Spiced Pear Jam

I have never liked eating fresh fruit. I don't know why. My daughters and husband are nuts for it - we go through two bags of apples, 20 bananas and a cantaloupe every week in addition to whatever other fruit I pick up for them.  The exception for me is pears.  I love everything about them - the shape, color, scent, flavor, texture, you name it.

Last week my store had pears on sale for less than $1/lb which seemed like the perfect opportunity to grab some and make something fun. While the end result was terrific, it was an uncomfortable and occasionally painful route getting there.

To begin, I got the recipe from Fun Home Things.  This is just the kind of recipe I like - no unnecessarily pretentious ingredients or arrogantly complex instructions. My general philosophy about food is:  get the best ingredients you can and do your best to keep it simple and not ruin them. This recipe plays nicely into that idea.

The ingredients:

• 4 c. peeled and chopped pears
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Box Pectin
• 1/4 c. Water
• 5 c. Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp Ground Cloves

Here's the How To (a cautionary tale):

• Prepare canning equipment.  Ok, so here's where my issues began. Everything was fine and working just as it should as I heated up my water and jars, etc. But...I chose a really muggy evening to make this and my kitchen has crank open windows so a fan wasn't really an option. Sweaty? You betcha...and it only got worse when the water came to a boil.  I was HOT and damp.
• Combine pears, lemon juice, water and spices in a pot.  Whisk in pectin and bring to a full boil.(Pan number two full of steamy boiling stuff only added to the generally tropical atmosphere of my kitchen.)
• Add sugar all at once and return to a full boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. (Ok, now standing over and actively stirring a boiling pot of jam did nothing to make me more comfortable.  The fact that I had the heat too high initially and it was spitting molten jam (ouch!) at me didn't make me very happy either.)
• Remove from heat and skim off foam. Ladle into prepared jars, leaving 1/4" headspace.  Wipe rims and secure lids. Process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. (It was around this time that Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me earwormed into my head, "I'm hot, sticky sweet...")
• After removing the jars from the water to cool, I thought the best thing I could do to help the heat in the kitchen was to get rid of the boiling water.  It was when I was (I thought carefully) dumping out the water that I hit my arm with the pot acquiring a nice burn.  I retreated to the blissfully cool living room with a freeze pop that I intermittently ate and pressed to my arm while picking of dried globs of jam from my skin and clothing.

The good news is this jam is really delicious and as far as gelling and appearance I think is my best effort to date and well worth any discomfort or injury!

(Cheater) Raspberry Jelly

Wisconsin in spring doesn't offer many choices for fresh fruit so sometimes "locally sourced" means "whatever was on sale at the Piggly Wiggly".  So, as I was perusing the aisles for over priced groceries I came across this juice that was on sale this week.

This looked like a good candidate for some quick and easy jelly.  I used the same method that I used for the Mango Lemon Jelly from a few weeks ago:

• 4 cups juice
• 1 package of pectin
• 4 cups sugar

I know that the mango lemon jelly failed on the first attempt so I made a few changes to help this jelly work out the way it should.  First I changed the pots that I used to cook the jelly opting for a wider pan with more surface area for the jelly. Second, I was more careful about achieving a full rolling boil.

1. Mix juice and pectin, bring to a boil
2. Add sugar and return to a boil and cook for one minute
3. Pour into sterilzed jars and process for five minutes
4. Such a pretty color! Anyway after five minutes in boiling water take them out and let them cool. 

So that's it.  It gelled up just the way I hoped it would and tastes great.  My husband said it was "refreshing" and my daughter wouldn't stop chewing long enough to tell me what she thought and instead just gave a thumbs up.   I'm putting this one in the success column and moving on to the next project.

Apple Pie Jam

If you live in an area with a Piggly Wiggly you are familiar with the concept of "Pig Points".  For those of you who are not able to Shop the Pig, it's simple.  Each week there are certain items that will earn you points if you buy them.  These points translate to money off at the gas station.  Every year we go to a week long family reunion that is a 4 hourdrive from home and I make it my goal to earn enough pig points to pay for the gas for the trip.  Compulsive? Yes.  Long story short, I ended up with a bag of granny smith apples because it earned me $0.11 in pig points.  My opportunity to use these points came this past Saturday when my baby was taking a nap and my 5 year old was all over me the way only a five year old can be.  I put on a Disney movie, bought myself some time, and made jam.
I got this recipe from Mrs Whellbarrow's Kitchen.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of diced apples packed firmly
• 2 Tbsp of lemon juice 
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 box pectin
• 4 c white sugar
• 1 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp butter

How to:

• Add water in between the apple pieces to fill to four cups
• Put the apples, water, lemon juice and spices in a pan and sprinkle pectin over the fruit. Stir well.
• Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.
• Add both sugar, stir well and bring back up to a full rolling boil for exactly one minute stirring constantly.
• Remove from heat and stir in the butter.  Remove and foam that remains.
• Ladle into hot clean jars leaving 1/4" of headspace.
• Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

This smells so good while it's cooking and it tastes even better. This whole recipe and processing took about one princess movie to complete and I think is one of the favorite recipes that I have made so far. It's particularly good on waffles.  I have a feeling I'll be making this one a lot since granny smith apples are a pig points earner pretty often.  That's just fine with me.