Deals, Questions, Info. General Chatting and Skanky Mischief

[GeorgiaK]

but that would not be "smartcanucktish"!

Made 4 small jars of strawberry jam Sunday (froze enough strawberry to do 6 more jars), it is quite good! But too much work to do more for me so I will have to savour these. Not selling them!

Would you be willing to share the recipe and answer some questions?

[rewok]

Would you be willing to share the recipe and answer some questions?

No problem, here is my familial recipe (with my improvements), and you can ask any question you like.

I do a "runny" jam with no external pectin or gelatin added. I do it by weight (love to cook by weigh, more precise!), but I can eyeball the volume if you don't have a scale:

750g strawberries cut up in small pieces (unless you prefer big whole berries in your jam, my mom does, but I improved the recipe!)
400-500g sugar (usually average in the middle, and if I make jam with California berries in the winter I add extra)
juice of one lemon

Dump everything in a pot, bring to a light boil, cook for 8 minutes (no more than 10, or you'll overcook the fruit)

Skim the foam on top with a large spoon. It improves the clarity & taste, as well as prolong preservation. You could skip this if you don't feel up to it for the first time, but it's quite easy.

Tadam! Nice sweet jam.

As I don't have the big canning equipment (and I'm not a pro like ontest...), I put the jars in the dishwasher long before I cook the fruits for a hot clean cycle (I try to time things to have the jars nice & hot when the jam is ready). I take the jars out, fill them with the Martha Steward accomplishment, et voilà! I will often freeze the stuff without any adverse condition if we're not eating it fast, as I'm quite scared of botulism.

If you don't want to can in jars, you could also just put it in the freezer in small containers.

[GeorgiaK]

@Rewok, thank you so much for the recipe. It seems easy. I like the option of freezing the stuff since I am the only one who would eat it and I think I could use it on ice cream and cheesecake as well.

One question - what is a light boil?

[2010ontest]

I will often freeze the stuff without any adverse condition if we're not eating it fast, as I'm quite scared of botulism.

You don't need to be scare about botulisme with fruit acid like strawberry + lemon juice added... when you do jam, you only need to avoid mold formation... you kill mold in jam if you let the jam and jar at 85 degree C for 10 minutes... This is why alot of people do jam without treatment in boiling water bath (you have high sugar concentration and high acidity). When jars are clean and hot and filled with hot fresh made jam (you reach 104 degree C when you do jam) temperature of stuff in the jar will stay over 85 degree C often for more than 10 minutes.

[rewok]

Thanks ontest! I knew the risk with jam was lower because of the sugar, but I had that irrational fear. Now that I have the work of a pro ? a clear explanation.

@Georgia: by light boil I mean just boiling with small bubbles coming up, no need for the big "rolling boil" with big big bubbles coming up and spraying jam all over the kitchen.

I just saw that I also forgot one step: after I finish cooking, I skim the foam on top with a large spoon. It improves the clarity & taste, as well as prolong preservation. You could skip this if you don't feel up to it for the first time, but it's quite easy.

[Patty Smyth]

If you prefer you can do freezer jam with Certo, no cooking inolved and the color is more natural. I also bake my jars to sterilize them rather than boil them.

[Patty Smyth]

Ugh, why do I read the brag section? So much misuse and now we can't even say anything anymore. I wish I could block that section on my computer.

[2010ontest]

I think this thread, coupon scan thread, the mtl section and deals section are the only one I look at this time of the year...

I didn't look seriously at brag section since one or 2 months now.

[Patty Smyth]

I like your little mouse ontest , unfortunately with 3 cats I never get to see them alive , when they find the nest I can have up to 6 a day lol

[AnnieP]

Patty, bake yoour jars are not a bit "dangerous"? I mean, the jars never exploded or cracked? You bake them in the oven, right?

If you prefer you can do freezer jam with Certo, no cooking inolved and the color is more natural. I also bake my jars to sterilize them rather than boil them.

[Tbites]

Georgia... since we're on the subject of recipes, would you mind sharing your family recipe for pork souvlaki... if you have one ? I've tried a couple online recipes for it but they never taste quite like the restaurant's

[GeorgiaK]

Patty, care to share your recipe for the jam.

[2010ontest]

I like your little mouse ontest , unfortunately with 3 cats I never get to see them alive , when they find the nest I can have up to 6 a day lol

This is the first wild one I take alive in my hand since I'm here, we saw alot of them (mature one) around the house (cats hunt them here also).
but hey, I have take many thousand lab mouse in my hand before...

This one was not in good health when I found it... behaviour was not typical (usually they are stressed and run quickly or jump alot at that stage), back was small (like malformation), probably lost the mother too early to be wean also. For sure this mouse is more than 10 days (open eye), ears are still too small to be 18-21 days and properly wean, also it was still hard to tell if it was male or female so my guess is that mouse was around 14 days. I give some seeds and water to the mouse and some rip up kleenex to do bedding, but this mouse is dead now.

[Patty Smyth]

Patty, bake yoour jars are not a bit "dangerous"? I mean, the jars never exploded or cracked? You bake them in the oven, right?

I have been doing it for years so far never had a problem, it's like a water bath really no different I bake at 225-250 I usually wash the jars first then put them in, 15 minutes in the oven. When i do my tomatoes I put the hot tomatoes right in the hot jars then bake in the oven for about 15 minutes at 200. I have never lost a jar since I started doing it like that.

Patty, care to share your recipe for the jam.

The recipe is right in the certo light box. The reason I switched to no-cook jam is that we prefere the taste and I was really never happy with the cooked jam. We prefere the firm jam over the runny kind here. It's just a matter of preference. The no cook is easy, I use a starfrit hand food processor to cut the strawberries, it slices or shreds them , you can control it. It also works with raspberries , cherries(although I prefere cooked cherry jam), peaches and you could also do grapejelly.

[AnnieP]

Oh! sad thing. The mouse is dead.