By Dan Cook, UW Farm Community Volunteer and Seattle home gardener.
Jamming, Part 3 – The Final Chapter!
OK, two weeks ago, I talk about making fruit jams, and last week I talked about the equipment I use for my jamming. This week I will talk about the step-be-step process of converting the ingredients into Tasty Jam!
Here again is my recipe:
Dan’s Black Mango Jam
Blackberries 1800 grams (4 pounds or 64 ounces) Mangoes 500 grams (1 pound or 16 ounces)
Sugar 800 grams (1.75 pounds or 28 ounces) Pectin 80 grams (0.175 pounds or 3 ounces) Limes 2, juiced
As a reminder, this will make roughly 6 pints of jam. For your first attempt, you might want to cut all the quantities in half.
There are two mega-steps involved. First, making the jam, and second, canning the jam.
Making the jam
1. Place half of the berries, the lime juice and all the sugar in a large bowl. Stir well and let sit. Let this mixture sit for at least an hour, this allows the berries to macerate and exude juice.
2. Add the remaining fruit and pectin to the macerating mixture, stir well, and pour into the bread maker bucket. Start the jam making cycle, which takes roughly 90 minutes. I have found that it is best if all the ingredients are at room temperature when you put them in the bread maker.
Canning the jam
While the jam is cooking in the bread maker, you can start prepping the canning equipment. Everything needs to be sterilized to eliminate the chance of bacterial contamination. The easiest way to do this is to immerse the jars, lids and tools in boiling water for 15 minutes.
Once the jam cycle is complete, you fill the hot jars with hot jam, leaving a ¼ inch of head space at the top of the jar. You can use the head space tool to remove air bubbles and measure the head space. Once filled, center the lids on the jars, and finger tighten the lids. If they are under- or over-tightened, the lids will not seal correctly. I have found the best practice is to finger tighten until you can just feel some resistance, and then tighten a further 1/8th rotation.
Once all the jars are filled, immerse them in hot water. Cover the canning pot and bring the water to a rolling boil. Process the jars for 15 minutes for either pints or half-pints. Make sure that the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, remove it from heat and let the jars cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them from water.
Let the jars cool for 12 hours before touching the lids and bands. While the jars are cooling, you will hear popping as the lids create a vacuum seal. This is normal and expected and exactly what you want. After the jars have cooled, you can check the seal by pushing down on the lids. If the lid on a jar flexes, it has not sealed correctly. The contents are not bad, but you need to refrigerate and eat that specific jar immediately or it will spoil.
A few notes:
When you start to fill the jars, pull the canning rack up out of the hot water and attach it to the lip of the pot. It saves time if you keep the water in the pot hot, not necessarily at a rolling boil, but at least at a healthy simmer. This keeps the jars warm while you are filling them with tasty jam. In addition, it will take less time to bring the pot to a rolling boil once you are done filling the jars and immerse them in the water.
When you remove the jars from the water bath, do not grab them by the metal bands as often the bands are a bit loose and the lids will pop off.
I have found that it is best to place the hot jars on a wooden or bamboo cutting board after removing them from the water bath. Definitely do not put them on a cold tile kitchen counter or metal surface because the jars will likely crack because of the high cooling rate!
Label jars with processing date and store. Unopened, the jam will last for up to two years if the jars are stored in a cool, dry place.
Cheers! Congratulations! Pat yourself on the back! You now have somewhere between 3 and 6 pints of Tasty Jam that you can enjoy with friends and family… They will be all kinds of impressed. If you have questions for me, feel free to get in touch through the UW Farm Facebook page.
Spring-blooming plants, including trillium, trout lilies, and primroses.
A nice assortment of shrubs.
Potted hardy succulents.
A unique selection of young camellias, rhododendrons, and hydrangeas propagated from Arboretum collections.
Japanese maples, mountain ash, and other small trees for the urban garden.
Lots of unusual perennials.
Many compact conifers.
And much more!
Beacon Food Forest – Education Committee
Upcoming Classes:
Explore & Care for Plant Guilds:
Learn what a plant guild is and why we use them @ Beacon Food Forest (BFF) Learn some food forest plants – what plants we want and don’t.
Vermicomposting Basics:
Learn the basics of vermicomposting! Look inside a worm bin and explore. Understand what is needed to start a worm bin and be successful at it.
Bug Explorers Summer Day Camp 2023:
Kids (12-15 yrs. old) – Bug Explorers will have fun exploring a variety of bugs across a variety of species family. Connections between plants and bugs the BFF way.
Date: Monday, July 3, 2023 9:00 AM Friday, July 7, 2023 3:00 PM
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The Weekly Dirt is produced once a week by the University of Washington Farm, a program of the UW Botanic Gardens, School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, College of the Environment. It is published nearly year-round for educational purposes and the majority of the content is written or contributed by students and farm staff.
This issue's contributors:
Around the Farm: Dan Cook, UW Farm Volunteer Editors: Perry Acworth, Farm Manager and Chrina Munn, AmeriCorps Volunteer 2022-23 Photo Credits: Perry Acworth. Other photos retrieved from the internet and noted in sections
Once all the jars are filled, immerse them in hot water. Cover the canning pot and bring the water to a rolling boil. Process the jars for 15 minutes for either pints or half-pints. Make sure that the jars are covered by at least one inch of water. After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, remove it from heat and let the jars cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them from water.
