I just had to google open canning, have always used water bath for jelly. I thnk There is a decent difference between the taste of processed and not processed strawberry; there's usually some that doesn't fit in a jar and we just put that in fridge and eat it first, and it does have a brighter flavor. For blackberry and raspberry, And plum, less so.

Much p[refer the taste of the open kettle method....but I don't use it with any low sugar recipes. For any low sugar jams I freeze it.

I always top my jars immediately with paraffin then the hot flats and rings. in years and years of doing jellies and jams....only had one jar that molded. And I used to do just any old glass or jar that could be boiled. But you have to be very careful not to get any jelly on the sides of the glass so you get a proper seal with the wax.
But a champagne flute filled with, say a white wine jelly makes a very pretty gift.

Why open kettle canning is a really bad idea.... I'm going to touch on the open kettle canning aspect in general because Annie did a great job addressing the jelly.

Many of today's vegetables and fruits have been altered through selection and genetics to taste better, ship better, and be resistant to diseases. These changes mean that certain types of food are less acidic, and therefore no longer safe to can using some of the older canning techniques. There are also new standards to prevent bacteria growth on home-dehydrated foods - which were generally thought to be safe - and sprouted foods - and both have been shown to be a great breeding ground for deadly bacteria when done improperly. Food preservation has improved to the point where the foods that are already borderline for enough acidity (like tomatoes) call for the addition of an acid ingredient (bottled lemon juice, vinegar, citric acid) in order to use a water bath processing, and the processing times have been increased to assure enough heat penetration.

I remember in the 1980's when Dr. Stan Wallin, Food Technologist at the University of Nebraska, developed safe recipes for making home canned apple and cherry pie fillings by adding bottled lemon juice. Even with the added acid, he cautioned against using windfall apples (apples that have been exposed to bacteria by being in contact with the ground) because of the higher risk of the introduction of bacteria from the ground or animals on the ground. It's also why we should do a good job washing produce before canning it, a step people often do a poor job of, or skip entirely.

Another reason - the storage temperature of the food we can at home has changed dramatically. When I was a kid we kept our home canned foods in an outdoor concrete storm shelter (we called "the cave") that was above freezing (32°F in the winter), but even in the hot Kansas summer remained in the high-50's low-60's. Other homes had a "cold room" in an unheated basement. Not the central heated 75°F homes we have today. This cold storage basically acted like a refrigerator, which also lowered the chances of spoilage. Even today, canning experts recommend that the optimal storage temperatures for canned foods should be between 50°-70°F. "Room temperature" for food storage is considered 70°F. and optimum storage temperatures are between 40°F to 60°F for those of use who practice home food storage. So always store your home-canned foods in the coolest temperature possible.

Before the advent of large home freezers, canning was how we preserved food from our gardens and fruit trees for the winter. The food we canned was generally consumed throughout the fall/winter months, and the home canned foods were only used for about 6-8 months out of the year - so it was used fairly quickly. It was NEVER considered "long-term food storage" and we almost always used what we canned long before the next harvest for that particular food item. By spring, we were already eating fresh produce from the garden and starting the process all over again. Home canned food isn't like wine, it doesn't improve with age.....

And the most common mistake with open kettle canning.... The amount of heat applied to the food may not be sufficient to destroy bacteria. Many of today's cooktops/stoves aren't designed to super-heat a large kettle full of food. Some stoves have heating elements or burners that are really too small for a canner or a stock-pot.

The last reason for using caution.... There are more types of bacteria, and more DEADLY bacteria, than even existed back-in-the-day when open kettle canning was first used. This is yet one more reason to only follow TESTED recipes and up-to-date home canning information and techniques because there are things that have altered the safety of this method above and beyond the canning method itself.

-Grainlady

Thank you all for your comments, and grainlady, thank you for the informative post expounding on the reasons for abandoning the open kettle method of canning.

One recipe I read stated that jars, flats, and rings did not need to be sterilized before filling with the hot jam, just washed and rinsed as usual. Do you consider that sufficient prep for water bath canning?

I never use pectin--usually a ratio of 1 cup fruit to 1 cup sugar, with lemon juice added for acidity. IIRC, recipes using pectin call for more sugar, but less cooking time. Would my recipe be considered low sugar?

Totally agree w/ Annie on the difference in pickles! One thing I notice is the difference in color. Water bath canning always makes my strawberry jam darker than the bit that's left over in a jar in the fridge and pickles always turn a darker/duller green.... definitely less appealing.

While vegetables and fruits are canned here in much the same way as in the US, I have never encountered canned jam/jelly or pickle, or seen it recommended in a recipe. I have been making jams, jellies and marmalades for over 30 years and never had any mold, but I rinse the jars and bake them in the oven while I am making the preserve, and boil the lids for over 10 minutes then leave them in the (covered) pot until I am ready to use them. The preserve goes into the jars as soon as it is at setting point, and the lids go on pretty well straight away.

I have been given the odd jar of home made jam that did develop mold, so I guess it wasn't handled well in the jarring process.

