Blueberry Jam
 

Well, Ihave just finihsed a batch of blueberry jam as local berries are
around even in NYC(New Jersy berries). I use the pectin for low suar or
no -suar added jams and prefer surejel to Mrs. Wages because it lasts for
years in the box without clumping, so if I overbuy or don't get berries at
tehend of the season I canwait untilthefollowing year.

I like farily soft jam so end up making rather more with the eone box than
they say, ending up with over 6 cups of jam. I add mu non-nutritive
sweetener when I open the jar, rather than addingit when making it as I
don't always trust the lasting power of the sweetener.

A few ips with the no-sugar jam. because sugar , itself, is a
preservative, when you make jam without sugar once it is opened it doesn't
last long in the fridge so pack in in no bigger than 8oz jars and make
sure they are well sterilized and sealed. If you will not be suing the
whole jar fairly quickly, you can stick it in the freezer adn thaw and
even refreeze without real loss of flavor.

Follow the instructins on th ebox, except for the quantity of berries(as I
mentioned ealier). If you like it soft, you can get twice as much jam
from a batch, saving work time. I usully use a potato masher, but as I
made this batch inthe city rather than upstate, I didn'thave one here so
used my hands to squoosh the berries with plastic gloves on. Kind of
slippery adn you have to be sure to squeeze each bery as they are tough
skinned. Next year I may try the food processor as they now suggest it,
but only on a few pulses as you want chopped, not pureed.

I used 5 pints of berries to get the 6+ cups. Although they say just wash
the jars in hot soapy water, I am from the old school and boil the jars
before filling, using the same pot and water to put the filled, sealed
jars i for the 10 mins of boil after packing. that was how I ws taught
agesagso still do it.

Don't do this inthe middl eof a heat wave. I waited for today which is
the first day we have been below 90 and the humidity is way down)no need
fo the air conditioner last night, just the ceiling fan did the job!. It
still it swety work, but today I amable to cool down with just a fan
runing :-)

This is the season to do this as so many berries are ripening. A bit late
for strawberries, but rasberries, blueberries adn, for me, soon
blackberries upstate make for gret jams. I stick to berries as I prefer
them to , say peach jame and I never can be really sure of getting nice
juicy peaches instead of the dry tasteless kind.

In the past I used to do applebutter, also no sweetener, but it is a big,
overnight job and there is only me so I don't have need for so muchas I
did when the kids were home takign lunch to school.

Wendy

Blueberry Jam
 

"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
> Well, Ihave just finihsed a batch of blueberry jam as local berries are
> around even in NYC(New Jersy berries). I use the pectin for low suar or
> no -suar added jams and prefer surejel to Mrs. Wages because it lasts for
> years in the box without clumping, so if I overbuy or don't get berries at
> tehend of the season I canwait untilthefollowing year.
>
> I like farily soft jam so end up making rather more with the eone box than
> they say, ending up with over 6 cups of jam. I add mu non-nutritive
> sweetener when I open the jar, rather than addingit when making it as I
> don't always trust the lasting power of the sweetener.
>
> A few ips with the no-sugar jam. because sugar , itself, is a
> preservative, when you make jam without sugar once it is opened it doesn't
> last long in the fridge so pack in in no bigger than 8oz jars and make
> sure they are well sterilized and sealed. If you will not be suing the
> whole jar fairly quickly, you can stick it in the freezer adn thaw and
> even refreeze without real loss of flavor.
>
> Follow the instructins on th ebox, except for the quantity of berries(as I
> mentioned ealier). If you like it soft, you can get twice as much jam
> from a batch, saving work time. I usully use a potato masher, but as I
> made this batch inthe city rather than upstate, I didn'thave one here so
> used my hands to squoosh the berries with plastic gloves on. Kind of
> slippery adn you have to be sure to squeeze each bery as they are tough
> skinned. Next year I may try the food processor as they now suggest it,
> but only on a few pulses as you want chopped, not pureed.
>
> I used 5 pints of berries to get the 6+ cups. Although they say just wash
> the jars in hot soapy water, I am from the old school and boil the jars
> before filling, using the same pot and water to put the filled, sealed
> jars i for the 10 mins of boil after packing. that was how I ws taught
> agesagso still do it.
>
> Don't do this inthe middl eof a heat wave. I waited for today which is
> the first day we have been below 90 and the humidity is way down)no need
> fo the air conditioner last night, just the ceiling fan did the job!. It
> still it swety work, but today I amable to cool down with just a fan
> runing :-)
>
> This is the season to do this as so many berries are ripening. A bit late
> for strawberries, but rasberries, blueberries adn, for me, soon
> blackberries upstate make for gret jams. I stick to berries as I prefer
> them to , say peach jame and I never can be really sure of getting nice
> juicy peaches instead of the dry tasteless kind.
>
> In the past I used to do applebutter, also no sweetener, but it is a big,
> overnight job and there is only me so I don't have need for so muchas I
> did when the kids were home takign lunch to school.
>
> Wendy

