Paper Palate

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I have a confession to make: I’ve always been terrified of canning. Something about botulism, combined with a conviction that the whole mess would blow on me, has always kept me from attempting it. I wanted to do it; I wanted to be one of those Ma Ingalls types who made preserves out of green tomatoes to eat with our baked beans all winter long (never mind that no one in my family really likes baked beans that much).  I even bought myself a home canning kit about four thousand years ago. It consisted of a round rack for holding the jars during processing in the water bath, a scientifically engineered set of tongs for moving the jars around, and a few other clever tools, like a plastic wand with a magnet on the end for snagging the rings and lids while they were in the boiling water.  This lovely set languished in my kitchen for years, certain parts of it disappearing over time. All that’s left today is the wand with the magnet. Canning was out of the question.  Absolutely.

Then I read about jam making in several sources, most recently the June Bon Appetit, in which Molly Wizenberg talks about making strawberry jam with pick-your-own berries.  Well, I didn’t have those, but my friend Shannon in Produce told me that the strawberries had been delivered the day before. Uh-oh. Day-old berries? What else could I do? I bought a flat.

A flat of strawberries makes about four batches of jam. Four batches of jam is . . . well, a lot of jars, depending on how big they are. For me, it made a dozen small jars (8 oz.) and 4 large ones (32 oz.). 

The thing I discovered about jam making is that the jam itself is a cinch. Hull the berries, toss them in a pot with sugar and lemon juice, cook down to the gelling point, and spoon into the jars. What no one tells you is this: sterilizing and processing jam is a real pain.  Unless you have a massive commercial stockpot, all those jars aren’t going to fit in one pot; you’ll have to do them in batches. Now, granted, I did make four batches, but even if I’d made only one, I still don’t have a pot large enough to hold all the jars and lids. Nor, for that matter, do I have a rack that will fit in the pan and hold the jars up off the bottom of the pan while they’re in the water. I found some egg rings in my Random Cooking Thingies drawer that did the trick nicely, or you could use cookie cutters held together with paper clips in an approximately round shape, or you can just use the rings that go on the jars.

Some of my jam came out fairly thin, an outcome for which I was prepared because I didn’t use any commercial pectin and just allowed the jam to gel as much as it would on its own.  Mark Bittman, in How to Cook Everything, offers pectin instructions for those who are determined to have a jam product that looks more like what you can buy in the store.

But the real test was eating it. All my jars seemed to form a seal, so that was in my favor.  I made some toast, spread a thin slick of butter on it, and added the jam. I ate it, and in 24 to 36 hours I had still not developed any signs of botulism (24 to 36 hours is the incubation period for botulism; don’t ask how or why I know this). So at least one jar is good. I’ll hope the rest are too. 

In the meantime, if you want to take your own stab at strawberry jam, here’s the recipe I used:

Strawberry Jam

adapted from multiple sources, including the June Bon Appetit, and Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything

Makes about 3 pints of jam

• 6 cups of hulled strawberries
• 3 to 4 cups of sugar
• 1 to 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 3 to 6 teaspoons liquid pectin (not necessary, but can be used if a thicker jam is desired)

Place one or two small plates or saucers in the freezer. 

Place fruit in a large saucepan and crush fruit with a potato masher or fork.  Add 3 cups sugar and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Turn heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring almost constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture liquifies. Taste and add more lemon juice if necessary.

Turn heat to low and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has broken down and the mixture is thick, about 30 minutes. Test for gelling by removing a plate from the freezer and putting a dollop of jam on it. Place plate in the refrigerator for two minutes; if the jam has gelled, remove to jars and process (see below). If not, let cook for a few more minutes and try again, adding more sugar or liquid pectin (if desired). Another tip: an instant-read thermometer can be used; all jam gels at 224 degrees F.

While the jam is cooking, wash jars, rings, and lids with hot soapy water. Sterilize jars in a pot of boiling water for ten minutes. Remove and ladle jam into hot jars. Wipe the necks of the jars with a damp cloth, then place lids and rings on the jars, and place jars back in a hot water bath for 10-15 minutes. (If you used the rings as a platform to hold the jars while sterilizing, you’ll need to find an alternative for the final processing.)

Remove jars from the bath and allow to cool to room temperature. I’ve read that you’re supposed to remove them without tipping them, but I’ll be 100% honest: it was all I could do to remove them without dropping them, much less tipping them.  In fact, I did drop three of them on their heads in the boiling water, and much cursing followed. The jars seem to be fine in spite of this.

All pictures by The Modern Apron