In The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves, Linda Ziedrich has compiled a delicious array of homemade jam recipes that will encourage readers to preserve a bit of summer. Anyone with a fruit tree, abundance of tomatoes or desire to learn how to put up fruit for the winter will want this book as a reliable reference.
Fruit Preserves
Chapters in Joy of Jams are organized alphabetically by fruit (or vegetable) from Apple to Zucchini. A few nuts and vegetable recipes are included, so this is a savory as well as sweet recipe collection. The expected jam-type fruits are included, such as grape, strawberry and blueberry, but a few unusual selections appear as well, like carrot, currant, kumquat and watermelon.
Why Preserve?
Like many food items, homemade tastes better, and this is definitely true with preserves. It is also the only way to be certain the jams and jellies a family consumes are not filled with preservatives or pesticides or forbidden sweeteners. Ingredient control and flavor aside, many people simply enjoy making preserves, and learning the process of "putting up."
Kinds of Preserves
There are several different kinds of preserves, some more familiar than others. Descriptions are included in Joy of Jams for:
- Jam
- Jelly
- Marmalade
- Conserve
- Butter
- Preserves
- Syrup
- Paste
- Leather (a type of dried, pureed fruit, like a roll-up)
Summary
At 372 pages, Joy of Jams is thorough in its presentation of recipes and instructions. It is devoid of photographs or illustrations, but that does not inhibit its usefulness. Anyone with an abundance of fruit can easily head straight to the chapter for that particular ingredient and find the information needed. The basics are included for getting started, including equipment needed and a description of the different types of processing. A good reference for someone with an orchard or an interest in canning.
Title: The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves
Author: Linda Ziedrich
Publisher: Harvard Common Press, 372 pgs., 2009, $17.95
Recipe excerpt:
Apple Butter Recipe
Ingredients:
- 6 pounds cored and quartered apples (unpeeled)
- About 4 cups light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground mace or ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground allspice
Directions:
- In a preserving pan, cook the apples over low heat, covered, until they are soft, about 20 minutes. If they are dense, you may need to add a little water or cider at the start to keep them from scorching.
- Using the coarse screen of a food mill, puree the apples. Measure the volume of the puree, and add half as much light brown sugar.
- Add the cinnamon, mace or nutmeg, and allspice, and cook the mixture over low heat (or in an oven heated to 250 degrees F.), uncovered, until it is thick. This will probably take about 1 ½ hours. You'll need to stir occasionally at first and more frequently as the apple butter thickens.
- Ladle the apple butter into pint or half-pint mason jars. Add lids and rings, and process the jars in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.
Makes 3 ½ to 4 pints
Other good make-at-home reads:
Canning and Preserving for Dummies
Trevy Thomas - After more than a decade of food writing, Trevy Thomas joined Suite 101 as Feature Writer for the Home Décor and Cookbooks ...