I tried making jam many years ago. It was my first experience with canning.
Pretty sure that I did use sugar because I wasn't diabetic then. But I
didn't know enough about canning to know what I was doing and I'd gotten bad
advice from a variety of sources. In those days, there wasn't such strict
regulations on canning as there are now. Of course one can still do the
wrong thing but there are hard and fast rules that you need to follow if you
want to do it safely. I didn't do it safely so only two of my jars sealed.
I did try to give it away and told people to eat it up quickly but they
didn't want it. So that was a big waste of my time and money.

Angela only recently started eating the stuff. Not even sure if what I buy
is called jam. I think they call it all fruit spread. I eat it very
infrequently on a peanut butter sandwich. I might buy two jars per year and
they would always go bad before I could finish the jar. I wish I could get
the little single serve ones but I can't find those in the sugar free. Not
a problem now though since she has started eating it. Now I have the
opposite problem. Keeping enough in the house. I bought a case of it from
Walmart online. I'm glad that they put it in little jars because surely a
big one would go bad before we could eat it.

I am picky though and pretty much only like the strawberry kind. I think my
failed attempt at canning most likely involved raspberries. I am not fond
of those but my dad used to grow them. He was always giving them to me and
I kept trying to find ways to use them. I did once try Marionberry. I was
in a restaurant and got a pill stuck in my throat. The only way to push it
down further was to eat something and our food hadn't arrived. So it was
either a condiment or jam. My family likes Marionberries so I grabbed one
and tried it. It tasted good and it did push the pill down but I don't
recommend eating jam this way!

Blueberry Jam
 

Julie Bove > wrote:

: "W. Baker" > wrote in message
: ...
: > Well, Ihave just finihsed a batch of blueberry jam as local berries are
: > around even in NYC(New Jersy berries). I use the pectin for low suar or
: > no -suar added jams and prefer surejel to Mrs. Wages because it lasts for
: > years in the box without clumping, so if I overbuy or don't get berries at
: > tehend of the season I canwait untilthefollowing year.
: >
: > I like farily soft jam so end up making rather more with the eone box than
: > they say, ending up with over 6 cups of jam. I add mu non-nutritive
: > sweetener when I open the jar, rather than addingit when making it as I
: > don't always trust the lasting power of the sweetener.
: >
: > A few ips with the no-sugar jam. because sugar , itself, is a
: > preservative, when you make jam without sugar once it is opened it doesn't
: > last long in the fridge so pack in in no bigger than 8oz jars and make
: > sure they are well sterilized and sealed. If you will not be suing the
: > whole jar fairly quickly, you can stick it in the freezer adn thaw and
: > even refreeze without real loss of flavor.
: >
: > Follow the instructins on th ebox, except for the quantity of berries(as I
: > mentioned ealier). If you like it soft, you can get twice as much jam
: > from a batch, saving work time. I usully use a potato masher, but as I
: > made this batch inthe city rather than upstate, I didn'thave one here so
: > used my hands to squoosh the berries with plastic gloves on. Kind of
: > slippery adn you have to be sure to squeeze each bery as they are tough
: > skinned. Next year I may try the food processor as they now suggest it,
: > but only on a few pulses as you want chopped, not pureed.
: >
: > I used 5 pints of berries to get the 6+ cups. Although they say just wash
: > the jars in hot soapy water, I am from the old school and boil the jars
: > before filling, using the same pot and water to put the filled, sealed
: > jars i for the 10 mins of boil after packing. that was how I ws taught
: > agesagso still do it.
: >
: > Don't do this inthe middl eof a heat wave. I waited for today which is
: > the first day we have been below 90 and the humidity is way down)no need
: > fo the air conditioner last night, just the ceiling fan did the job!. It
: > still it swety work, but today I amable to cool down with just a fan
: > runing :-)
: >
: > This is the season to do this as so many berries are ripening. A bit late
: > for strawberries, but rasberries, blueberries adn, for me, soon
: > blackberries upstate make for gret jams. I stick to berries as I prefer
: > them to , say peach jame and I never can be really sure of getting nice
: > juicy peaches instead of the dry tasteless kind.
: >
: > In the past I used to do applebutter, also no sweetener, but it is a big,
: > overnight job and there is only me so I don't have need for so muchas I
: > did when the kids were home takign lunch to school.
: >
: > Wendy

