June 17th
2009
I had the best intentions, you ought to know that. Life has been hectic as usual (surprise surprise) with the occasional getaway (you may read about in a future post) and yet we managed to head east to Johanniskirchen and pick our own strawberries. Loads of wonderful plump cuties, more than five kilograms to be precise. My berry plans included cakes, ice cream, many glasses of homemade strawberry jam and of course my favorite, strawberries with freshly whipped cream. The cake barely lasted two hours (ok, we had guests, too), the ice cream (strawberry-coconut) no longer then ten minutes and the bowls of strawberries with cream hardly five. To my relief there are still a few jars of strawberry jam to accompany us through the next months!
Jam making certainly is a lot of fun and having had countless jam sessions in the past together with my grandma, I wouldn’t consider myself a novice anymore. Yet, my dilemma started with this video, featuring June Taylor, and this discussion (in German though) on Kaltmamsell’s blog. Making jam with regular sugar, no artificial citric acid or pectin added, was this possible for strawberry jam as strawberries are naturally low in acid and pectin?
I was intrigued, tried different recipes, but succeeded only partially: recipe number one consisted of strawberries, lemon juice (acid), grated apple skin (pectin) and sugar, was cooked 30 minutes with the remaining lemon parts (pectin) after juicing and set – but not as much as i would have liked it to. On the other hand I didn’t want to exceed the cooking time much longer due to a potential color loss. Hm. OK, let’s give it another shot. Recipe number two had additional freshly squeezed red currant juice (more pectin) to it, but still didn’t set as firm as I would have liked it to. Errr. Now I’m about to borrow a copper pot and see what happens next… any tips?
And because I wasn’t exactly satisfied with my kitchen output I headed to the park and cut some incredibly fragrant elderflowers for some more cordial. If you haven’t done this yet and live in the northern hemisphere, hurry up, you still might have a chance to pick some blossoms. Yes, your kitchen will end up pretty sticky, but the bottled syrup will make up for it for the rest of the year – easily! Tune in next week for either a Spanish recipe from our friend Carlos or a souvenir from Budapest, still undecided, we’ll see…
Soo happy for strawberry season! I haven't attempted jam yet, but I hope you'll try again and let us know how it goes!
I suppose you want to solve the jam problem on a natural basis (e.g. you're not going to add some pectin powder from the health food shop /Reformhaus/ or magic molecular food powder stuff like xanthan?). How about cooking the base first (citrus peels, apple skin, lemon juice etc.) and adding the strawberries later on to your already thick pectin base? This way you should be able to create a really "pectin rich" thick base and keep the fresh color of your strawberries. Btw: don't forget that sugar also thickens (just look at your sirup ;) ).
ps: Am I reading it right that you're going to visit Hungary? Or have you already been there? I hope you'll have a good guide, cause there are a lot of places to visit in Budapest - culinary and also culturally ;)
Nicky: Yes Beatbull, we've already been there and didn't even manage to visit all recommended places. We loved it :) Will try your "pectin rich thick base" with my next strawberry jam batch, thanks for the tip!
Strawberries are one of life's greatest little treasures! I can't wait to make some jam!
I just made a small jar of strawberry jam without pectin and it turned out just fine. The only ingredients I used (besides strawberries) were lemon juice and brown sugar. You can take a look at the recipe if you are interested.
The jam slathered on toast (in your other post) looks fantastic!
Your blog so inspired me that I started my own about 7 months ago (well 7 months ago to the day). But the funny thing is once I started my own blog I quit coming to the blogs I loved in the first place. Too busy I guess working out the kinks. But I have found a happy balance and am pleased to be back here. Your work is always 100% quality and the benchmark for all blogs in my book. Besides I did a strawberry cake very recently too. Reaffirming my belief that you are a genius! GREG
Hey, I have made jams with and without pectins, if you use under-ripe apples they have more natural pectin then ripe ones do. I think the best you can hope for is a nice fruit butter consistency the really solid gel like jams you get in the store have a high pectin content.
The softer spreads are easier to smoother scones with!
