We be jammin’

Now is the time to put up some jam.
File photo
Now is the time to put up some jam.
By Christine Burns Rudalevige
Special to the Record

If I could tell John Piacquadio that making jam is now trendy, his laughter would have shaken his well-rounded person like a bowl full of jelly.

Every summer, this saucy Italian from Lee used to make jam. Gobs and gobs of it.

There was strawberry, cherry, blueberry, raspberry (with and without seeds). There was blackberry, rhubarb, peach -- and every combination thereof. Any fruit that could be plucked from bushes, picked from trees or pulled from the ground during balmy Berkshire County months found a home in the jelly jars sitting on the floor-to-ceiling shelves in the cellar of the Fairview Street home where he and my aunt raised their four children.

His wife had been the one to introduce him to the preserves process back in the eighties when they referred to a 1977 edition of the canning bible -- the Ball Blue Book -- for recipes. After that, as she puts it, “he became a man obsessed” with the process.

He once explained to me before he died in March 2000 that because he remembered how unsatisfying eating was during and immediately after the Great Depression, he felt he needed to put some measures into place to ensure any future economically trying times would have a little bit of flavor. Uncle John was a bit of gatherer – at times there were hundreds of jars of jam in his kitty.  But he wasn’t a hoarder, as the latter term connotes a miserly reluctance to share.  After all, anyone who paid him a visit simply walked away with a jar of jam.

But if you had actually helped in the process, you were more likely to walk away with your favourite type. Mine was strawberry. There were many Junes and Julys where I paid my dues either in the hot pick-your-own fields (see sidebar for the Berkshire-based PYO places) or in his steamy kitchen helping to wash, hull and stir the berries into the sweet redness that would grace my English muffins for months afterwards.

Fast forward to 2009. Jam consumers stand at a crossroads where the pressure of sourcing food locally meets the most severe belt-tightening recession we’ve witnessed in a while. We all should be jamming. In fact, many of us are.

“While home canning was necessity over a hundred years ago, it’s now a lifestyle decision consumers are making to control the ingredients in the foods they eat and a way to support local, green and sustainable living,” said Brenda Schmidt, a FreshPreserving.com brand manager with the Ball, which has been making canning supplies – including the iconic Mason jar – for 125 years.

Schmidt says that Ball’s 2008 sales were up by 30 percent over 2007 numbers and that trend has continued in the first half of 2009.

Locally, Great Barrington’s Carr Hardware had very strong canning supply sales in the fall of 2008 and anticipates the same this year.  Store manager Scott Cooper says that once the harvest draws nearer (he contends prime canning season runs from September to November), he’ll be pushing jars, lids and seals on front and center store displays.

In addition to overall sales, Schmidt says Ball has seen a 60 percent increase in sales to first time fruit and vegetable preservers in that same time frame. To help continue that trend, Ball has rolled out a special 125th anniversary Fresh Preserving starter kit that comprises a limited edition 21-quart blue porcelain water canner packed with a newly designed chrome plated rack that resists corrosion and prevents small jars from falling through its rungs.  The kit also includes other essential canning tools like a jar lifter, a lid lifter, a funnel and bubble remover, and a headspace tool that help to fill jars quickly and safely.

The buzz about preserves
There are more than 70 titles devoted solely to jamming, canning and preserving on Amazon.com.  Late last month, the New York Times’s venerated food section featured the preserving processes.  The popular food blogger David Lebovitz has touched on the subject from his Parisian digs (link is: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2009/06/rhubarb-berry_jam.html). And hip, young eaters like Liv and Leana -- who blog about the batches of jams, jellies and preserves pouring out of their tiny Brooklyn kitchen in their on-line “Anarchy in a Jar” persona (link is: http://anarchyinajar.blogspot.com/2009/05/jam-class-at-brooklyn-kitchen-june-23rd.html) -- are teaching classes to their twenty-something peers on how to make the stuff.

But the good news here is that basic jam is really not all that difficult to produce.  You need fruit for substance, sugar for sweetness and a pectin derivative for setting.  Of course, there are most certainly connoisseurs and gourmands out there who prefer to tart their jam up with exotic ingredients (like star anise, for example) and complicated techniques that raise the jamming game to the next level. But if you simply want to try a back-to-basics version, there are a couple of questions you need to sort out before you give it a go.

Firstly, do you like whole berries in your jam? If yes, letting hulled berries sit whole in sugar overnight will draw the water out of them before the cooking process begins and will help keep them more in tact.  If you don’t like whole berries in your jam, get your potato masher out and let your five-year-old have some fun in the kitchen. (See making jam tips sidebar.)

