My neighbor in her late 70s has taken over my blackberry harvest and is making jams jelly and preserves also she just made a blackberry syrup for pancakes etc. These will be gifts to my other neighbors as well as her and my family members. We have processed about 40 gallons so far.
My favorite so far is the preserves and jam.
She has been straining all the berries with an old Weston Food Mill
Hot water bath jar sealing.
Very simple process and they are all amazing.
Our last batch was strained with my grannys antique food mill… it did a fine job.
I also have a food mill like that one, it works well.
I made some cherry sorbet a month ago and didn’t even get out the food mill, I just pushed it through a strainer with a wooden spoon. I think plum sorbet is next (already made too much plum jam).
I had one food mill like the one your granny had. Mine had a wooden pistol type handle to help strain the food through it. I probably still have it somewhere in my house.
I still may get a Johnny Apple Sauce Maker 250. There is a berry screen you can buy. (it comes with an apple screen and a tomato screen) I can see where this might be very handy as well.
Other screens available are salsa screen, pumpkin screen, and a grape spiral.
From late last year but I made a batch of jam from equal parts strawberry, blackberry and raspberry with some pectin, lemon juice and a little sugar and it turned out great. I can’t wait to get enough extra blueberries that I can add those into the mix. Did not strain any seeds out, I might be weird but I like the little bit of texture
Thats the same mill I have, I modified mine by cutting the handle off about an inch from the body of the unit and then I chuck that stub in a electric drill and use that to power it. It is much easier and faster like that…
Just to be sure in case someone wants to print one off or finds one at a yardsale or something some day… there is a bit of confusion as to the title… as it seems to have two. Someone said that the cover says Snow White and the inside title page says Snow Flake…
There was a trend awhile back of folks scanning old cookbooks and using modern computers and printers to make cook books for their kids and family…but nowadays i think folks just google recipes or watch youtube videos…so the printed word in book form are mostly gathering dust in old libraries now.
My Carmine Jewel tart cherry jelly came out really well this year. I used sure gel low sugar pectin and followed the recipe exactly. Very happy with it. Did a batch of jelly and a batch of jam, both really good. I have a 10 lb tub of pitted Montmorency cherries to pick up from our local Orchard next week (the cherries were grown in Michigan, then distrubted through a bunch of states) Probably will do some more.
I’ve only had one opportunity to get enough to make a jam this year and it was an over producing Rainier cherry tree my friend had- I got ten pounds after cleaning and pitting them, and 8 pints of jam. we held some aside to eat fresh
If you make much jams and jellies type stuff, or gummies for that matter, its worth checking this out. Ive had good luck with their pectin products and its way cheaper than buying the small boxes at local retail shops.
I like peach freezer jam using low sugar pectin. I use the smallest jars they make so they fit nicely in the crannies in the freezer. Portion size is just enough for a couple uses so I don’t have any going to waste trying to eat up a jar.
My neighbor made some preserves without pectin…and i think its the bomb… Its more like a fruit spread which is what i like anyways. I like it chunky and the full robust flavor of the berries.
"you can make summer berry jam with just the fruit, lemon juice, and sugar in about 30 minutes at home.
The resulting jam is fruit-forward, sweet, and full of dark, pungent berry flavor. It will make you feel like a kitchen superhero every time you open a jar for your morning toast. "
I remember one of my neighbors as a kid had jars of this Peach Jam that we poured over her home made ice cream… probably still to this day why i love peaches so much. She called it a Peach Flurry. (made from the ugly leftover peaches).
Half of the berries were cooked whole, the other half processed for juice. Amazing outcome. I thought I would be able to notice the seeds but they were unrecognizable after cooking whole…
A few things Ive learned…
Aronia berries juice well.
Currants dont juice well, I blend my black currants and put my red currants through a food mill to remove the larger seeds. Im not a fan of seeds and usually remove the seeds from raspberries even…
