Aunt Virginia was my grandma Ollie's sister-in-law, Uncle Henry's wife. She was an absolute hoot, and I didn't get to visit with her nearly enough while she was alive. On my most recent visit to North Carolina with Grandmary we got to spend more time with Aunt Virginia's children, one of whom pulled out a family cookbook near the conclusion of a visit. Lacking other recording materials, I took a few pictures, and have been waiting for an opportunity to try out a few recipes, especially the freezer jam.
I so do not have the patience or space for canning -- of any kind. Which is a shame, because homemade jam is so good. I figured freezer jam was an easier alternative for me. Plus, I actually got to try some this summer while staying at Aunt Ruby's house after the River/Roadtrip.
Last weekend I went apple picking with the same crew that I did last year. It was a little earlier in the season, so we aimed for the berry patches. While it was the wrong season for strawberries, it was just right for raspberries. I got two boxes with a mix of the golden and very ripe red raspberries, figuring all the fruit would be good for baking and jam-making.
Unfortunately, "Grace" here some how managed to smooch the berries. I also had an absolutely crazy week, and didn't get around to dealing with the harvest until Wednesday night, at which time I had to cull out some that had begun to mold. Lovely.
I also had to hunt down pectin. Pectin is not something that is readily found at just any NYC bodega or regular grocerystore. Plus, DUH! Whenyou do find it, it's not in the baking section... Look toward the Jello/gelatin section. (Let my idiocy save you some time. ) I sure hope Sure-Jell and Certo are interchangeable. And that I needed the dry pectin and not the liquid pectin. Darn second-hand recipes ....
Pretty simple recipe, right? You would think.
Freezer Jam
1 quart strawberries (1 3/4 cup crushed) (I had about 2 cups crushed raspberries)
4 cups sugar (white)
1 pouch certo fruit pectin (I used sure-jell)
Rinse and crush berries in a bowl:
Stir in 4 cups of sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes.
Add certo fruit pectin. Let stand 3 minutes.
Fill containers. Store at room temperature. (Apparently for 12-24 hours, according to some other freezer jam recipes.)
I let these sit in the fridge for a bit and then transferred them to the freezer. It would have been better to take stock of my Ziploc container/glass jar collection before I tried to make this recipe. Now I have to thaw out these larger containers when I want to try the jam. Smaller, in this case, would have been better.I also have a feeling that the berry ratio is a bit different when you are using raspberries rather than strawberries, like I should have had MORE raspberries, especially with 4 cups of sugar. My jam looked more like syrup, even after setting up with the pectin for hours. I'm hoping the freezing process will make my jam like a granita. I supposed I can always use it for ice-cream, cobbler topping, and for raspberry balsamic vinaigrette dressings throughout the winter.
Also, a piece of advice from a jam-making novice. Don't try this, or any new-to-you recipe after two long weeks of work, and at 9:00 p.m. when you are already incoherently tired. There's not enough berry juice, sugar, or pectin in the world to sweeten the process. Do it when you're awake enough to enjoy yourself.
Maybe next time I'll try it with strawberries.
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