Secondly, do you like your jam to stand at attention on the spoon or slide off slowly onto your scone where you’ve already laid down the clotted cream?  If you like it on the firmer side, use a little commercial pectin to insure the substance is well set.  If you prefer a slipperier jam, stick with the pectin found in a moderate amount of lemon juice. (I have kids and love creamy scones, so I always adhere to a simple, tried and true recipe for a softer, not-so-lumpy jam. See the recipe below.)    

Essential ingredient
Of course, the real success of any jam lies in its fruit. Think local, fresh and sweet.

Several late frosts and an older bed (strawberry plants only tend to yield fruit for three or four years) have kept Taft Farm’s yield down to a level where the Great Barrington operation won’t be able to open its fields up for pick-your-own activities.  But owner Paul Tawczynski says there will still be plenty of the sweet red fruit on sale in the market through the end of June.

“As experienced pickers we can go in and get a good yield for our work because we know specifically what to look for,” said Tawczynski.  “But we would not want people – especially those who are out here to entertain children with the fun activity -- to get frustrated because it’s more work than they thought it would be.”

Green River Farms in Williamstown – also citing cold spring weather conditions – has not yet determined if its crop would be big enough to support a PYO venture this year either.  But as is the case at Taft Farms, berries picked by the pros will still be on offer in their own market.

But the folks at Mountain View Farm in Lanesboro are a bit more hopeful, at least judging by a recorded message that says as of June 10th they had plenty of green fruit on the plants and if the sun shines soon they’ll have red berries to pick in about two weeks time.

And if you are willing to cross state lines, the Ellsworth Hill Orchard in Sharon, Connecticut, opened its beds to the PYO public on June 13th. Since the strawberry season will be so short, though, they advise potential pickers to visit their web site to sign up for an email alert so you can be made aware of the crop’s progression.

Go ahead, try on the recently revisited pleasure of making jam.  Having a few jars sitting in the cupboard certainly makes saving for a rainy day just that much sweeter.

Rudalevige is a food writer currently living and eating in Norwich, England, where she’s furiously making jam before the Queen commandeers all the strawberries for Wimbledon.  

Five tips from a jam pro
Lauren Devine is the on-line community manager of www.freshpreserving.com and the editor of the Ball Blue Book. Here are her tips for producing the perfect jar of jam.

Crush fruit (especially berries) with a potato masher, not a food processor. A food processor can break down the fruit’s natural pectin (structure) and lead to a softer setting jam.
Be sure to not reduce the amount of sugar or use sugar substitutes in a recipe unless specified. Altering the amount of sugar could prevent a good set. Try Ball No Sugar Needed Fruit Pectin for no- or low-sugar jams and jellies.
Not all pectin products (liquid vs. powder) are the same, so use the recipes designed for the particular pectin you are using.
Avoid doubling recipes as this may prevent your jams and jellies from forming a gel.
After washing berries, pat dry with paper towel to reduce the amount of excess moisture. This will help ensure a better gel!
 
Simple Strawberry Jam
Makes about six, eight ounce jars
Ingredients
2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled
4 cups white sugar
_ cup lemon juice
6 prepared canning jars
Method
CRUSH fruit in batches until you have four cups of mashed berry.
MIX together strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a heavy bottom pan.
STIR over low heat until the sugar is dissolved.
INCREASE heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.
BOIL, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees Fahrenheit.
TRANSFER to hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace, and seal.

2009 Ball Blue Book Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
Makes about six, eight-ounce jars
Ingredients
2 cups crushed hulled strawberries (about 2, 1-lb containers or 2 lb freshly picked)
2 cups chopped rhubarb (about 1 lb or 6 stalks, leaves removed)
4 Tbsp lemon juice
1 (1.75-oz) pkg Ball® Original Fruit Pectin
5-1/2 cups sugar
6 (8 oz) Ball® Quilted Crystal Jelly Jars with lids and bands
Method
PREPARE waterbath canner. Heat jars and lids in simmering water until ready for use. Do not boil. Set bands aside.
COMBINE strawberries, rhubarb and lemon juice in a 6- or 8-quart saucepan. Gradually stir in pectin. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down, over high heat, stirring constantly.
ADD entire measure of sugar, stirring to dissolve. Return mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim foam if necessary.
LADLE hot jam into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Apply band until fit is fingertip tight.
PROCESS in a boiling water canner for 10 minutes. Remove jars and cool. Check lids for seal after 24 hours. Lid should not flex up and down when the center is pressed.
 

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