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in other news
Jul. 17th, 2013 10:39 amWe have been making jam like it was going out of style - it's quick and easy, when you follow the recipe that comes with the Ball jars and the pouches of liquid pectin.
But last time we made sour cherry jam (the best kind, if you ask me), we had about a pint and a half of cherries left - too much to discard, too much to add some sugar and use it as ice cream topping (which is what we did when we had about a half a cup of cherries left), too much to do anything but make more jam, except not enough to open a pouch of liquid pectin and work out the number of drops we'd have to add to get the quick and easy jam the recipe allows.
A good amount of cherries, though, to experiment with (gasp) just cooking the fruit until it pects itself rather than adding pectin separately. I know! Revolutionary. But we did this, with the extra bonus of holy shit, the Ball recipe has a fruit:sugar ratio of about 1:2 (it's 4:7, to be precise), and the internet no-added-pectin recipes generally call for something more in the neighborhood of 2:1. !!! I mean to say: !!! We did about 3:2 (partly because Himself was very very wary and partly because the cherries were already food-processed, and thus more concentrated than simple whole pitted cherries as the internets asked for), and oh my god you guys, we had previously made sour cherry jam which I'm going to bracket like this: [sour cherry] jam, that is, jam made from sour cherries; but last night we made sour [cherry jam], the tartness was so much more present and miraculous, I can't even. The old kind is also tasty!, but the new kind is so, so, so much better.
We got exactly one pint of jam out of our scant 3 cups of cherries and scant 2 cups of sugar. We're giving it to his mother, who loved last year's sour cherry jam but asked if we couldn't make some with less sugar. And provided there are still sour cherries to be had, I am insisting that we get some more jars (we have no empty jars in the house) and jam some more cherries this weekend, and do it properly. It's not as quick, but it's arguably even easier, and nine thousand times more delicious. Added pectin is a thing of the past. I want to preserve all the fruit in the world, now.
We're going to need a bigger boat.
But last time we made sour cherry jam (the best kind, if you ask me), we had about a pint and a half of cherries left - too much to discard, too much to add some sugar and use it as ice cream topping (which is what we did when we had about a half a cup of cherries left), too much to do anything but make more jam, except not enough to open a pouch of liquid pectin and work out the number of drops we'd have to add to get the quick and easy jam the recipe allows.
A good amount of cherries, though, to experiment with (gasp) just cooking the fruit until it pects itself rather than adding pectin separately. I know! Revolutionary. But we did this, with the extra bonus of holy shit, the Ball recipe has a fruit:sugar ratio of about 1:2 (it's 4:7, to be precise), and the internet no-added-pectin recipes generally call for something more in the neighborhood of 2:1. !!! I mean to say: !!! We did about 3:2 (partly because Himself was very very wary and partly because the cherries were already food-processed, and thus more concentrated than simple whole pitted cherries as the internets asked for), and oh my god you guys, we had previously made sour cherry jam which I'm going to bracket like this: [sour cherry] jam, that is, jam made from sour cherries; but last night we made sour [cherry jam], the tartness was so much more present and miraculous, I can't even. The old kind is also tasty!, but the new kind is so, so, so much better.
We got exactly one pint of jam out of our scant 3 cups of cherries and scant 2 cups of sugar. We're giving it to his mother, who loved last year's sour cherry jam but asked if we couldn't make some with less sugar. And provided there are still sour cherries to be had, I am insisting that we get some more jars (we have no empty jars in the house) and jam some more cherries this weekend, and do it properly. It's not as quick, but it's arguably even easier, and nine thousand times more delicious. Added pectin is a thing of the past. I want to preserve all the fruit in the world, now.
We're going to need a bigger boat.
