Wild Foraged Jams and Jellies

 Pear Vanilla Caramel Jam, Crab Apple Jelly, Rose Hip Jelly

Boy, it sure has been a long time since I blogged here!  I came back to check on comment moderation, since someone found my recipe for the Onigaming Supper Club spinach salad and posted it on the "You Know You're From The Copper Country When..." fb group.  I haven't written here much for several reasons. I have taken to writing short non cooking things on my own fb wall called "morning musings", and I also started another website to be the basis of the cookbook I want to write Up North Kitchen (there's not much there yet) and then I also am developing a website for my bakestand business Mothers Kitchen LLC.   That pretty much has sapped my energy for publishing things on the internet.    

I really do need to come back here more and publish some of the recipes I am cooking these days.   Lately, I have been keeping my recipes on paper in a folder, but I do need to write about them here.   I made a bunch of jams and jellies for my bakestand yesterday, and I want to remember what I did.  So I am taking pen in hand, or shall I say keyboard to finger tips, to capture yesterday's venture.   I have been really into wild foraging this season,  and it was time to preserve what I had.     I really love these 2 foraging books  Wild Fruits and Berries Field Guide of  Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin and Cooking Wild Fruits and Berries of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin by Teresa Marrone.   

First up in my canning exploits of yesterday was Wild Crabapple Jelly.  There's a nice crab apple tree down on Salo Road where I like to forage.  I used Teresa's method for making jelly, along with my steam juicer. It is so much easier to make jellies with it than the old jelly bag method.  Here's how to make crab apple jelly using her method:  

Wild Crab Apple Jelly

For each 2 cups of juice extracted, prepare 3 half pint canning jars.  For each cup of juice, you will need:

1 t. lemon juice
2/3 c. sugar.

Put juice in a large dutch oven and heat to boiling.   Add sugar all at once, and heat, stirring frequently, until the temp hits 220F (or whatever is 8 degrees over the boiling point of water is where you are, for me, it's 212F)  Skim off any foam and pour into jars, leaving 1/4 in. headspace.   Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes. 

Next up, I made rose hip jelly.  My neighbor down the road has the best rose hips!  I harvest them every year, best after the first frost.  I modified Teresa's recipe with my steam juicer, so I didn't have to use boxed pectin.

Rose Hip Jelly

1/2 lb rose hips, blossom ends removed before weighing
1/2 lb tart green apples, chopped with peels and cores
1 lemon, chopped fine with peels and seeds

sugar 

Put rose hips, apples and lemon in juicer. After extracting juice, measure volume.   For every 2.5 c. juice, you will need 7/8 c. sugar.   In a dutch oven, bring juice to a boil,   Add sugar and boil, stirring frequently, until temp hits 220F (see above).   Skim off any foam and pour into jars, leaving 1/4 in. headspace.   Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.

For my pear vanilla jam, I had to improvise.  I made some with boxed pectin last year and I had to reprocess it twice, so I vowed never to do it with the boxed stuff again I am a big fan of making my own natural fruit pectin, so I had to improvise, because I didn't have a recipe for pears.  Pears need pectin to make jam. I decided to follow the method for peaches, but instead, subbing peeled, cored and finely chopped pears.  

Pear Vanilla Jam

To make the pectin:

5 tart apples, stems and blossom ends removed and chopped coarsely, cores intact
1 lemons unpeeled and chopped fine 

Boil apples and citrus in enough water to prevent sticking for 20 minutes until soft. Force through a food mill to make 2 cups puree.

To make pear vanilla jam:

6 c. peeled, cored and finely chopped pears
5 1/2 . sugar
Prepared apple/lemon puree 

2 T. vanilla

Add fruit and sugar to puree in a deep pot, bring to a boil and stir frequently over medium heat. Cook until temp hits 220F (it's okay if it caramelizes a little, it gives it a great flavor boost) Skim off any foam and pour into jars, leaving 1/4 in. headspace.   Process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 minutes.