Saving Sweet Temptations

Image Gallery Homemade jam and jelly make fresh delicious biscuits into an awesome treat. iStockPhoto.com/Robyn Mackenzie

Basil Apple Jelly
Lemon Lime Basil Jelly
Fresh Apricot Jam or Preserves
Peach Jam or Preserves
Strawberry Preserves

Recipes developed by Barbara Meyer

When it’s fair time, country cooks and their urban counterparts are drawn to show-off their jelly and jam making skills at the county fair.

Cooks read competition rules as if lives depend upon it. Preserves, carefully prepared earlier, are inspected for minute flaws. After all, only show quality products will make the cut.

An easy way to become familiar with the judging process is to volunteer as a judge’s helper. Beware, however, volunteering is the carrot that draws you to the next level – entering your own fruit-flavored creations.

Ancient art renewed

Experts believe that making jelly, jam and preserves began in the Middle East, where sugarcane grew naturally. The ingredients then included fruit, sugar and citrus, which caused the mixture to congeal. Early New England settlers preserved their fruits with honey, molasses or maple sugar and used pectin from apple parings as a thickener. Commercial pectin appeared on the market in the early 1900s and quickly became the jelling agent of choice, even though it required plenty of sugar to work. Recently, cooks striving for the best flavor have rediscovered the ancient art of preserving with no added commercial pectin; richer flavor and less sugar are part of the payoff.

For the past six years, Barbara Meyer of Urbana, Illinois, has been perfecting recipes to enter in county fair competitions. She uses commercial pectin in herb jelly, but not in her jams and preserves. She avoids using a cooking thermometer; she says it feels too much like lab work. The judges agree with her techniques, and have awarded a rainbow of ribbons to her entries at the Champaign County Fair.

The recipes and techniques that follow are from Barbara’s winning repertoire.

Canning method

1. Use only jars that are produced for home canning. Recycling jars from store-bought products is not safe.
2. Inspect jars carefully. Discard any with chipped or uneven top edges.
3. Sterilize clean jars by boiling in the canner for 5 minutes. Leave in boiling water until ready to fill. (Keep the canner and hot water on a burner over low heat, and it will be ready for processing the filled jars.)
4. Sterilize jelly-making equipment in the canner along with the jars – tongs, wide-mouth funnel, ladle, non-metallic stirring spoon and a non-metallic spoon to skim foam from hot mixture.
5. Put lids and rings in a separate pan and cover with an inch of hot water. Lids are not boiled since extreme heat might soften the rubber seal. Use only new lids. Clean rings can be safely reused, but are seldom of show quality.
6. Lift one jar from boiling water with tongs. Place jar upright on a wooden cutting board or folded bath towel and immediately fill with hot mixture using a sterilized, wide-mouthed funnel and ladle. Leave the air space called for in recipe (usually 1/2 to 1/8 inch) at the top.
7. Wipe mouth of jar with clean washcloth dipped in hot water to remove all spillage. Neglecting this step may result in a bad seal.
8. Put lid and ring on jar immediately and tighten just until you meet resistance. Ring will not be completely tight.
9. Put sealed jars on rack or towel in hot water in canner. Water should cover jars by 1 inch.
10. Process in boiling water for amount of time listed in recipe. Begin counting processing time once water has returned to boil.
11. Remove jars from canner. Be careful of hot drips. Set jars on a wooden surface or towel leaving 1 inch between jars to cool evenly. Jelly will be liquid at processing temperature.
12. Cover hot jars with second towel.
13. Let jars cool undisturbed for 24 hours. The lids on those that sealed will be dimpled down in the center. At this point, you may remove the rings and place sealed jars in storage.
14. Refrigerate contents of jars that fail to seal and use within a few days.