Canning Again!

It has only been about a week since my first efforts at canning, and I’m already having dreams about the taste of the Holiday Cherries and the Blueberry-Meyer Lemon Marmalade from Canning for a New Generation. Since my first attempt at these preserves went rather smoothly, I decided it would be worth repeating before the price of produce skyrocketed.

So I went back to the local orchard after my trip to see the nieces. This time I walked away with 1½ quarts of blueberries (they had doubled in price since my last visit so I had to restrain myself), five pounds of Granny Smith apples (there was still one pound left at home), and ¾ pound of apple pie cheddar (because I was hungry). I had about 2½ pounds of cherries left in the refrigerator, so all I needed to do was pick up at least one pound of Meyer lemons from the supermarket before I would be back in business. Since my dried rose petals arrived from Zamouri Spices, I decided to pick up another two pounds of Meyer lemons in order to attempt the Meyer Lemon and Rose Petal Marmalade recipe as well.

Holiday Cherries

When I made my last batch of Holiday Cherries, I was so burned out on cherry pitting that I didn’t bother to pit the two pounds of cherries required for the recipe. No damage was done to the recipe, but I can only use that batch for drinks or other purposes where people know to be wary of the pits.

I mentioned my cherry pitting issue to someone who recommended that I get a cherry pitter, especially since they were currently on sale at Target. I felt a little guilty about spending money on a quirky single use tool (even though it can also be used for olives). Of course, after the two pounds of cherries were pitted in less than twenty minutes, I felt much better about it.

But I was so excited about using the cherry pitter (it works like a hole puncher) that I failed to read my recipe steps. I had measured all the ingredients – cider vinegar, sugar, spices – right on top of the cherries in my large red Dansk soup pot. And of course, the recipe called for first boiling together everything EXCEPT the cherries in order to dissolve the sugar and thicken the syrup. Rather than try to correct my mistake, I forged ahead. I boiled the cherries in the syrup for a little less than the total recommended time - ten minutes total instead of fifteen minutes total – because I had remembered from my last attempt at the recipe that the cherries got mushy after ten minutes. Since the syrup is just to flavor and preserve the cherries, it really wasn’t important to properly thicken it, so I didn’t bother with a cold plate test or a candy thermometer. Once it seemed thick enough for my tastes, and the cherries were still in an acceptable condition, I proceeded with water bath canning.

Of course, I’ve yet to sample the fruits of my labor. The cherries all fit perfectly in the four-ounce jars that I had prepared, and I couldn’t bring myself to crack the seal on one of them yet. But I tried some of the excess syrup, and that was as good as I had dreamed it to be. No damage done by my shortcut!

Green Apple Pectin (Times Two!)

The Green Apple Pectin recipe is so easy that I didn’t even need to look at the recipe to make it. My only real concern was that what was weighing in at three pounds of apples wasn’t really three pounds. The first four apples, which were left over from the last batch of Green Apple Pectin, weighed about a pound. Adding four smallish new apples brought the weight to three pounds. It was pretty odd. But I weighed the apples three times and came up with the same result each time, so I finally went with it.

All you need to do to make Green Apple Pectin is boil the apples in two cups of water per pound until the skins fall off and the whole thing is basically a mush. Then let the mush sit in a fine mesh sieve FOREVER until the required quantity of juice is expressed. After that, reduce the juice to a thick concentrate and refrigerate it until needed to make a batch of jelly.

During my first attempt at Green Apple Pectin, I struggled to get the required quantity of juice because the essential tip that I needed was in another recipe. The secret was to mix water into the mush once the juice stopped flowing. But I knew that now, so I had no problem getting the required quantity of juice. After the first 30 minutes of draining, I only had about half the required amount of juice. So I stirred two cups of water into the mush, let that drain for another 30 minutes, and had more than enough juice to proceed to the next step. I had set the pot over high heat, so the juice reduced fairly quickly. In fact, despite starting out with too much juice, the concentrate was half a cup short. So I added some water to the pot, swished it around, and topped off the measuring cup to the right level. The only challenge left was finding room in the refrigerator for the container of Green Apple Pectin!

After I got the first batch done, the second batch was even easier! Weighing out the apples was no problem, since they were all from the new bag and about five ounces each. I had even two apples left for snacks! It such a straightforward process that the apples bubbled merrily in the background – with the occasional stir - as I did the prep work for the Strawberry-Basil Jam recipe from Butter & Scotch. I had the draining and concentrating steps down to a science, so those went smoothly as well. And there was even room in the fridge for the container!

Red Wine Jelly

I had given a four-ounce jar of my Cabernet Shiraz Jelly to my trainer, who is always curious about what I’m up to in the kitchen. He had very positive feedback on it: it was nicely jelled and that it spread well. He also said that you couldn’t tell that it was made from wine unless you were told, although if you knew to look for it, there was a faint whiff of wine upon opening the jar.

Emboldened by the positive feedback and in possession of a batch of Green Apple Pectin, I started on a second batch of red wine jelly. This time I used a Yellow Tail Merlot, because that was what I had on hand.

The process of making red wine jelly was as simple as the last time, except this time I was sure to use my larger Faberware pot instead of my red Dansk soup pot so that I could attach the candy thermometer to the rim of the pot. Reducing the wine went off without a hitch. In fact, the wine bubbled merrily in the background as I prepared the fruit salad for our ladies’ brunch. I checked it at about 15 minutes – the recommended boiling time being from 10 to 20 minutes – and it had reduced to 1½ cups. So I added half a cup of water to bring it up to the required amount.

I had a bit of an oopsy measuring the white sugar; I was measuring the sugar over the reduced wine and it came out of the bag so fast that it overflowed the measuring cup. I was concerned that might affect the boiling point of the mixture or its ability to jell properly. But that didn’t seem to matter. The mixture boiled hard, threatening to overflow the pot and splattering my stove with a purple mist. It eventually reached 220F on the candy thermometer, but didn’t pass the “wrinkle test.” Since I was tired, I decided to can it anyway. That was a good decision because the little that was left in the pot jelled beautifully when it cooled between canning sessions (there was so much jelly I had to do two rounds of water processing to fit all the jars).

Of course, I couldn’t resist sampling some of the cooled jelly before I reheated it to start my second round of canning. It was terrific! It was not too sweet - despite my oopsy - and had a great grape flavor without tasting alcoholic. Overall, it still was an excellent low effort recipe.

Since this post has gone on long enough, I’ll save the discussion of my other two recipes – the Blueberry – Meyer Lemon Marmalade and the Meyer Lemon and Rose Petal Marmalade – for another post.