I am so jealous of all the strawberries you've got! Just when our season ends, yours begins. I love the bottles you have too!
As strawberries ripen, they actually lose their pectin, so super-ripe, hand-picked strawberries will need alot of assistance in the pectin department.
Also, why cook them for 30 minutes? That is criminal. I just canned 32lbs of hand picked organic California coast strawberries and never cooked a batch longer than 10 minutes. As I mentioned, there is not enough pectin in ripe strawberries so cooking them for long periods only destroys the taste.
Hi Nicky, my mom does since 45 years strawberry jam only with regular sugar (1:1) and nothing else. And it sets beautifully. As it did, when my grandmom did it before! And with great "Niederbayern"-strawberries it tastes heavenly. Perhaps the difference is to get organic or homegrown strawberries, as I find sometimes the plantation strawberries are to watery.
Sounds like you're making the most of spring. Drippy jam sounds not too bad - it's the taste that counts!
Same here - I make strawberry jam with just sugar and then cook it. Or - my favourite - make strawberry freezer jam, as it tastes utterly delicious and exactly like fresh strawberries when defrozen (preferably use small containers, as it is best eaten soon after defrosting).
But that doesn't solve your problem with eating jam in front of your PC :D
PS Those weck bottles are absolutely adorable!!!
The same happened to me when I made my rhubarb jam. It tasted so wonderful, but I was to shy to offer it to someone. So I used it with ice cream. Vanilla ice with rhubarb sauce - and everyone told me: "Wow, what a wonderful sauce!"
What a lovlely blog and wonderful photos!
Hugs a Swede in Singapore
wo kaufst du eigentlich ein? deine lebensmittel sehen immer so perfekt aus - ich habe z.b. noch nie so schönes radieschen-grün gesehen...
Nicky: Ganz unterschiedlich, aber am liebsten auf dem Markt, beim griechischen Gemüsehändler in der Preysingstraße oder beim Fresh House in der Pariser Straße. Aber leider ist die Qualität nicht immer überall gleichbleibend - seit zwei Wochen will ich schon mal wieder Radiserlblatt-Pesto machen, finde aber nur welche mit welkem Grün und verzichte dann natürlich dankend... ;(
Wir machen unsere Erdbeermarmelade immer mit 2:1 Gelierzucker, ist immer noch süß genug und wird auch fest. Wir frieren sie ein, dann bleibt auch die Farbe schön rot und wird nicht "grau". Noch besser als Erdbeermarmelade sind eingeweckte Erdbeeren (am besten zu Dampfnudeln). Mein Bruder hat heuer 20 kg Erdbeeren plücken müssen, allein für die Marmelade und die eingeweckten Erdbeeren :)
I went strawberry picking and now I find myself in the same position as you. I did find a recipe for strawberry jam that does not use pectin in Tessa Kiros's "Apples for Jam". (I'm too lazy to type up the recipe, but here's a link to where you can see it for yourself). I've also searched around and it's been tried with rave reviews. I'm starting it tonight, but I thought I'd let you know about it as well.
My strawberry jam didn't involve any pectin. I macerate the strawberry overnight, then cooked it in large pan until the liquid thicken. The original recipe is from Chocolate&Zucchini by Clotilde, but I tweaked it a bit and due to laziness I didn't follow the recipe to the dot.
my version :
- 1.1 kg fresh strawberries
- 600 g raw sugar(I'm not a sweet tooth kind of person, so i have to reduce the sugar and I use raw sugar because that's the cheapest sugar in my town)
- the juice of one or two lime
And there's no 3rd day because I don't want to wait that long, so I simmers the mixture until thicken (and test it with cold saucer)
ps: sorry the post is long and my english kinda messy, and I never make jam before this so if you found that it's weird forgive me
Very nice! I def love Strawberries and I like there "Weck"-Glasses too. They always look great. :)
Have a look on chow.com! There's a video showing how to extract pectin out of orange peels.
