A bumper crop of perfect strawberries. Irresistibly ripe peaches on sale. A blackberry bush brimming with fruit. When a season is at its peak, it’s tempting to make it last as long as possible. That’s where preserving comes in: It keeps fresh fruit relevant well beyond its time. In this guide, we’ll walk you through making and canning jams — using berries, stone fruit, tomatoes, apples or pears — letting you savor the season all year round.
1. Fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid. Some examples of the fruits that are high in natural pectin and acid are apples, oranges, melons, cherries, currants, grapes, raspberries. While the opposites are peaches, strawberries, peach, pineapple, grapefruit, pears, blueberries, papaya.
Jams vs. Jellies vs. Marmalades
The world of preserves is large and potentially confusing. Just consider jams, jellies and marmalades. They, and several others, are all styles of fruit cooked with sugar and canned or refrigerated to extend its life. In this guide, we’ll focus exclusively on jam, but, when it comes to preserves, it’s worth knowing some of the categories.
- Jelly is translucent and gelatinous. It’s often made only from the juice of fruits that aren’t suitable for making jam because they never break down; don’t contain enough natural pectin (the ingredient that creates that gelled, jammy texture); or have large, inedible, hard-to-remove seeds, like those in Concord grapes. Here, powdered pectin is added during the cooking process to help the liquid set into a firmer, wobbly texture, not unlike a slightly looser version of Jell-O. Jam is made with whole or cut fruit, cooked with sugar until it’s thickened and jammy. How gelled, or firm, the jam becomes depends on the fruit’s naturally occurring pectin or on any additional (usually powdered) pectin, which is incorporated during the cooking process. Depending on the fruit and how it was cut, the final product can be completely smooth or chunky with smaller, jammy pieces of fruit throughout. It should always be firm enough to spread and soft enough to spoon. Marmalade refers to preserves made from citrus fruit. There are several ways to make marmalade, some more time-consuming than others. But, in all of them, the fruit (rind, pith, fruit and/or peel) is simmered in water to soften then cooked with sugar to thicken. Here, too, how you prepare the fruit plays a role: Your end result can be lightly textured and clear, almost jellylike, or more gelatinous with larger, thicker pieces of softened rind throughout. Marmalade is best made with oranges, grapefruit, lemon or kumquats. (Limes are too bitter and not quite juicy enough.) While marmalade is a touch more complicated than jam, here’s a good recipe to start with.
Karsten Moran for The New York Times
I usually make my 100% homemade jam with prunes or dried apricots. I also sometimes make it with frozen berries but add a few dates for sweetness and thickness. I am guessing any stone fruit will work great and even fresh or frozen fruit added in smaller quantities to dried fruit. Dried fruit will take care of the thickness and you can regulate the sweetness with dates. I also like to add a bit of lemon juice for freshness. Just try it a few times and find your favorite combination and please tell me what it is, in the comments below!
It makes me angry when I pick up a jam in the store and 90% of the time the first ingredient on the list is sugar. Do you know what that means? Ingredients are listed by quantity, from largest to smallest. So this means that the main ingredient is sugar. Store-bought jams also tend to contain a list of unnecessary ingredients, added preservatives, and thickeners. Making jams used to be a healthy way to preserve fruit through winter, but nowadays jam has become just another unhealthy sweet. But making your own jam can take quite a lot of time so people got used to buying it in the store. But what if I told you, you can make your own 100% home-made jam in just 10 minutes?
In order to speed up the process, we have to speed up the part that takes the longest – waiting for the water to evaporate and the jam to thicken up. So we do a little trick and use dried fruit. That’s right. Dried fruit has already been cleaned up, it contains very little water, is very sweet and firm. So we invert the process. We add 1 part dried fruit to 1 part water (or just so the water covers the fruit) and we cook the dried fruit in boiling water for 10 minutes. Then we just pour it into a blender or stick in an immersion blender and blend it up. Blending also releases pectin so the jam firms up very nicely. Just pour it into a container and wait for it to cool down and firm up. You can also put a few pieces of fruit aside and add them at the end if you would like some texture.
The basic concept of making jams consists of cleaning up fruit, dicing it and cooking it until it reduces to a sticky consistency. If the fruit doesn’t contain enough pectin, it is added in a form of powder. If the fruit is not sweet enough on its own, sugar or some kind of sweetener is added. But this process surely does not take only 10 minutes, right?
The Easiest Way To Make Any Homemade Fruit Jam (feat. Krewella)
FAQ
What fruit can you use for jam?
What fruit Cannot be made into jam?
What fruits can be used to make jelly?
Why raw fruits are not selected for making jam?
What fruit should I use to make jam?
“If you’re new to making your own jam, a high-pectin 2 fruit is a good place to start since they’ll naturally thicken as you cook them,” Cording says. “A few of my favorites are apples, pears, plums, and cranberries.” Strawberries: “When in doubt, go for berries,” Albina says.
What can you make with Jackfruit?
Jackfruit is a versatile tropical fruit that can be used as a vegetarian substitute for meat because of its interesting texture. Jackfruit does not contain significant amounts of protein so it is not a good meat substitute for those trying to match protein content. Jackfruit can be added to curries, stir-fries, and used in sandwiches or tacos. A popular choice is using jackfruit as a substitute for barbecue pulled pork on a sandwich or as pulled chicken in a taco. Jackfruit can be used in any recipe where pulled pork or chicken would be used. Although it does no contain much protein, it does contain moderate amounts of several of the B vitamins including niacin, vitamin B6, and folate, which is unusual for a tropical fruit. These B-vitamins are important for many body functions including maintaining a health nervous system.
How do you make fruit jam?
Fruit jam can be made with just fruit, lemon juice, and sugar. Summer berries naturally contains pectin so it’s great for jam-making. The fruit and sugar need plenty of time to cook and thicken. Jam starts to get thick after 20 minutes of a steady boil. A jam is done if it makes a clear path in a frozen spoon when you run your finger through it.
Can you make jam from frozen fruit?
Be sure to cut the fruit into the size pieces you want to use to make your jam or other product, as the fruit is much easier to cut when it is fresh. The pits, peels, and seeds can be frozen as well to boil at a later time in order to extract the juice for making jelly. Wash, place in a large pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.