: I tried making jam many years ago. It was my first experience with canning.
: Pretty sure that I did use sugar because I wasn't diabetic then. But I
: didn't know enough about canning to know what I was doing and I'd gotten bad
: advice from a variety of sources. In those days, there wasn't such strict
: regulations on canning as there are now. Of course one can still do the
: wrong thing but there are hard and fast rules that you need to follow if you
: want to do it safely. I didn't do it safely so only two of my jars sealed.
: I did try to give it away and told people to eat it up quickly but they
: didn't want it. So that was a big waste of my time and money.

: Angela only recently started eating the stuff. Not even sure if what I buy
: is called jam. I think they call it all fruit spread. I eat it very
: infrequently on a peanut butter sandwich. I might buy two jars per year and
: they would always go bad before I could finish the jar. I wish I could get
: the little single serve ones but I can't find those in the sugar free. Not
: a problem now though since she has started eating it. Now I have the
: opposite problem. Keeping enough in the house. I bought a case of it from
: Walmart online. I'm glad that they put it in little jars because surely a
: big one would go bad before we could eat it.

: I am picky though and pretty much only like the strawberry kind. I think my
: failed attempt at canning most likely involved raspberries. I am not fond
: of those but my dad used to grow them. He was always giving them to me and
: I kept trying to find ways to use them. I did once try Marionberry. I was
: in a restaurant and got a pill stuck in my throat. The only way to push it
: down further was to eat something and our food hadn't arrived. So it was
: either a condiment or jam. My family likes Marionberries so I grabbed one
: and tried it. It tasted good and it did push the pill down but I don't
: recommend eating jam this way!

I occasionally use the Smuckers no sugar jams and they are not bad. they
also must use some preservatives as they don't go moldy dquickly as do the
home make ones. I have tried the strawberry but can't find many berries
in tere and the apricot which I use for cooking as it makes a good fake
cakes, etc. They com ein, I think 10 r 12 oz jars which might be fine for
Angela.

As for learning how to can, I learned mostly from the Ball blueBook, kind
of the boble of canning, but they don't hav emuch on no-sugar stuff
although I did used to make a diet ketchup/chili sauce fromthat book that
I liked in early dys after my diagnosis. Inthose days and earlier I was
canning tmatoes adn freezing spagehettisauce as we would go to thelocal
farms raround Labor day and pick a bushel of tomatoes adnthenput themup as
well as orgyon those absolutely delicious tomatoes! Later, as we got
older, we wold buy a bushel of all ready picked ripe tomatoes for about
$9-11 a bushel adn I woud put them up. I have even dried tomatoes havign
gotten a small (4 tray) dryer from Waldbaums. With no car and no longer
beign able to drive, I can't get to those farms about 30 miles fromour
country house so my only canning is jam once or twice a year. I hope I
get enough blackberries for a second batch. I used to make sugared jams
for Syd and the boys as well as sugar-free for me. We had suffieiecnt
berry harvast for that, but now other weeds seem to be takign over the
blackberry patch.

Wendy

Blueberry Jam
 

"W. Baker" > wrote in message
...
>
> I occasionally use the Smuckers no sugar jams and they are not bad. they
> also must use some preservatives as they don't go moldy dquickly as do the
> home make ones. I have tried the strawberry but can't find many berries
> in tere and the apricot which I use for cooking as it makes a good fake
> cakes, etc. They com ein, I think 10 r 12 oz jars which might be fine for
> Angela.
>
Angela likes the Smuckers but I don't. So I won't buy it. Heh! I used to
buy Crofters at my health food store but now that they're closed, there's
not a convenient place for me to buy it. I can get it here but would have
to go to a store that I wouldn't normally shop at. Polanders is just as
good. Can't remember what brand I got at Walmart but it's a similar sized
jar.

