Tuesday, July 29, 2014

From Bush to Bottle

This morning the red currants in this jam were on bushes in our back "yard."  S. spent a few hours picking the ripe ones and came in around noon with an ice cream bucket and a half.  I washed and threw out the ones that floated, simmered the rest in a large pot for just a little while, put them through a food mill and set the result, 2 quarts of "thick" juice, to boil, mixed with two packages of "No Sugar Needed" pectin.  
Usually I put berries in the steam juicer and extract the clear juice, but that means the stove is on for a few hours.  This was much faster.

When the juice boiled I added 11 cups of sugar (red currants are pretty tart!)  After the mixture boiled for a minute (took about 10 minutes of stirring by the hot stove to return to a good boil), I ladled it into these jars.  They had been standing in the sink, having been filled with boiling water.

There was enough for almost eight pint jars.  The last, almost-full jar with the screw-on lid goes into the fridge to be eaten soon.  The others are labeled and will be stored in the spare bedroom closet, the coolest place in the house which is why my shelves of canned jars are kept there.  Good, tart jam for on toast this coming winter!

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