Week # 23: 10 lbs or 20 Cups of Jams or Fruit Preserves

Week # 23: 10 lbs or 20 Cups of Jams or Fruit Preserves
(If you can’t accomplish this in 1 week, which you probably will not because this is an ongoing process, don’t worry, just take your time and do it in steps.)
Fruit Preserves
Fruit preserves refers to fruits or vegetables that have been prepared and canned for long term storage. The preparation of fruit preserves traditionally involves the use of pectin as a gelling agent, although sugar or honey may be used as well. There are various types of fruit preserves made globally, and they can be made from sweet or savory ingredients.
Preserves
The term Preserves is usually interchangeable with Jam. Some cookbooks define Preserves as cooked and gelled whole fruit (or vegetable), which includes a significant portion of the fruit.
Jam
Jam contains both fruit juice and pieces of the fruit’s (or vegetable’s) flesh,[12] however some cookbooks define Jam as cooked and gelled fruit (or vegetable) purees.[13]
Properly, the term jam refers to a product made with whole fruit, cut into pieces or crushed. The fruit is heated with water and sugar to activate the pectin in the fruit. The mixture is then put into containers. The following extract from a US cookbook describes the process.

“Jams are usually made from pulp and juice of one fruit, rather than a combination of several fruits. Berries and other small fruits are most frequently used, though larger fruits such as apricots, peaches, or plums cut into small pieces or crushed are also used for jams. Good jam has a soft even consistency without distinct pieces of fruit, a bright color, a good fruit flavor and a semi-jellied texture that is easy to spread but has no free liquid.” - Berolzheimer R (ed) et al. (1959)

Uncooked or minimally cooked (less than 5 minutes) jams, are called freezer jam, because they are stored frozen.
Jelly
The term jelly refers to a type of clear fruit spread consisting of firmed fruit (or vegetable) juice made with pectin. Jelly can be made from sweet, savory or hot ingredients. Jelly is made by a similar process to jam, with the additional step of filtering out the fruit pulp after the initial heating. A cloth “jelly bag” is traditionally used as a filter.

“Good jelly is clear and sparkling and has a fresh flavor of the fruit from which it is made. It is tender enough to quiver when moved, but holds angles when cut.
EXTRACTING JUICE - Pectin is best extracted from the fruit by heat, therefore cook the fruit until soft before straining to obtain the juice … Pour cooked fruit into a jelly bag which has been wrung out of cold water. Hang up and let drain. When dripping has ceased the bag may be squeezed to remove remaining juice, but this may cause cloudy jelly.” - Berolzheimer R (ed) et al. (1959)

Marmalade
American-style marmalade is sweet, not bitter. In English-speaking usage “marmalade” almost always refers to a preserve derived from a citrus fruit, most commonly oranges. The recipe includes sliced or chopped fruit peel, which is simmered in fruit juice and water until soft; indeed marmalade is sometimes described as jam with fruit peel (although many companies now also manufacture peel-free marmalade). Such marmalade is most often consumed on toasted bread for breakfast.
Jam & Recipes for Home Storage
Because we feel that Ball, the most popular preserving company, has a lot of great info on their site we’ll direct you to their site to review recipes and how to preserve your fresh or frozen fruits.
Here are a few free Printable PDF Recipe sheets from PickYourOwn.org.

• Apple Butter PDF
• Grape Jelly PDF
• Apple Jelly PDF
• Strawberry Jam no Pectin PDF

THE Book! 
You’ll for sure need the “Blue Book of Preserving” from Ball if your thinking about canning/jarring your fresh food. It tells you in simple instructions how to can almost anything; complete with recipes for jelly, jellies, pickles, sauces, canning vegetables, meats, etc. If it can be canned, this book likely tells you how!Personally we wouldn’t pay more than $9 for this book, but not because it’s not worth more, but because that’s just a good deal. You can even find it for $5.48.

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Click on the images below to view all 52 weeks at once or the recipes to go with it, in a .jpg or download the 52 Week Food Purchasing Plan (PDF) or the Custom 52 Week Food Purchasing Plan (Excel file) and calculate exactly how much you’ll need for the size of your family.