T&T jelly, jam, marmalade etc that don't need a HWB?
sooz
6 years ago
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sooz
6 years agoRelated Discussions
Marmalade too sweet. Recooking possible?
Comments (8)Thanks all for your comments and suggestions. As I mentioned, the kumquat marmalade set up perfectly the first day but I thought it too sweet. The next day, when I tasted it with a fresh palette....I thought it was amazing. Really. kumquat peel is the bomb for good tasting citrus peel. I still wanted to make lower sugar marmalade. So, today I put up a batch of grapefruit and meyer lemon marmalade ala June Taylor. She's the goddess of all jammy things in the Bay Area and is all about "letting the fruit shine through" and lower sugar and of course, no pectin. I used her recipe and instructions from the NY Times. I'm laughing now because after all that peeling and chopping and extracting natural pectin, etc., the recipe used the same amount of sugar and produced exactly the same amount of marmalade as my made up recipe for the kumquat marmalade. It's a little less sweet because of so much lemon and the bitter grapefruit peel. But every spoonful is the same sugar content as my original try. I'm experiencing beginner's luck because it set up well too. So, marmalades are sweet. I get it now. :) Kristine...See Moregeneral jam making questions..somewhat rambling..:)
Comments (21)The latest info on the calcium, when mixed with water is that if it darkens or turns an off color, toss it. Why would you want to mix the WHOLE PACKET of calcium powder with water in the first place?? They give you EXTRA calcium in that packet anyway. If you are only using PART of a package of the Pomona pectin, like 1/4 or 1/2 or 3/4, measure out the whole packet of calcium powder too, which is a tiny amount, and then measure only the 1/4 or 1/2 or 3/4 amount of it. PUT THE UNUSED PORTION OF THE REST OF the CALCIUM POWDER BACK INTO THAT SMALL PACKET, fold it over and tape it shut! Then mix that measured amount you juts got, with some water (any amount of water up to 1/4 cup!). I think your 'over analyzing' showing way too much concern about a 'small additive' that is used to trigger the setting up of the Pomona pectin (citrus based). I have not tried it yet, but I bet if you mixed a little BAKING SODA or CALCIUM CHLORIDE (Pickle Crisp) into water, it would ALSO make the Pomona pectin set up just exactly the same!! Because you seem to indicate that your making small batches of jellies, you may want stick with the low/no sugar pectins from SureJel or Ball, etc., ss they only make about 5 cups at a time. If you find the Pomona too difficult or confusing to deal with. These other pectins do not need calcium, BUT must be exact when measuring the total liquid for the batch. NO THERMOMETER NEEDED FOR ANY OF THESE!! Here is a example of a (no recipe!!) the I used to make my apricot preserves. I simply cut up and removed the stones of about 35 apricots, added a little mango nectar juice, and a small package of cut up dried California apricots and acup of water. Used a WHOLE BOX of Pomona, but mixed it with some water and the rest of the mango juice in a blender until it was dissolved. Added plenty of asorbic acid, and Splenda to the now boiling apricots, as well as my favorite 'acid blend' to boost the 'character' and flavor of the 'cots. TASTED until I felt it was sweet enough with the SPLENDA. Then, while boiling, I poured in the dissolved Pomona. Stir well while bringing back to a boil again. Then, I added the WHOLE packet of calcium that was now mixed with a little water (still a 1/4 cup). Stirring while adding it. The spoon now showed a coating and soft globs forming when I lifted it out. Got my jars ready and filled 13 pints. Then BWB processed. End result, perfection!! NO recipe, no worrying, no failure, no probelms, and no setting up failures!! simple... Pomona is good stuff!! It is virtually foolproof!! Best of luck!...See More101 Uses for Jams and Jellies
Comments (36)I loved reading all the ideas! you folks are very creative. Not exactly jam or jelly, but in that class of foods we make: Loquat preserves with spices (like a jam but with loquat chunks). No longer have loquat tree so my last two jars are precious. This is great on hot oatmeal or waffles. Peach nectarine butter - we got no peaches last year, but still have a jar or two. I like that one mixed with plain yogurt. I have not figured out another way to eat it, but with yogurt it is great. Marmalade, mixed citrus or Meyers lemon. They go well with toast or crackers and goat cheese. One of my favorite sandwiches is a 'grown up' PBJ version: Real peanut butter with marmalade and sliced fresh jalapeno slices. Trust me, it is good. I bring a couple of these to work every week. The reason I posted is that our most popular item in this category is our 'citrus glaze' which is in effect failed marmalade. Marmalade that did not set and remained liquid. This happened two years ago before we had the hang of making 'solid' marmalade. We gave away our 'good' marmalade, but kept the liquid stuff, since you cannot give away 'failed' stuff, right? We had made a very large batch, something like 15 quarts. In any case, two years later, I am out and I want to make more! This is by far the item that has been used the most. I use it in my zucchini muffins, in my fig bread, in many stir fry dishes, in all sorts of marinades for grilling, all sorts of sauces. The 'regular' marmalade also gets used but much less, so we still have a lot of jars from last year. I already have a huge basket of citrus and it is only January, so my next preservation project will be 'failed' marmalade. Maybe I should call it something else?...See MoreMarmalade handholding
Comments (35)These are good tips, because if you are like me, the first time I made "too runny" jam (strawberry, which is NOT a good jam for a beginner), the next time I made that jam I OVER compensated and got strawberry taffy. Having mixed results over the next couple of years I decided to be more precise and start using the jelly thermometer. Well, that didn't work either, actually was worse. Now, after a lot of trial and error, I do what Annie does, use the thermometer for knowing when I get close, and use the frozen plate test for the final decision on when the jam is ready. If you are going to use this method you probably should have two small plates going in the freezer. And yes, like Annie said, turn the heat off while you're testing because jam goes from just right to burned in a matter of seconds when it is close to being ready. Same goes for any cooked sugar product. The cold plate test involved observing the jam as you are stirring it and watching for the point when the jam "sheets" which means it drips off the spoon in big globby "sheets" instead of small drips. Then, when you think the jam is ready, you put a tsp. of jam on a plate that has been sitting in the freezer for a good long while so it is cold. Then you put the jam drop back in the freezer for a minute. (This is why you have to turn off the jam cooking on the stove). Then take out the jam and look for the signs of being done. These are: it stays in a mound and a little syrupy pool doesn't form around the jam, and when you draw your finger through the mound it stays in two separate secions, like Moses parting the Red Sea, instead of quickly bleeding back together. Now it won't be perfectly as I describe, but this is the general appearance. Also if you tip the plate slightly the jam won't quickly drip down. But you don't want something that is like jello, it always will drip a little bit and run a little bit. Basically what you are looking for are signs that it is jam and not sauce. Bear in mind, these are tips for NO PECTIN jams, meaning jams that are not made by adding liquid or powdered pectin. (The jams are not devoid of pectin since that occurs naturally in fruit, they just do not have additional store bought pectin added to them). If you are making a jam using liquid or powdered pectin, use the directions that come with the pectin, they are very comprehensive....See MoreUser
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