Water bath canning is the safe method for canning high acid foods such as most fruits, jams and jellies and tomatoes. If you want to can anything else (vegetables or meat for example) you MUST use the pressure canning method. Some people may try to tell you there are other safe methods for canning vegetables and meat. Don't listen to them. You risk very serious food poisoning if you do. Please take a little time to learn about safe canning methods before you dive into it.
All of that being said, making jam and then canning it for shelf-safe storage is very simple. If you've never canned anything before, this is a very nice place to start.
You'll need the following ingredients:
A box of powdered pectin
2 quarts of fruit
7 cups of white sugar
The pectin...I had Sure-jell on hand, but any other brand is fine. My box is a little bashed up from being thrown into a moving box.
What is pectin? It's a naturally occuring substance found in fruits. When heated with sugar, it created a thickening agent. It's what makes jelly and jam thick. As far as I know, it does not contain any animal products so it's suitable for vegetarians/vegans.
I have 3 pounds of fresh strawberries.
Seven cups of white sugar
For this recipe, do not use a sugar substitute or reduce the sugar amount. You need exactly seven cups of white sugar.
There are speciality recipes for low sugar jam or jam using sugar substitutes. You need a specific type of pectin for those recipes.
You also need eight half pint size canning jars and matching lids and bands. Unfortunately, most of my canning supplies are still in moving boxes. I only had seven half pint jars available.
Here are the lids and bands. The bands are reusable. The lids are not. If you try to reuse the flat lids, it's very likely that your jars will not seal. The flat lids are one-time-use only.
Wash your jars, even if brand new, in hot soapy water and rinse them well. You can run them through the sanitizer cycle of a dishwasher. I take the additional step of boiling the jars in water for a few minutes after I've washed them.
The water bath canner is perfect for this. Fill your canner with enough water to cover the jars by about two inches. Place a canning rack in the bottom of the canner. Do not place jars directly on the bottom of a canning pot. Most canners will come with a rack.
Stand your empty jars up in the canner and let them fill up with the water.
Put the canner lid on loosely and fire up the heat. Once it comes to a full boil, I let the jars sanitize in the boiling water for about 3 minutes. Remove the hot jars, drain out the water back into the canning pot, then place the jars upright on a towel. If you place the jars directly on a counter top, they may crack.
Heat a few cups of water to boiling on the stove or in your microwave. Place the flat canning lids in a heatproof pot or bowl. Dump the boiling water over them and let them sit in the water until you're ready to use them.
Wash and hull the strawberries. You need to smash them up a bit, too. A potato masher works well. So does a food processor. I use a submersible blender. Don't puree the strawberries, though. You want nice bits of fruit in your jam.
Measure five cups of the smashed berries into a large (6- or 8-quart) saucepot. Stir the pectin into the fruit.
While stirring constantly, bring this mixture to a full, rolling boil over high heat. A rolling boil is one that does not stop bubbling when you stir it.
Quickly, stir in the seven cups of sugar. While continuing to stir, return the mixture to a full rolling boil again and boil EXACTLY one minute.
Remove from heat. Then skim off the foam that is floating on the top. I happened to forget to skim off the foam. It doesn't hurt the taste of the jam to leave the foam, but in the finished jars, there's an obvious layer of light colored foam on top. It affects the visual appearance only. You won't win a ribbon at the fair with foamy jam!
Working quickly, ladle the jam into the waiting jars. You'll find that a canning funnel makes this step a lot easier. In this photo, you can see the lighter layer of foam on the top. That's the stuff I should have skimmed off before filling the jars.
If you have more jam than what fits into your jars, just ladle the excess into a plastic container and put it in the refrigerator. It'll store there for several weeks, although it's so yummy I doubt it will last that long.
Use a damp cloth or paper towel to wipe the jar rims and threads clean. If there is jam dripped on the rim or threads, the jar may not seal in the canning process.
Place a flat lid on top of each filled jar. Then screw the bands on tightly. Place the filled jars back in the water bath canner. Be sure there is enough water in the canning pot to cover the jars by about two inches. Add more hot water if necessary.
Put the lid on the canner then bring to a gentle boil. The amount of time you leave the jars in the boiling water to process depends on the altitude where you live.
0 - 1,000 ft. above sea level, process for ten minutes.
1, 001 - 3,000 ft. above sea level - fifteen minutes
3,001 - 6,000 ft. above sea level - twenty minutes
6,001 - 8,000 ft. above sea level - twenty-five minutes
8,001 - 10,000 ft. above sea level - thirty minutes
I live at about 6,800 feet above sea level, so I processed my jars for twenty-five minutes.
When they are finsihed processing, carefully remove the hot jars. A jar lifter is a handy tool to have for this.
Jar lifters and canning funnels are usually sold together in a package of canning tools. You can find them online or in some larger grocery or department stores.
Place the hot jars upright on a towel to cool. Once the jars are out of the canner, you'll hear them ping or pop as the flat lids seal tightly.
Once the jars are completely cooled, test to see if they all have sealed properly. Gently press down on the center of each flat lid, if the lid springs back, it's not sealed and you must refrigerate that jar.
Let the jars stand at room temperature for twenty-four hours in order for the jam to completely thicken and set up. After that, you can store the jars in your pantry for as long as a year. Once opened, use it within three weeks.
I will tell you that I have jars of jam in the pantry that are more than a year old and they are still safe to eat. They have not lost their taste either.
My strawberry jam turned out to be the perfect mix of sweet and tart. I've been stirring it into my plain Greek yogurt for breakfast every morning.
Homemade jams and jellies make wonderful gifts. I love giving jars to my family and friends at Christmas. I get very creative with flavors and have done Black Forest, Tropical Sunrise, and Peach Almond, just to name a few. VERY IMPORTANT - If you add something other than fruit to your jam (such as nuts) you will need to use the pressure canning processing method.
Here are a few links to online sites with jam and jelly recipes just to get you started. The local library is also a good source for excellent cookbooks with recipes. Have fun and enjoy!
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