Kristen's Recipes

1/8 tsp. Butter

1 1/2 C. of Water

2 Medium oranges

1 Medium Size Blood Orange

1 Large Regular Lemon

1 Large Meyer Lemon

1/8 tsp. Baking Soda

1 Pouch of Liquid Pectin such as Sure Jell

Measure sugar into a bowl, top with 1/8 Tsp. butter, cover, and set aside. Pour water in a large saucepan, cover with a lid and set aside. Using a zester, carefully remove zest from all of the fruit and place in the large saucepan, stir into the water, cover with the lid and set aside. Try not to remove any of the white part, known as the pith, as it will give your marmalade a bitter flavor. Segment and chop all of the fruit, catching their juices in a non reactive bowl. (Be sure to remove all pits.) Cover bowl of fruit and juices and set aside. Add baking soda to water and zest. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover, and simmer for 2o minutes. As the zest simmers for 20 minutes, it is a good time to check the dishwasher cycle to be sure it is still on heated dry, re-read instructions for filling and sealing jars, and it is a good time to wash, dry, and put away all dirty dishes used so far. Place Liquid Pectin Pouch standing up in a glass measuring C. and cut off the top of the pouch using clean scissors. Set the pectin near the simmering zest, so it will be handy, when ready to use. As soon as the zest mixture is done simmering, turn the heat up to high and add the fruit, juice, sugar, and mix well. Bring water in the water bath canner, tea kettle, and small sauce pan back to a heavy rolling boil. Quickly remove small saucepan full of boiling water from the stove and place on a trivet. Place clean lids in the water, cover, and allow to rest, until ready to use. Turn heat under tea kettle down to medium low. Bring jam to a heavy rolling boil that will continue even as mixture is stirred. Reduce heat to medium or medium low so mixture is bubbling gently. Continue to stir as mixture simmers for 8 minutes.*It is very important to stir constantly so mixture will not burn. Turn heat back up to high and bring mixture back up to a rapid boil for 1 minute. Add pectin and bring mixture back up to a boil, stirring constantly for 1 more minute. Remove marmalade from the heat, set on trivet, and quickly skim off any foam with a metal skimmer. Remove 1 hot jar from the dishwasher, place funnel on top of jar, and ladle marmalade into jar, being sure to leave 1/4 th of an inch head space. Remove the funnel, use bubble freer to remove bubbles from jar, slightly wet the clean paper towels with water and use to wipe any jam from the top of the jar. Using lid wand, remove 1 lid from the small saucepan of water, line up and place on top of the jar and screw band on, making sure the band is not too tight. Lift canning rack; latch onto sides of canner, and using jar lifter, place jar of marmalade on the rack. Continue this process till all jars are full and are resting lid side up on the rack. The jars should all be half covered with boiling water at this point. Gently lower rack in to the boiling water. The jars should be covered with 1 – 2 inches of water. If more water is needed, pour boiling water from tea kettle into the water bath canner at this point. Bring water in water bath canner to a boil and process the jars for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, begin to clean up the kitchen and set down a dish towel to place under the hot processed jars of marmalade while they cool. (Setting hot jars on a cool surface may cause them to shatter.) Turn off the heat, remove the lid, and allow the pot to cool for 5 minutes. Lift canning rack, latch onto sides of canner, carefully remove jars one by one with the jar lifter, and place 1 – 2 inches apart of the clean dish towel. Do not tilt jars to remove water from the lid as this may affect the seal. The water will easily evaporate from the heat of the jar. Listen for and count the pings, the sound that the jars make as they seal. Allow jars to sit for 24 hours before removing bands and checking lids to be sure they are sealed. Store homemade marmalade in a cool dark place such as a basement for up to 1 year.

Yield:

Calories:

Fat:

Fiber:

16 C. (4 lbs) Strawberries, hulled and halved
2 ½ C. Sugar
½ C. Fresh lemon juice
1 packet of pectin
1 tsp. Fresh or dried lavender

In a large non-reactive pan add the strawberries and sugar. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Have ready hot, sterilized jars and their lids. You can sterilize by placing in a 225 degree oven on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes or sterilize in hot water or the dishwasher. Place 2 or 3 small plates in the freezer. Add the lemon juice and pectin to the pot. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, uncovered, add lavender, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Use 1 tsp. jam and a chilled plate to test if the jam is ready. The mixture is ready if it wrinkles when nudged gently with a finger. If it doesn’t, continue to cook for a few minutes longer and retest. Ladle the hot jam into the jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove any air bubbles and adjust the headspace, if needed. Wipe the rims clean and seal tightly with the lids. Process the jars for 10 minutes in boiling water bath. Remove and let cool on a towel. The lids will pop and that means they are sealed. To test, simply press down on the lid and if no popping happens, they are sealed. Tighten the lids and store in a dark, cool location.

