And experimented and made one and a half quart of chokecherry syrup. Took ~1/2 gallon of the juice and put in approximately 5-6 cups of sugar and boiled it down till it was thick.
Had picked a little over 4 gallons of chokecherries, and boiled them twice (because I don’t think we got enough juice out). I was happy with the taste of the results (chokecherry is my favorite jelly).
I’m down to my last few tablespoons of jam and apricots are just starting to ripen. Last year we struck out completely and I’ve used all of 2023’s production. But in a few more days we’ll have all the 'cots we could ever want! Looks like it might not be a bad year for prune plums, too.
I’d like to put up enough for two years again, just in case. We’ll see. A fair number of irons in the fire right now.
I love the flavor apricots have, but I’ve only have been able to try good tree ripened fruit once. We have only have had fruit once in the last 15 years off our apricot tree (I want to try growing some different varieties), and it is a big, beautiful, tree, but it likes to bloom a month or two early every year (last year it bloomed in February).
Cocoplum and prickly pear jam. The recipe called for 200 cocoplums, I used about 50. 1 day older and the color has set to a beautiful purple. Tastes okay, could be better could be worse.
My neighbor made 50 sum pints from my blackberries this year and we are giving them to other neighbors, friends and family… no pectin seedless jam. Its fantastic… but…
I am head over heels in love with this ‘Gourmet’ Morello Cherry preserves from Belgium. (bought at Kroger).
Im not sure i can unspoil myself… i have an English Morello Cherry tree started but until then… its my ‘jam’.
We have made peach jalapeño jam, plum jelly, blackberry jam, dolgo crabapple jelly, cowboy candy. Picked figs today to make some fig preserves. Muscadines will be ready in about a month.
Here’s some of what I’ve made this month. I only did two or three jars of most things. From left to right:
Rose petal syrup, bakeapple jelly, rainier cherry jam, pickled sour cherries, stella cherry jam, rose petal and blackcurrant jam, haskap and maple jam.
Apricot jam is a rich orange, more like dried apricots in flavor than like fresh ones.
I pit ripe apricots to make 4 cups packed firmly, add three cups granulated sugar and a shot of lemon juice, and then grate one medium to large apple into the mix. If the apple is somewhat underripe it will provide more pectin to help setting. Underripe apricots will have more pectin, but less flavor, than riper ones. The flavor of the apple is lost in the apricots.
Boil with frequent stirring until the jam sets. Put up in clean pint and half pint jars, and so on.
I hope you try it. It’s just about my favorite. I also make plum and raspberry jams the same way.
got somewhere around 30 or 40 pounds of Bing and Rainier cherry from my friend’s trees.
last year i got a good amount but not this much. they don’t spray so it’s a long process to soak, get worms out while pitting them, tossing rotten cherries.
i use lemon, vanilla and a little dandelion petals in the Rainier jam and call it “sun jam”. the Bing get almond extract, allspice, and a few drops of sorghum syrup for flavor and i call it “blood jam”. last year we went through a half pint every month. this year i ended up with enough to give a lot away and some to use for our local mutual aid group to feed to people.
all the liquid from pitting them i made mixed jelly. i had been picking the last of the mulberry, raspberries and a few strawberries so i mashed them all into one juice for the jelly. the foam is my favorite thing i scoop it all up and put it in the fridge and it’s only for me and nobody else is allowed to eat it lol
the jelly set pretty good this time, sometimes i make syrup or gel by mistake. my partner is already planting seeds from this all over the place, though I’ve told him we don’t have room for dozens of full sized cherry trees.
potato mountain was earlier this summer, i put up about 18 quarts in the pressure canner (3 full loads). they look boring. no pictures. not sure if other canning and preserves are what you want in the thread? i can every damn thing though. except brassicas
i usually pressure can everything in the winter and do my jam making then too. i set up in the greenhouse for all that with a portable cadco and cook and do my preserves there to warm it up at the same time. these cherries and potatoes were an exception.
I guess I was thinking more of dessert or fruit type of preserves. I’ll edit the introduction to the thread to clear it up. I will create a thread for the more broad canning, drying, freezing, and general preserving the harvest here later unless you or someone else does.
(1) Standard pectin requires way too much sugar. I refuse to eat anything that sugary, caloric.
(2) Ball’s no/low-sugar pectin does not set reliably for me. I’m tired of trying to make it work.
(3) Pomona’s no sugar pectin gels just fine. At this point, it seems to gel too well, so the jam can be rubbery. I’m experimenting with lower doses hoping to find a good texture.
I’d appreciate any guidance. FWIW, I’m willing to sweeten with low amounts of sugar but would prefer Splenda.
Wouldn’t gelatin be able to work? Though I would think with any jam or jelly if it doesn’t have enough sugar or acid it would have to be pressure canned to not go bad?
Contact pacific pectin and ask them to send you samples, they send nice sized samples, used to be for free, but they have a low and zero sugar formula you might be interested in.
Been a busy year for jellies and jams at my house . Just sent 10 submissions to the Texas State Fair. Pindo Palm fruit jelly, Rose Petal Jam, Corn Cob jelly, Lemon Guava jelly, Mimosa Flower Jelly, Wild Mustang Grape jelly, Wild Dewberry jam, Basil jelly, Cucumber/ Ginger jam and Carrot Cake Jam.
Still harvesting Pindo Palm fruit and Beauty Berries for Jam. My Japanese Persimmon tree is loaded and I’ll harvest that soon
Even though this is absolutely the wrong time of year for me to buy jam, and I still have plenty of jam left over from last year some of which is from varieties that are ripe again this year, I must get one of those morello cherry preserves the next time I go to a Kroger’s for milk.
I just made a test batch of blueberry and Beauty plum jam last night because I wanted something sweet and tart for my yogurt. The quince butter I have open is good, but more mellow.
I have it, the Aldi Sour Cherry Fruit Spread (from Germany) and Bonne Maman Cherry Preserves (from France). I think its one notch above those two myself.