> As for learning how to can, I learned mostly from the Ball blueBook, kind
> of the boble of canning, but they don't hav emuch on no-sugar stuff
> although I did used to make a diet ketchup/chili sauce fromthat book that
> I liked in early dys after my diagnosis. Inthose days and earlier I was
> canning tmatoes adn freezing spagehettisauce as we would go to thelocal
> farms raround Labor day and pick a bushel of tomatoes adnthenput themup as
> well as orgyon those absolutely delicious tomatoes! Later, as we got
> older, we wold buy a bushel of all ready picked ripe tomatoes for about
> $9-11 a bushel adn I woud put them up. I have even dried tomatoes havign
> gotten a small (4 tray) dryer from Waldbaums. With no car and no longer
> beign able to drive, I can't get to those farms about 30 miles fromour
> country house so my only canning is jam once or twice a year. I hope I
> get enough blackberries for a second batch. I used to make sugared jams
> for Syd and the boys as well as sugar-free for me. We had suffieiecnt
> berry harvast for that, but now other weeds seem to be takign over the
> blackberry patch.

We put up tons of pears and applesauce when we first moved here but never
again. We found that not only did nobody else really want our canned food
but neither did we! Oh Angela loves applesauce and canned pears. Just not
the homemade stuff. I think she fell into the trap that a lot of kids do
now. Something we didn't have when I was a kid. Single serve packets of
things. Apparently to a kid, a single serve packet is waaaay better than
anything else. And forget about portioning things out at home. Apparently
not the same.

I just checked the Bartlett. I don't want to kill it off because we need it
to pollinate the other pear tree. I just wish it would produce lightly and
of course this year, it's loaded! Wasn't too bad last year but it has some
sort of disease or something. None of the fruit was edible last year.
Looks like a few might be edible now but most of it not. Not sure what the
other pears are. They are very large and light green with a slight bit of
blush on them. Very tasty. We have a few on that tree. We probably won't
eat them but I have someone who will take them.

Blueberry Jam
 

Julie Bove > wrote:

: "W. Baker" > wrote in message
: ...
: >
: > I occasionally use the Smuckers no sugar jams and they are not bad. they
: > also must use some preservatives as they don't go moldy dquickly as do the
: > home make ones. I have tried the strawberry but can't find many berries
: > in tere and the apricot which I use for cooking as it makes a good fake
: > cakes, etc. They com ein, I think 10 r 12 oz jars which might be fine for
: > Angela.
: >
: Angela likes the Smuckers but I don't. So I won't buy it. Heh! I used to
: buy Crofters at my health food store but now that they're closed, there's
: not a convenient place for me to buy it. I can get it here but would have
: to go to a store that I wouldn't normally shop at. Polanders is just as
: good. Can't remember what brand I got at Walmart but it's a similar sized
: jar.

I didn't know tht polaner did a sugar-free. Their fruit spread is
sweetened with grape juice so I don't count it as part of my diet.

Wendy

Blueberry Jam
 

W. Baker wrote:
> Julie Bove > wrote:
>
>> "W. Baker" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>>
>>> I occasionally use the Smuckers no sugar jams and they are not bad.
>>> they also must use some preservatives as they don't go moldy
>>> dquickly as do the home make ones. I have tried the strawberry but
>>> can't find many berries in tere and the apricot which I use for
>>> cooking as it makes a good fake cakes, etc. They com ein, I think
>>> 10 r 12 oz jars which might be fine for Angela.
>>>
>> Angela likes the Smuckers but I don't. So I won't buy it. Heh! I
>> used to buy Crofters at my health food store but now that they're
>> closed, there's not a convenient place for me to buy it. I can get
>> it here but would have to go to a store that I wouldn't normally
>> shop at. Polanders is just as good. Can't remember what brand I
>> got at Walmart but it's a similar sized jar.
>
> I didn't know tht polaner did a sugar-free. Their fruit spread is
> sweetened with grape juice so I don't count it as part of my diet.

It's called All Fruit. It may have grape juice in it. Don't know as we
don't have any here now. It didn't seem to be overly carby to me but as I
said, when I eat it, it's just on a peanut butter sandwich and I only use a
tiny amount. I did try some from Sweet Creek that was so sickly sweet I
could not eat it. There was no sweetener of any kind and it was strawberry
so I don't know what they did to it to get it like that.

Blueberry Jam
 

On 07/21/2013 02:06 PM, W. Baker wrote:
> Well, Ihave just finihsed a batch of blueberry jam as local berries are
> around even in NYC(New Jersy berries).


Hi Wendy,

Trader Joe's has HUGE, ripe, fresh, Organic Blueberries
this week. I am not skilled enough to do the jam,
but other might be able to take advantage of the
blueberries at TJ's.

Your jam sound YUMMY!

-T

I like jams. My mom loves making homemade jam.