2009 Canning Adventures -- The Bread Experience

It's almost time to say goodbye to 2009 and begin a new year.  I'm so excited.  I began my canning adventures this year and I've had so much fun. During my 2009 canning adventures, I canned several different kinds of jams, marmalades, pickles, and salsa throughout the Summer and Fall. I thought you might enjoy seeing the fruits of my labor.

Here is what my jam supply looked like before Christmas. (The photo doesn't include any of the pickles or salsa I made or the refrigerator jam).

I could almost open a store with all of these jars.  Now there's an idea!  Actually, I gave most of these away as Christmas presents along with some delicious breads. However, I did keep some of each kind of jam for my canning supply.

This is what my supply of jams looks like now.  Not to worry!  I'll be replenishing my supply soon enough.

Here is a list of the jams I made from August - December 2009. I've included a link to the ones I posted on the blog in case you would like to try some of them for yourself.  I'll be posting more soon. Stay tuned...

• Apple Butter
• Apple Pie Jam
• Apple Preserves
• Applesauce
• Autumn Cranberry Pear Jam
• Blackberry Jam
• Christmas Marmalade
• Citrus Marmalade (my favorite!)
• Cranapple Butter
• Cranberry Grapefruit Jam
• Easiest Marmalade Ever 
• Peach Butter
• Peach Preserves
• Pear Butter
• Pear Pineapple Jam
• Pumpkin Butter (I didn't can this one for storage.  It went in the refrigerator.)
• Strawberry Freezer Jam 
• Tangerine Marmalade

I had so much fun canning in 2009.  I'm looking forward to 2010.  Beginning in January, I'll be participating in the tigress' Can Jam.  We'll be making jams every month for a whole year.  As you can imagine, my jam supply will grow very quickly.

The tigress' Can Jam begins Jan 1st.  I can't wait! You can follow my progress on this blog. You might even want to make some of the jams yourself.

Happy Canning and Baking from The Bread Experience!

Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!

Making Jam: Christmas Marmalade

Here is a beautiful and easy-to-make Holiday Jam. This Christmas Marmalade is made with oranges, lemon, pineapple and cherries.  I've been wanting to make this jam for several months. I got a food processor as an early Christmas present so I decided now was the time.  I broke in my food processor last night by chopping up fruit for this marmalade and two other marmalades (to be revealed in future posts).  I was in heaven -- it made things so easy!

Did I mention that this marmalade is delicious?  Well, it is! I plan to give some of this away for Christmas but I'm definitely keeping some for my family as well.  Yum!

Christmas Marmalade
Makes: About 7-8 half-pint (8-ounce) jars (Plus a little extra for the preparer)

The recipe for this festive marmalade is from Keeping The Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables & Herbs by Nancy Chioff & Gretchen Mead.

Ingredients:

• 3 oranges
• 1 lemon
• 1 large can (1pound, 14 ounces, crushed pineapple)
• 3 pounds sugar
• 1 small jar maraschino cherries, chopped
  

 

Directions:

Tip: If you have a food-processor, it definitely speeds up the process for making this marmalade.

In a food processor, fitted with the metal blade, working in batches, pulse oranges and lemon until finely chopped.  Do not puree.  To make things easier, I cut the fruit into quarters before putting it in the food processor.

Here's a picture of my new food processor.  It does such fine work!

Here are the chopped cherries.  What a beautiful color!

In a deep, stainless steel saucepan, combine chopped oranges, lemon, pineapple with juice and sugar.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Boil hard, stirring until constantly, until mixture begins to sheet from a metal spoon (20-30 minutes).

Add cherries and boil until mixture reaches gel stage, about 5 (or 10) minutes.

Remove from heat and test gel.  If gel stage has been reached, skim off foam.  Mine didn't have any foam.

Ladle hot marmalade into hot jars, leaving 1/4-inch headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary.

Center lid on jar.  Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.

Process in a boiling-water bath for 5 minutes, up to 1,000 feet altitude.  If you live in a higher altitude or need more detailed instructions on water-bath canning, please refer to the instructions on this site: National Center for Home Preservation.

Wait 5 minutes, then remove the jars from the canner, cool and store.  These jars are ready to be stored (or given away).  See the big one in the back?  That's the one I'm keeping!

 

I had a little bit of jam left that wouldn't fit in the jars. Not to worry!  I'm putting it to good use.  It tastes really good on toasted 7-Grain Bread.

 

Happy Canning and Baking!
Cathy

Here are some of the references I use in my canning adventures. You might enjoy them as well:

• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving 
• Keeping The Harvest: Discover the Homegrown Goodness of Putting Up Your Own Fruits, Vegetables and Herbs
• National Center for Home Preservation 

Here are some delicious breads that would go well with this jam!

• Light Wheat Bread 
• Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire
• Sprouted Wheat Bread
• Oatmeal Pumpkin Bread
• Seven-Grain Bread
• Whole Grain Challah with Cranberries and Orange Zest