Just Plain Apricot Jam

I. Love. Apricots.   Probably because they're a little uncommon here and the season is fleeting. 

This year I scored a quart and brought them home and made Just Plain Apricot Jam.    K2 insisted.   Nothing extra, nothing fancy.







I used the proportions from my How To Make Jam By Proportion recipe:  Here.

It is lovely jam.   Delectable.  Delicious.  Sunshine in a jar.

You should make some. 

Grape Jelly from Store Bought Juice

Jelly!   Real jelly!   The kind you can see through. And it holds its shape just like store bought jelly  And the color - it's gorgeous.

And I didn't have to squish the grapes and strain anything because the nice grape juice manufacturer people did it for me. 

I love them.

This is grape jelly you make yourself from frozen juice concentrate from the store.   I got the stuff with no added sugar or preservatives or anything but grape juice. Then I used my basic recipe for making jam by proportion.

Jelly Proportions for firm jam - fruit, sugar, pectin
www.rurification.com

• 1 cup fruit juice
• 1 tablespoon low sugar pectin per cup of juice
• 1/2 cup sugar per cup of juice

I've extolled the virtues of low sugar pectin before.   I like it because I control the amount of sugar that goes into the jam and I still get the jell I want.   I've made this jelly with all Splenda before and it works great and tastes terrific.  In fact, you don't have to use any sugar at all.

You can use juice made from frozen juice concentrate [which a nutritionist friend tells me is better for you anyway because more of the vitamins are intact] or you can use juice in a can or bottle or jar or juice that you've done up yourself. 

It's important to start with juice that has No Added Sugar.   Sweetened juices mess with the pectin and you can't get a reliable jell.   Don't do that to yourself.  

You can start with whatever amount of juice you have.  Measure it out and then once you know how many cups you have, figure the pectin and sugar and make your jelly. 

It's easy.

You can make a big batch or a small batch. 

Don't use more than 6 cups of juice at a time per batch.   I like to use 4 cups per batch.  Put the juice and pectin in a pot and bring to a hard rolling boil that you can't stir down.  Boil hard for 1 minute.  Add sugar and return to hard boil.  Boil 1 minute.  Ladle into jars.

Yield:  For every 2 cups of juice I start with, I get 2.5 cups of jelly.   

Plum Jam - Making Jam by Proportion

A lot of people think that you have to have a lot of fruit to make jam.  

Not so.   You can take any amount of fruit and make a great jam.    All you need is the right proportions of fruit and sugar and pectin. 

Jam Proportions for firm jam - fruit, sugar, pectin
www.rurification.com

• 1 cup fruit
• 1 Tablespoon low sugar pectin
• 1/2 cup sugar

Jam Proportions for soft jam - fruit, sugar, pectin
www.rurification.com

• 1 cup fruit
• 1/2 Tablespoon low sugar pectin
• 1/2 cup sugar

This means that you can make jam even if you only have 1 cup of fruit.   [If you have more than 6 cups of fruit, I'd split it in half and make two batches.     The temps go wonky if you try to make too much at time.]

I use these proportions all the time to make jam.   I just did with some plums.  Plums make a great simple jam - I love plum jam, especially the red kind, but I'll take any kind.    Plums are especially good because even the bruised and soft ones make fabulous jam.    You can get a box and stuff it in the fridge until you get a free moment and even if they're 'going bad' when you find them again, they're still really good for jam.    In fact, some say, they're even better when they're bruised a bit. 

I bought my plums, then forgot about them.  I finally found them again and cut them up.  I had 5 cups of plum pieces and I wanted a soft jam, so I used 2 1/2 cups sugar and 2 1/2 Tablespoon of pectin.    Perfect jam.