Jam Notes: August 2019

Fruit Syrup with Pomona's Pectin

Ingredients

If you are making fruit syrup from mashed fruit, find the jam recipe for that fruit in the Jam, Jelly, Marmalade — Low Sugar or Honey section of the recipe sheet that comes with Pomona’s Pectin OR from our cookbook, Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin

If you are making fruit syrup from juice, find the jelly recipe for that fruit in the Cooked Jam, Jelly — Low Sugar or Honey section of the recipe sheet that comes with Pomona’s Pectin.

Use ¼ the amount of pectin in the jam or jelly recipe. All of the other ingredients in the recipe stay the same.

Directions

1. Prepare boiling water canner. Heat jars in simmering water until ready for use. Wash lids and bands and set aside.

2. Prepare fruit or juice.

3. Measure mashed fruit or juice into sauce pan.

4. Add calcium water and lemon or lime juice (if called for in the recipe) and mix well.

5. Measure sugar or room temperature honey into a bowl. Thoroughly mix correct amount of pectin powder into sweetener. Set aside.

6. Bring fruit mixture to a full boil. Add pectin-sweetener mixture, stirring vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve the pectin while the mixture comes back up to a boil. Once the mixture returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.

7. Fill hot jars to ¼” of top. Wipe rims clean. Screw on 2-piece lids. Put filled jars in boiling water to cover. Boil 10 minutes (add 1 minute more for every 1,000 ft. above sea level). Remove from water. Let jars cool. Check seals; lids should be sucked down. Eat within 1 year. Lasts 3 weeks once opened.

Option:  As with Pomona’s Jam & Jelly recipes, you can halve or quarter the recipe to make just one or two jars of syrup for immediate consumption. The syrup will last for 3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Just remember to do your math! And use one quarter of the amount of pectin you’ve already halved or quartered. I learned the hard way it is best to do the math and write it all down before you start!

Learn the differences between Jam, Jelly, Syrup, and Sauce here.

Recipe for Fruit Sauce here.

End of Summer Fudge n' Cream Popsicles

Yield: about 2 cups

Before You Begin:

Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use. *This recipe can also be cut in half if you do not plan on doing much jamming (1/4 tsp calcium powder with 1/4 cup water).

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream (any kind of milk or cream can be used)
1 tablespoon Pomona’s Pectin powder
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ cup sweetener (we use monk fruit, but any sweetener can be used)
2 tablespoons calcium water

Directions

1. Put 2 cups of cream into sauce pan. Heat cream to nearly boiling.

2. Pour hot cream into food processor, or blender. Add pectin. It is very important to vent the lid (if there is one) to let steam out. Don’t use an enclosed blender that can’t be vented. Blend for 10 seconds, then stop and scrape down the sides so all pectin clumps are in or on the cream. Blend for a full minute until all powder is totally dissolved.

3. Add cocoa powder, sweetener and calcium water. Blend for another minute to fully mix.

4. Allow mixture to cool for 5 minutes, then pour hot cream mixture into popsicle containers. *chocolate chips or other mix-ins can be added to the popsicles once they are in the container*

5. Place in freezer, and freeze until firm.

6. Enjoy!

Printable Fudge n’ Cream Popsicle Directions, HERE

End of Summer Fruit n' Cream Popsicles

Yield: about 2 cups

Before You Begin:

Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use. *This recipe can also be cut in half if you do not plan on doing much jamming (1/4 tsp calcium powder with 1/4 cup water).

Ingredients

2 cups heavy cream (any kind of milk or cream can be used)
1 cup strawberries, chopped
1 Tablespoon Pomona’s Pectin powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sweetener (we used monk fruit, but any sweetener can be used)
2 Tablespoons calcium water

Directions

1. Put 2 cups of cream into sauce pan. Heat cream to nearly boiling.

2. Pour hot cream into food processor, or blender. Add pectin. It is very important to vent the lid (if there is one) to let steam out. Don’t use an enclosed blender that can’t be vented. Blend for 10 seconds, then stop and scrape down the sides so all pectin clumps are in or on the cream. Blend for a full minute until all powder is totally dissolved.

3. Add vanilla extract, sweetener and calcium water. Blend for another minute to fully mix.

4. Add chopped strawberries, and pulse two-five times.

4. Allow mixture to cool for 5 minutes, then pour hot cream mixture into popsicle containers. *additional strawberry chunks, chocolate chips or other mix-ins can be added to the popsicles once they are in the container*

5. Place in freezer, and freeze until firm.

6. Enjoy!

Printable Fruit n’ Cream Popsicle Directions, HERE

Freezer Jam How-To's with Pomona's Universal Pectin

Freezer Jam with Pomona’s Pectin can be a great alternative to heating up your kitchen  with a huge pot of boiling water on a hot summer day, while still preserving your delicious bounty. Our process is a little different, so please read below for instructions and options BEFORE you begin your process.

Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water should be stored in the refrigerator for future use. *This recipe can also be cut in half if you do not plan on doing much jamming (1/4 tsp calcium powder with 1/4 cup water).

Freezer Jam Ingredients & Directions (our recommended version):

You can make freezer jam with ANY of our jam recipes’ either from our website, or in the Cooked Jam — Low Sugar or Honey section of the recipe sheet that comes with Pomona’s Pectin.

All of the ingredients in the recipe stay the same, the only difference is that you get to skip the water-bath canning process. Simply place your cooked jam into jars, allow them to come to room temperature, pop on the lids and place them into the freezer for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after thawing. Lasts about 3 week in refrigerator.

*If you are wanting to make an uncooked freezer jam, you are welcome to do that too! We call it our “Raw Freezer Jam”. Due to customer preference for the cooked version, we removed this recipe from our printed instruction sheet…but it is still darn tasty and a great solution when cooking with little ones!

Raw Freezer Jam Ingredients & Directions (used to be on our direction sheet):

Ingredients

Raw Fruit: Strawberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Sour Cherry, Sweet Cherry, Pear, Kiwi, Blackberry, Plum

{Remove hulls, stems, pits, skins as required; mash or grind room temperature fruit}

4 cups mashed fruit
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice (optional)
1/2 to 1 cup honey OR 3/4 to 2 cups sugar
3/4 cup boiling water (for dissolving pectin)
3 tsp pectin
4 tsp calcium water (plus more if needed…see directions that follow)

Raw Fruit: Peach, Apricot, Nectarine

{Pit, chop and mash or peel, pit and mash fruit. Bring to boil in pan. Boil for 2 minutes while stirring. Let cool in bowl.}

4 cups mashed, boiled, cooled fruit
1/4 cup lemon or lime juice
1/2 to 1 cup honey OR 3/4 to 2 cups sugar
3/4 cup boiling water (for dissolving pectin)
4 tsp pectin
4 tsp calcium water (plus more if needed…see directions that follow)

Directions

1. Wash and rinse freezer containers.

2. Prepare fruit. Measure fruit into large bowl with lemon or lime juice (if called for/using).

3. Measure sweetener of choice, add to fruit, mix well.

4. Bring 3/4 cup water to a boil. Place into food processor/blender. Add proper amount of Pomona’s Pectin, to make liquid pectin. Make sure to VENT LID. Blend 1-2 minuted until all the powder is dissolved.

5. Add hot liquid pectin to fruit, mix well.

6. Add 4 tsp. calcium water from jar, mix well into fruit mixture. Jell should appear. If not, stir in 1 tsp calcium water at a time until jam is jelled.

7. Fill containers to 1/2″ headspace to top of container. Store in freezer immediately for up to 1 year. Refrigerate after thawing. Lasts about 1 week in refrigerator.

Printable Freezer Jam Direction, HERE