I only do open kettle with jams and jellys....and the secret of success is absolute cleanliness. Everything gets boiled for 20 minutes or more, when the the jam is ready, I take the hot jars from the simmering pot with the already boiled tongs, fill with the bubbling jam and immediatly pour melted paraffin over all, and top with the flat sealing lids and the rings. Within half an hour all have popped down.
But I would never EVER consider doing that for something like green beans or corn!!

I've been using the open kettle/no pectin method with good results for jelly, preserves, and jam for over 40 years, as did my mother and grandmother, who taught me, but I was curious how many cooks have switched to the water bath method.

Last year I had a pint of peach jam that came unsealed, and ruined before I caught it. Broke my heart after all that work, but I think I might have picked up a used flat by mistake. So I took the flats from an unopened box this time, and I thought I'd try the water bath method. I gave two pints (along with a strawberry shortcake) to my elderly neighbors, who have given up canning--I'll be interested to hear their review of the taste and texture.

I don't can beans or corn, because I have a fear of pressure canners, but I've always used a water bath for peaches, tomatoes, salsa, and pickles.

mama goose, did you know the current recommendation for anything processed a minimum of 10 minutes boiling water bath doesn't have to go into a sterilized jar? The jars can be hand washed clean, not boiled. That has had me processing my jams and jelly in BWB 10 minutes the last several years - I'm not pre sterilizing jars, never a step I enjoyed.

I'd read that, morz8, but it's good to hear someone's firsthand experience. It's simpler than trying to coordinate boiling water in jars and pans for lids, while I'm trying to stir the pot--I let the water in the canner come to a boil as I stirred the jam, then turned it down to simmer, until the jam was ready to pour. I turned the burner up again, and by the time the jar lids were on, the water was boiling again.

I've never tried heating the jars in the oven for open kettle method, as colleenoz does, but that might be something to try, too, and would have worked yesterday, since I was baking shortcake and had the oven on already.

Sterilizing jars in the oven, and another method processed in the dishwasher, are NO longer suggested. For anyone still doing open kettle canning, having HOT sterilized jars/lids AND hot food are almost a necessity to the process to aid the seal and the safety of the food. The sealing compound on the lids must be softened before topping the jar, and you do that by holding them in hot water, and make sure they aren't stacked together. Get a canning lid rack to make sure they are separated during processing. Just keep in mind, because a lid seals doesn't mean the food is safe inside. In fact, anaerobic conditions (low-oxygen) is actually a perfect environment for certain types of bacteria to grow into a toxin.

Ball Company says their jars, and Kerrs, are not made of glass tempered for oven use, not to put them in an oven.

Well, scratch that idea. :(

Yes, the Ball/Kerr/Altrista company says that their jars are not oven safe. (sigh)

As Colleen pointed out, the rules for other countries are not the same as those in the US. Places like Canada and Australia, I'm sure there are others, do not use the same rules as the US. Ostensibly, our government has done rigorous testing to find the safest way that a complete moron in the dirtiest kitchen possible could make every mistake known to man and still not die, or something like that.

I will also point out that the "rules" aren't really rules, they are "guidelines". The stance on paraffin for jelly is only that it is "not recommended". That doesn't mean it's not a safe method, it just means that people are bad at it and your quality or keeping ability could suffer. That's why Grandma stopped using it and I seldom did, because we were losing product due to our inability to make it work for us. It sure doesn't mean that I didn't gobble up that crab apple jelly that LindaC gave me!

Most reliable on-line sources and books like The Ball Blue Book won't give instructions for canning rutabaga and turnip. Why? Because they have determined that "most people" don't like them because they can "become strong tasting" after canning them. It's not a safety issue, it's a quality issue and they've determined that "most people" won't use the instructions. Bah on them, I can 'em anyway!

And that's the problem I have with the "experts", they do not often qualify that an issue is not a safety hazard, it's a quality issue.

Anyway, the traditional one cup sugar to one cup fruit is NOT low sugar. I try to cut the sugar by at least 1/3, sometimes even more. I can usually get away with a third less, but sometimes compromise my quality if I try to go lower. Sometimes I don't get a "jell", sometimes it just cooks until it's thick, more like a fruit butter.

Annie

The problem with heating glass canning jars in the oven, for both sterilizing them or baking in them, is that they can shatter, even explode, under certain circumstances.

Modern canning jars and lids are no way as well made/durable/heavy duty as old ones. Way of the world nowdays with a lot of stuff, like furniture for example.

