Jam Jar
Jam Jar
Making Jams, Jellies, and Conserves with Strawberries and Blueberries Homegrown on a Hobby Farm
Did you ever look at the rows of jams and jellies at the market and wonder about the canning process—how those beautiful summertime strawberries and blueberries became the fruit preserves we all know, love, and have grown up with?
You can make your own strawberry jam with a few simple ingredients—strawberries, sugar, lemon juice, and fruit pectin—and have enough for your whole family, some for holiday gifts, and even a few left over to enter in your local county fair!
You'll also need a few basic canning supplies, which you can order from any of the many online food preservation websites out there. One of the basic things you'll need is a water bath canner with lid and jar rack. A water bath canner is a very large pot, usually made of some kind of enamel-coated metal, that has a tight fitting lid. The jar rack, a metal wire rack specially made to hold canning jars, fits snugly into the water bath canner. The jar rack has a series of separate compartments, one for each jar. You will also need a jar lifter for the important job of placing hot jars of jam or jelly into the boiling water bath, and most critically for removing them from the boiling water. These jars are extremely hot once they're ready to be removed, and since they're also wet, they could slip easily without this important tool. Of course, you'll also need some canning jars including the rings and lids, a lid wand to pick up and place the lid onto the jar, a funnel for getting your fruit mixture into the jar, and some kind of label for the jars so that a year down the line, when you open up your pantry, you can tell what exactly the product is that's sitting on your shelf.
The basic canning process for making jam is a simple one, and there are many excellent Websites out there that cover canning in great detail. One of the best resources for learning about the canning process is Tracy Toth's strawberry webisode on the blog Homegrown on a Hobby Farm, which shows just how simple the process really is. Tracy Toth is a hobby farm enthusiaste who owns and runs her own hobby farm in Pennsylvania and hosts many informative videos about raising sheep, goats, and chickens, sustainable farming, organic gardening, canning and preserving, hydroponics, soap making, beekeeping, and many other forms of small-scale farming that can be done on limited land using help from family and friends. In her strawberry webisode she visits Prout's Jolly View Farm to gather the "Early Glow" variety of strawberries she uses to make her strawberry jam.
However, back to canning. After combining the ingredients in the proper amounts and boiling them for the time called for in your recipe, you simply spoon the mixture through a funnel into the canning jars, leaving a little space at the top. This is necessary, because the goal is to create a vacuum seal using temperature. You then place the lid on the jar using the lid wand. This is so that your fingers don't introduce bacteria or foreign matter into the jar. Once the lid is on, the tightening ring is placed over the lid and screwed shut, just to finger-tightness. The jars are then placed into the jar rack inside the canner, which has boiling water inside. Remember to use the jar lifter, or you will burn your fingers!
After the amount of time called for in your recipe, you lift the jars out of the boiling water bath and set them down onto a heat resistant surface to cool. You will hear a popping sound, just once for each jar, as the contents acclimate to the cooler temperature outside of the canner. This is the vacuum seal taking effect, and this popping is necessary for you to hear to know that your jam or jelly is preserved properly and safely.
About the Author
Making jams, jellies, canning, and preserving food is a really great way to utilize the fruits of your labor and the produce of your hobby farm. Homegrown on a Hobby Farm is a great website and resource for learning everything you need to know about starting your own hobby farm including raising sheep, chickens, and goats, beekeeping, hydroponic farming and growing your own tomatoes, organic food and how to cook it, canning and food preservation, and so much more! You can also read success stories that can provide inspiration and help you to crystallize your own vision.
Heather Stone is a blogging and social media specialist for PostRanger.com.
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About the Author
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