Protien is many differnt things and amounts. It add a a nearlyt pure form of protein to a jelly is not something a home canner would want to do if the jars are stored on shelves. I never have seen any commercially makde jellies, jams or other fruit spreads that contain any gelatine. Many times the USDA may not comment, but that isn't to be a way to say that is ok to use it, only that they offer no factual data. If my great grandma used it and never got sick an dthe USDA recommends it use today, an dnoone can get sick, then maybe its fine. But with home canning being as less a test in homes today, and with all the risk takers out there handed down from ancestors, I just don't feel its a justified as a defence to just post recipes that a are hand-me-downs and generations old. Who knows how many people make have been sick or died from these things as many never get reported ever. Please, just play it safe, stick to TODAYS recipes and the ones that are most recently published, researched well, and are virtually foolproof and safe for everyone. Admittedly, I am a risk taker too, but with this kind of component originating from an animal based bypoduct, we can't assume its always going to be safe for use everywhere. Gelatin was also used in surgery, lighting, and photo work. Originally Eastman was the biggest producer an user. I don't know if Eastman, or Eastman Kodak would be making jelly using gelatin?? A reduce or no sugar sprread can be MUCH easier, and MUCH SAFER to make if the proper and far safer ingredients are used. Pomona (ALSO LOW METHOXYL!! with the seperate calcium packet included) has been around a long time and is the most commonly used pectin for use in the low, no sugar jellies, jams and other thickened spreads . After that comes, modified food starches, which are now also offered to home canners by National Starch, and is commonly known as Clear Jel, and also many other more specific commercially used starches.. Its use today, as far outweighed the very negative use of flour, tapioca, regular cornstarch, or other less table thickeners.

Ah, I've never heard of krauting the whole cabbage. My Polish grandmother just used to use boiled cabbage (and tomato soup, which I'm sure she didn't learn from her mother!) to make her golumbki (sp?). As with all of her *own* recipes, she never wrote it down (though she had envelopes full of clippings, and recipe cards from friends) so I'm trying to recreate it, but I use tomato sauce. I was lucky enough to write down how she made (incl. rough measurements) blueberry buckle when I was a teenager, and found a couple of partial recipes for her Xmas stollen that I used as guides, reconstructed (they called for slightly different proportions of flour and liquid, one for cream, one for milk) so I make those each year. Turkey wars are starting - now Stop and Shop has turkey (limit 1) for 99 cents/lb, or 47 cents with $25 of other groceries. Canned cranberry sauce is under a dollar, but fresh cranberries vary from 2 for $3 (yeah! at Big Y this week) to 2 for $5 (S&S).

December 2020.... Just made Snowballs (cookies rolled in powdered sugar) and the powdered sugar was the culprit. Tasted terrible. I've made these every year for years and years and this is the first batch I've made that came out bad. First I thought I was tasting soap from my hands... odd but I couldn't figure out any explanation. Rerinsed my hands and cookies still tasted like soap or perfume. I smelled the sugar (brand new bag, not expired) and the sugar in the bag smelled like perfume. I threw it out. Very disappointing. It was Walmart brand, in a plastic bag (no box). I will never buy that again. And I will also be careful about not storing it by anything with a scent. I don't know that I did, but it was downstairs in a bar that once had a scented dehumidifier in it, so that could have been the problem. But I store a lot of food in there (flour, nuts) and have never had that problem before. Glad I found this thread. Makes me feel like I'm not crazy. (Kids thought the cookies were good, at least.) Hmmm... now that I think about it, I've always bought confectioner's sugar in a bag (not a box). So I'm just going to not store it in that downstairs bar anymore (might be picking up a smell there) and I won't buy Walmart brand again (that might not have been it, but better safe than sorry).

Very interesting discussion. I read that The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan quite a few years ago and was really quite amazed. I thought it made a lot of valid points, the key one that I took away is that the foods our grandparents and great parents ate; the beef, the chicken, and yes the veggies.... is NOT the same as we are getting now. In particular I had summarized the book to someone saying "corn is the devil". That is a bit flippant but still. As mentioned above, people didn't go to the gym, didn't need to, because their every day lives were so physical. The feed given to livestock and the method of raising them is so different from what was. I don't think HFCS is a good thing. For sure, everything is moderation is still a valid way.