Jam & Water-Bath Canning

[moonstar]

OK, now I'm really confused. Going through some cookbooks looking for other recipes to make jams from and none of them water-bath can them. Example:

STRAWBERRY JAM

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[*] 2 quarts fresh strawberries

7 cups sugar

1/2 of 6-oz. bottle liquid fruit pectin

 

Wash berries. Slice in half lengthwise or quarter large berries; measure 4 cups. In 8 to 10 quart kettle or Dutch oven combine berries and 1 cup sugar. Bring to full rolling boil. Boil hard, uncovered, 1 minute, stirring constantly.

 

Remove from heat. Stir in pectin. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Pour at once into hot sterilized jars; seal. Makes 7 half-pints.

 

What happened to the water-bath part? All these recipes never mention water-bathing them.????????

[Guest Guest]

How old are these cookbooks? I can't imagine why anything written since the 70's wouldn't give processing instructions and time.

 

It is better not to use recipes from old books unless they are duplicates of those in a current Ball Blue Book.

It's always better to be safe than sorry...

[moonstar]

One was written in 1973 the other one 1942. Guess I need to buy some current cookbooks.

[Guest Guest]

Years ago we didn't water bath jelly and often didn't even seal it with lids. We just melted paraffin and sealed it that way.

 

We all know better now though, right ladies!!!

 

 

[Guest Guest]

I'm watching you Dee...

 

 

 

rofl

[brightblessings5]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell.....

 

My DM used to do the parafin thing, too. We don't do that anymore.

 

I used to do the open kettle thing. Don't do that anymore.

 

Throw away my old cookbooks? My grandma's recipes? NO.

Now I hot water bath for 10 minutes. (Darlene said she does 15 in another post, also someone else said that their recipe said 5 minutes.)

 

It's like we said in that 'dill pickle canning' post--the old recipes are still ok, you just have to use modern processing methods.

 

(If my books weren't all packed in boxes I'd look it up for ya. Anyone else care to? If Waiting makes her jelly/jam how long should she process it in a hot water bath? 5 min? 10 min? 15 min?)

 

NONONONO. Don't throw away your old recipes and toss your old cookbooks. They have wonderful recipes-it just takes a little learning on what to do with them.

[Guest Guest]

My Mom used to do the paraffin thing with jellies and jams, too. I used to cringe when she'd skim off the moldy tops when they had a bitty air "leak"... but we never got sick.

 

It was a way to save canning lids as much as anything... you could wash & re-melt the paraffin. There's so much sugar that it's supposed to preserve it IF no air gets to it.

 

She poured the jelly into clean, hot jars, wiped the tops, then covered them with a clean cloth until they cooled. Then she melted clean, pure paraffin, and poured one layer on the cooled jam... maybe 1/4". After that cooled, she'd pour another, slightly thicker, layer.

 

In a worst-case scenario, I might try the same thing, but it's not my preferred method. You waste some every time you skimmed the yeucck off, and it LOOKS gross. And you still had to cover the paraffin with something (they sold simple, unthreaded lids with the jelly jars).

 

Another old way was to keep everything perfectly hot, and after filling the hot jars with hot jelly, you wiped the tops, slapped on a hot lid, screwed on the band, then turned them up-side-down on the counter. Some people didn't turn them over - just left them to cool & seal on their own.

 

SO... now you know about the older methods. So when *YOUR* favorite jelly or jam recipe give these kinds of methods or more vague ones, you'll understand that YOU can do yours the better way.

 

Considering the older methods, I'd say 15 minutes in a water-bath canner would be MORE than enough to be *safe*.

 

I mean, hey... the water's boiling ANYWAY... let 'em sit another 5 minutes while you finish your coffee and bon-bons...

 

 

 

Cat