2 pounds of strawberries, some super ripe, some under ripe
½ C. water
2 tsp. lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1 C. sugar
¼ C. roughly chopped basil leaves
2 tsp. vodka

Remove the stem from the strawberries and halve or quarter them if they are large. Place them in a large stockpot with the water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium and continue to boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the berries from sticking to the pot. Meanwhile, put the sugar and basil leaves into a food processor fitted with a steel-blade attachment. Pulse until the basil is finely minced and the sugar turns a pale green color. Set aside. Remove the lid from the pot and stir the lemon juice into the berries (after they have simmered for 10 minutes). Add the sugar, ½ C. at a time, waiting for the liquid to return to a boil before adding more. Continue to boil for another 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Skim any foam that rises to the surface, if desired. Cook only until the jam begins to stick on the bottom of the pot. You should be able to draw a trail through the jam with your spatula. Another sign that the jam is ready is that it will begin to sputter. Pour jam through a funnel into hot, sterilized jars to within ¼ inch of the lips. Wipe the rims clean with a paper towel that you’ve submerged in the vodka. Attach new lids, and screw caps tightly. Invert jars briefly to vacuum seal, or process in a boiling water bath, submerged by 1 inch, for 10 minutes.

3 C. peeled, chopped peaches
1 1/2 C. peeled, chopped nectarines
2 T. lemon juice
3 C. sugar
1 package powdered pectin
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp. butter (to reduce foam)

First you need to prepare your jars. There are tons of articles on the web that tell you how to do this, so I won’t go into it here. Just make sure that CLEANLINESS is a big priority in your canning process…this is how you avoid contaminating all of your beautiful fruit preserves. I recommend looking at the Ball website or Pick Your Own for basic, safe canning information. Now, get your extra large stockpot/canner filled with water and starting to heat. That much water takes a while to get going. The water level needs to be high enough to cover filled jars by 1-2 inches when submerged in their water bath. Once your supplies are all clean and sterilized, you can start preparing your fruit. Peel, pit, and chop the fruit and place in 6 or 8 qt. stockpot. Stir in lemon juice. Add cinnamon stick. Carefully measure out sugar into a separate bowl. In a small bowl, mix powdered pectin with about 1/4 C. the measured sugar and mix well. Add this mixture to the fruit in the stockpot. Also add optional butter at this point. Bring the fruit mixture to a rolling boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Stir in remaining sugar quickly. Return to a full rolling boil and boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. **NOTE: A full rolling boil is such that when stirred, the boil does not go away. After 1 minute, remove from heat. Skim off any foam. Remove cinnamon stick. Ladle into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 – 1/8 inch of the top (called “head-space”). Wipe any spills on the jar or rim with a clean damp cloth. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands finger-tip tight (this just means screw on tight, but don’t over-do it). Put all of the filled jars into your large stockpot (canner) of boiling water, submerge either with a canning rack (very handy), canning jar grabber, or silicone oven mitts (don’t recommend). The canning rack is great because it keeps the jars off the bottom of the pot preventing etching, scratching, or cracking the glass. If you don’t have a rack, you need to put a tea towel in the bottom of the pot to cushion the jars and make sure there’s space between the jars themselves to allow water to circulate through. The water should cover the jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add more boiling water if necessary. Once the water starts boiling with the jars in the canner, put the lid on and start your timer for 10 minutes. Boil on medium…not a hard boil, but not too gentle. Carefully remove jars from canner–THEY WILL BE HOT! Place on a towel on the counter to cool. When you hear the pop and see that the flat lid is indented, you know you have a good seal. If any jars don’t seal after a couple hours, you can reprocess 10 more minutes, or simply store in the fridge to eat right away. It will keep there for up to a month. Let sealed jars stand at room temp on counter for 24 hours. Store the unopened, sealed jars in a cool, dry, dark place for up to 1 year. Once you open one, store in the fridge for up to a month (any longer and it will start to crystalize).

1 C. water
1 tangerine
1 lemon
3 C. sugar
1 pkg. Sure Jell

Take wild persimmon, wash and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until tender. During cooking, add water as needed to avoid burning. Remove from heat and strain through colander or cloth. To each cup of persimmon pulp add the above ingredients. Mix Sure Jell with pulp, water, juice of lemon and tangerine; bring to boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. At once, add sugar. Bring to rolling boil and cook 1 minute. Remove foam and fill glasses immediately.

6-7 half pint jars

4 pounds of fresh Peaches
3 C. Sugar
2 T. Lemon Juice
1/2 C. Water

Prepare the jars for canning. Wash jars and bands in hot, soapy water. Rinse. Place jars inside a canner filled with water, bring to boil. Boil jars for 15 minutes to sterilize. Place lids and bands in warm water, do not boil. Leave until ready to use.

Rinse the peaches under cool running water. Place whole fresh peaches in a pot of boiling water for 2 minutes. Remove and place in a sink with cold ice water. Peel peaches, remove the pit, slice in half, then into quarters. Slice each quarter into 2 or 3 chunks. Place cut peaches in bowl and toss with lemon juice. Place in food processor and pulse into small bits but do not liquefy. Place a saucepot on stove, set to medium heat. Add water, then sugar and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add peach pulp and continue to stir until it thickens. As it thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking and burning. When done, ladle into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rim, add lid and band. Finger tighten. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner or according to the time for your altitude. Remove from canner, and place on folded towel for 24 hours in a draft free location. May be stored