plate in the fridge. Spoon a little of the jam onto the plate, allow to cook then move it with your fingernail. If a crinkly skin forms then the jam is ready. If not continue boiling for 5 minutes more and test again.

Skim the surface then ladle into sterilized jars that have been warmed in an oven set to 100°C for 10 minutes. Allow 1cm of head space then secure the lid, allow to cool and store.


To show you the difference if you are making a jelly, the following recipe is for an Elderberry Jelly


Elderberry Jelly Recipe
(This recipe is adapted from: Elderberry Jelly Recipe)


Ingredients
1.8kg elderberries
600ml water
75g sugar per 100ml liquid

Method:

Wash and trim the elderberries then place in a heavy-bottomed saucepan along with the water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes, mashing the fruit against the side of the pan with a wooden spoon.

Pour into a jelly bag or a sieve lined with several layers of muslin and allow to drain into a bowl (do not be tempted to squeeze the bag as this will only make the jelly cloudy.

The following morning discard the fruit (I tend to freeze them to make pies later) then measure the volume of the liquid and add 75g sugar per 100ml of fluid.

Place the juice and the sugar in a saucepan, heat through then add the sugar, stirring until completely dissolved. Bring to a boil and cook rapidly for about 15 minutes. Test for setting by placing a plate in the fridge. Spoon a little of the jelly onto the plate, allow to cook then move it with your fingernail. If a crinkly skin forms then the jelly is ready. If not continue boiling for 5 minutes more and test again.

Skim the surface then ladle into sterilized jars that have been warmed in an oven set to 100°C for 5 minutes. Allow 1cm of head space then secure the lid, allow to cool and store.


Please note that these recipes come from the Celtnet Recipes for Jams and Jellies collection, which is part of the Sauces, Jams and Preserves Recipes section of the Celtnet website.