Making Jam the "Old" Way

Did you know that jam was not always so bad for you? Once upon a time, jam was a concentrated way to store fruit for later use. These days, if you haven't noticed, jam contains more sugar than fruit...with corresponding flavor.

Last summer I took my kids to the library for our weekly visit. (I have great success getting my kids to read in the summer, hence a weekly visit is required. But that's another post). While they search the fiction shelves, the foodie that I am (have you seen my picture) usually finds my way to the cookbooks. That day, I picked up this cookbook "Summer In A Jar: Making Pickles, Jams and More" by Andrea Chesman.

The author touts her book's uniqueness by the small recipe sizes for small pickings of produce. I agree that this is a great feature. Most of us have small gardens, tiny kitchens and miniscule blocks of time to devote to a task like canning.

I liked best, though, the low-sugar, natural pectin jam recipes. The pectin (the part of the jam that makes it jell) is derived from apples which are minced fine and added to all flavors of jam, then cooked until a jelling point is reached. The use of this natural pectin allows the jam to be made with a much lower addition of sugar. For instance, a box of name brand powdered pectin calls for 4 cups of sugar to 1 quart of strawberries (1/1 ratio) for freezer jam; and 7 cups of sugar to 2 quarts of strawberries (.8/1 ratio) for cooked jam. Andrea's old-fashioned recipe calls for 1 1/3 cups of HONEY, (great stuff) to 3 quarts of strawberries plus 4 apples (.07/1 ratio). It does take a bit more time to make this jam and you have to use a candy thermometer. This must be why manufacturers opt for the high-sugar varieties. Yet, using my time to make my family's lifestyle better and healthier is the very reason I am a stay-home Mom. I can make quality easier than I can buy quality.

Sometimes the old way is the better way. I can see our culture is rediscovering some of the old solutions and dusting off some of the old values that modern efficiency sometimes leaves out. If you're on board with that idea, you may like this book.