I am a Honey Bee

All about my adventures with cooking, crafts, and travel

jam

Lemon Ginger Marmalade

In keeping with the random things that Emily and I do, we spent last Saturday making and canning jam. Last years adventure was so much fun and successful that we decided to make another day of it and make more jam to gift for our families and friends.

 

We set out looking up different recipes to try, so a flurry of emails went back and forth deciding which ones sounded best. In the end we settled on 3 jams, one of which was Lemon Ginger Marmalade from The Bitten Word (originally from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving) I had made marmalade previously but was not satisfied with the results. Trying a new recipe was really interesting for me then.

 

When making this jam, keep the following in mind- the ginger will take a very, very long time to grate. Do this step first. Be patient and it will be worth it. While a cup of ginger appears to be a lot, it does mellow out as it cooks. You notice the ginger when you first smell the jam. As you take a bit of it you really notice that just casts a light flavor to the Meyer lemons, which seems to get you as it lingers. The resulting jam is the perfect combination of being fragrant, sweet, tart, and smooth. It is a great accompaniment to a sugary pastry.

 

Lemon Ginger Marmalade

-makes 7 jars-

Ingredients

  • 7 small Meyer lemons (or regular lemons)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cup coarsely grated ginger root (suggestion: purchase 1 pound)
  • 1 package (1.75 ounce) regular powdered fruit pectin
  • 6 1/2 cups granulated sugar

Process

  1. Prepare jars, and lids in dishwasher or in boiling water. Fill canning pot with enough water to completely cover the jars when processing.
  2. Peel the ginger and then grate 1 cup, set aside.
  3.  Remove yellow lemon peel in long strips with a vegetable peeler. Dice the pieces, set aside.
  4. Over a bowl, remove the pith from the lemons and then supreme the lemons, be separating the fruit from the membranes. Squeeze the left over membranes into the bowl to collect as much juice as possible. Measure 1 cup of the lemon segments and juice, and set aside.
  5. In a large deep stainless steel saucepan, combine the diced lemon peel, baking soda, and water. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat, cover, and boil gently for 5 minutes to soften the peel. Remove from heat for 5 minutes.
  6. Add the grated ginger, lemon segments, and pectin to the pot with the peel mixture. Wisk the mixture over medium heat until the pectin is dissolved. While wisking, bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Add the sugar all at once and bring back to a rolling boil, stirring constantly. Once the jam has boiled hard for 1 full minute, remove from heat and skim off any foam.
  7. Using a funnel and ladle, add the hot marmalade into hot jars, but leave 1/4-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles with a bubble remover, as needed. Wipe the rims with a wet towel. Place the lid on the jars and gently the band on, just until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
  8. Process the jars in a canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove from water, set upon a towel covered surface. Jars will pop when process correctly, this time can vary from a 1 minute our of the water to several hours.

Mixed Berry Jam

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Canning Adventure that Emily and I had. Fruit was smashed, pounds of sugar was used, some lots of wine was consumed, and jam was made. Oh, how can I forget about that small kitchen fire? That alone is why Price tends to run away when the 2 of us are together. 

This was a major refresher in math skills. The original recipe called for 1 single fruit in quarts. Well we had to make it difficult by using 2 fruits in various containers. This involved looking for conversion tables online as well as harassing Price and his friend Chris for confirmation that we did it correction. Conclusion… “math is hard”

Prior to canning, I got 2 books that I found really helpful. We used Better Home and Garden’s You Can Can for this first canning adventure. It is a step-by-step book that really breaks down the canning and preserving process using photographs, tables, and clear instrcutions. I REALLY suggest this book for first time canners because it explains the process and the reasoning behind various things. For example, when to use boiling-water canning vs pressure canning. Hint: it has to do with the pH level of the food. This book, and the wine we consumed, made canning really fun.

Not to toot our horns too loudly, but this jam was pretty damn amazing. The texture was even with crushed fruit, while still having some rather large pieces of blackberries. Getting a spoonful with a large blackberry in there to spread over some toast was amazing. The combination of fruit works really well together- raspberries add a bit of a tangy bit that holds itself against the rich blackberry, which the blueberries mellow that flavor out a bit. It is a rather sweet jam so you could cut that with a bit of lemon juice (2 tablespoons added to the fruit prior to processing).

Mixed Berry Jam

Prep Time: 35 Minutes Process: 5 Minutes Makes: 8/9 Half Pint Jars

1 pint of blueberries
3 6oz packages of raspberries
3 6oz packages of blackberries
7 cups of sugar
1 1.75 packet of pectin

Wash and clean all fruit.

Combine the blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries. In a LARGE pot, add 1 cup at a time, smash* the fruit together. Continue until all fruit is smashed. Stir in the pectin.

Heat over a High heat, stir constantly, until the mixture is at a rolling boil. Add the sugar all at once. Return to a rolling boil; boil for 1 minute, stir constantly. Remove from heat and skim off foam with a metal spoon.

Immediately ladle jam into hot, sterlized janning cars. Leave 1/4″ inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, place lid on jar and screw on bands (so they are secure but not too tight).

Process jars using the boiling-water method for 5 minutes (start timing when the water returns to a boil). Remove jars and cool on a wire rack, just not directly on your counter.

*A potato masher works well. Or improvise, like we did.

Canning Adventures

Every now and then Emily and I have these adventures where crazy hijinx occur. Such past adventures include our day at the Brimfield Antiques fair, our trips to the Quite Corner, and our day visiting the cape. With the summer winding down and the start of school fast approaching for Em we decided we needed one of these adventures. Well instead of going somewhere we decided to say local, very local in fact…. my kitchen. We decided would would make jam and can it!!!!!

Last Christmas I got a pressure canner and a canning accessories kit (thx amazon wishlist and Mom!)  Since then I bought 2 books on preserving home made food, starting to hunt down some canning blogs, and follow people on twitter. So with the equipment, some ‘knowledge’, and a desire we set out to make jam and can it.

Hijinx did ensure. We ended up with plenty of burns from hot jam and steam, a sticky floor, well used aprons, and got to prove that my smoke dectors do in fact work ( I already new that the one in the kitchen worked but sure enough, the one in the living room does too!). Luckily Price and his friend Chris were out getting us more jars when the apartment filled with grey smoke. Of course, Price knew when he called with a question that from our laughing and hint to ‘take your time’ that something was up. Price sums it up best… we are bad news. Yes, but we love it 🙂

So we ended up with 26 jars of 3 types of jam. Everytime a jar popped we would squeel, jump, or give each other high fives. eek! We have not cracked open any of them. I’ll describe them when I post recipes next week.

Enjoy our video…. be sure to leave some jam or general canning suggestions. I’m going to do another round of canning at the end of August!