I totally agree with Hande. I make jams/marmelades since aout 2 years. I have learned during this time that it is much less complicated than I thought. I use only fruits, sugar ad lemon juice, nothing else at all. If you boil it long enough it becomes quite thick, too. And they last for quite a long time. I believe there is no need to make something at home if we are to put some articifials in it. By the way I don't know how it is in Germany but funnily these Dr. Oetker things are very popular here.
Love the idea of not using pectin, however, I wonder if it affects how long you can store it? Tips anyone?
By the way, I made strawberry jam with elderflowers this year. Looks pretty and tastes awesome.
Mamas Marmeladenrezept:
1:1
die Früchte in den Topf geben, den Zucker darüber und über Nacht ziehen lassen.
Am nächsten Tag einkochen.
Meine Zufallsentdeckung: Erdbeeren, Himbeeren, Johannisbeeren sowie Apfelstücke ergeben eine köstlilche Mischung und werden einigermaßen fest.
Wenn die Konfitüre zu weich ist: super. Dann kann man Palatschinken damit bestreichen und alle glücklich machen.
I have heard, that a wide, copperbottomed saucepan should do the trick - so you can cook the jam quickly at high heat and the water can evaporate quickly - but as I don't have such a saucepan I cannot speak from experience.
Great blog, marvellous photo. Ciao Rocco from Italy.
I've never managed to keep enough strawberries to make jam... and felt never sorry as I prefer the taste of raw strawberries anyways. Did you ever try a raw strawberry sauce (strawberries pureed with powdered sugar, maybe a squeeze of lemon juice)? Tastes great on icecream or - why not? - fresh bread!
Your blog is such a pleasure. Thanks for sharing.
Does letting the jam sit for 24h help with the setting? I remember with pectin freezer jams we let them sit on the counter 24h before putting them away.
Good luck with the experimenting though and do let us know if you're able to work it out!
I have Christine Ferber's "Mes confitures" and I think that everyone will agree that she knows what she talks about. She has a simple Strawberry jam made with Gariguettes, out of 1,1kg strawberries, 800g sugar and the juice of two lemons. The strawberries are cleaned and dried and macerate overnight in the sugar/lemon juice. Next day, the mixture is heated until it starts simmering and put aside in a cold place overnight under greaseproof paper. Next day, the sirup only is boiled for about 10 minutes (105°C or petit perlé) then skimmed. Only then the strawberries are added again and boil for 5 minutes, until they are transluscent, like candied. Skim again and put in jars.
Cooked this way, the sirup will be thick enough and the strawberries firm enough to stay on your bread.
Having typed this, I see someone mentioned that Clotilde had put a similar receipe from the same book on her blog. Another sign that it's worth trying. :-)
Ich kaufe in letzter Zeit meist Apfelpektin im Reformhaus, damit werden die Marmeladen perfekt und es sind keine andren Zusatzstoffe enthalten.
I've made the Christine Ferber jam with excellent results - it's the freshest tasting strawberry jam I've ever had. Be warned, though, it doesn't yield a whole lot of jam, and since you like your jam well gelled, be sure to cook the syrup long enough.
I wrote out the instructions here http://kitchengraffiti.blogspot.com/2008/09/strawberry-jam-and-apricot-and-peach.html
Happy preserving!
Strawberries ... best food on earth no matter how you eat them. Although dipped in to die for chocolate at the Aroma Festival the other week has been an experience I'm yet to beat!
I have always wondered why the Germans/the western world (for once I feel like an outsider!) so insist on having a jam that is fully jelled. In Turkey jams are always (well almost, e.g. for the eggplant marmalade this is not the case!) (now I have your attention, no? :)) made using the method you described first and are not happy with: fruit+sugar+lemon juice, that's it!. True, the result is not cuttable (is this even a word?) but perfectly spreadable on a slice of fresh white dense bread with creamy butter and it is 100% natural. What's not to like?
Nicky: Have I told you lately, that your comments always put a big smile on my face? No, I mean it! You are right in every aspect and my jams taste great, the only problem I have with them is a very personal one... when I sit in front of my computer (you're not supposed to, I know...) eating a slice of baguette with this jam, it inevitably drips while I stare on my screen... and leaves a sticky mess everywhere ;)