When you make jam, the less cooking to get a good set the better, for two reasons--the flavor compounds from the fruit can be deteriorated by the heat because heat activates chemical reactions, and--the longer sugar cooks the more it caramelizes. I know this from being a maple syrup maker from way back. The longer you have to boil the sap to get it to the right concentration, the darker your syrup and the more "taste" it will have. So with jam, you will then have the sugar competing with the fruit, the fruit's taste getting weaker and the sugar's taste getting stronger. But ten minutes? I dunno. I am crap at making elegant jams and preserves. I seem to go from syrup to taffy with no in-between. I've tried a lot of methods, including the "old fashioned" one to minimize cooking time and maximize flavor, and I have never managed to master it. This is an issue for me with berries and peaches, the other fruits I think not so much. Last year I made a decent strawberry preserves with sherry and it tasted darn good, best I ever made. But my strawberry jam is not spectacular usually. Still it is MILES better than store bought, which is loaded with corn syrup.

And I've never done paraffin. I've had enough experience with it making candles to last me a lifetime!

Lpink, a good trick that Readinglady taught me was to gently cook the fruit for 5 minutes after macerating overnight. Then, dip out the bits/pieces of fruit, boil the syrup to jell point, add the fruit back in, bring back to temperature and then can it. So the fruit pieces aren't cooked for the whole time, but the syrup and juice are.

Delicate fruits like peaches and pears respond well to that technique, as they don't cook to mush.

Annie

My grandmother had some Concord Grape vines in her backyard. At the end of summer (Yellow-jacket Season), we grandkids had the job of gathering the grapes for "jelly". Don't think she made jelly by definition. Can't remember her ever using packaged pectin? We'd wash grapes and pick off stems... didn't have to be perfect at this stage. They'd all go into a BIG pot and simmered till really soft. Then she'd strain and run through Foley food mill (still have that gadget) to get rid of skins and seeds. Then added a LOT of sugar and slowly simmered down till "done". Guessing more of a jam than a jelly?? She'd do the parafin thing on top and jars would sit on shelf in her upstairs bedroom... rarely used and HOT in summer. Nobody ever got sick from the "jelly" on toast or in a PBJ!

Don't think she made jelly by definition. Can't remember her ever using packaged pectin?

FWIW, people made jelly for generations without packaged pectin, just threw in a couple of apples for the pectin. The main advantage of the packaged stuff is to make it more sure that you will get a proper set.

I tried that Annie and my strawberries dessicated and turned into strawberry raisins embeded in the gelled jam. That was weird. Strawberry jam remains my holy grail. Just about time to pick the quest back up again!

Imbued in the mother to daughter knowledge is what fruits contain pectin sufficient to make jelly and what don't.
Grapes do, peaches don't. Apples do, strawberries don't. Quince do as to crab apples and lemons and oranges.....but not raspberries.
Fruits that contain pectin can be peeled and seeded and cooked with an equal quantity of sugar until they gel....those that don't contain pectin need to have pectin powder or liquid and some lemon added yo get them to "set".

LIndaC is right, some fruits just don't have the pectin needed to jell, and strawberries are notorious. Many of my old recipes call for the juice of a lemon as well as wrapping the pith and peels up in a cheesecloth and simmering those for a time. That provides the pectin that things like peaches don't have. It's also why many old recipes have mixtures, like elderberry/apple. I've even got a recipe somewhere to make your own pectin to use in jam recipes, using the peels and cores of apples.

klseiverd, jelly is usually defined as made with just the juice, usually strained so it's more clear. Jam has pieces of fruit or the pulp of fruit, preserves are large pieces or whole berries in a syrup-y sauce, not really jelled. Conserves usually contain nuts or some mixture of items other than the single fruit/sugar . And people seldom got sick from jam or jelly, and they still seldom get sick from jam or jelly. We used to scrape the mold off the top and still eat the jelly, although that's not really a good idea. But sugar is a natural preservative and fruit is high in acid, and many times spoiled jelly is moldy or tastes bad, and so it's easier to avoid a jar that's gone "off". Not always, but usually. Botulism in low acid foods is undetectable, no odor or flavor, and so more difficult to avoid.

Annie

Thank you all for responding with advice and anecdotal info. I used to make a lot of jelly, saving and freezing apple juice in the fall, to mix with fruits that ripened the following spring and summer. My kids don't care much for jelly, so I haven't made it in years. They like the oatmeal bars made with strawberry, peach, or blueberry jam (Pioneer Woman's recipe), and I have to admit that I eat most of the jam not used in the bars.

I used lemon juice in that strawberry jam, and pulverized enough of the fruit to make it viscous if not actually jelled. I just opened the last jar from 2015 (a quart), so it will be awhile before I try the canned jam I made last week. I mixed the small amount that didn't fit in the jars with the syrup which had settled under the skimmed foam, and the kids ate it on pound cake--it all disappeared so it must have been good.

Annie, I was so tempted to scrape the mold off that beautiful peach jam I mentioned above, but the jar wasn't sealed, so I passed.

Mama goose, we used to scrape the mold, but I just don't think it was/is a very good idea. Now I toss the moldy stuff out, I don't even think about it. Still, that peach jam must have been really hard to let go. (sigh)

I don't seem to use much jam or jelly other than Bud's PB&J, but I manage to use it for glazing meat and in cookies and filling for cakes, jelly donuts, in AnnT's Cream Cheese Danish, so I just keep making it!

Annie