Making Nectarine Jam in Less Than an Hour
I have to confess something: I like jam—any
kind of jam although frozen raspberry jam is probably my most favorite. For
years, I watched my mother make all sorts of jams and jellies. We grew
raspberries and strawberries. When I was younger, we trundled to Emmett, Idaho,
to Mr. Fresh’s orchards and picked Bing cherries, peaches, and apples. When we
lived in north-central Idaho in Lewiston, we went with our friends the
Rindlisbachers and picked blackberries along an old abandoned railroad tracks. Last
year in Pleasant Grove, we were able to glean peaches; now, in Springville, our
neighbor gave us nectarines.
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| Nectarine jam |
Yes, I have learned to make jam. Well, actually,
I have learned to read the recipe that the pectin companies like Sure Jell
stuff inside of their pectin boxes. And I have discovered that you had better
pay attention to the details. Jam can be finicky.
Last evening and today, I made nectarine
jam. I was visiting with one of our friends in the Dominican Republic, and she
wanted to know how to make jam; so, I thought I would write up a play by play
of how I made the nectarine jam. I figure if Darrel Hammon can make jam, pretty
much anybody in the world can make it. Seriously! It’s all about ready the
recipe to the T.
So here we go.
First, find some fruit. Buy it. Ask your
neighbors nicely and watch for giveaways on your email. That’s how Joanne found
out about the nectarines.
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| Food processor and nectarines |
Second, be sure you have the right jars.
I like to put jam in little jars. Often we give them away at Christmas. The
main reason is that if you have lots of different kinds of jams, it won’t take
you long to finish off one and then start on a new flavor.
Third, wash the jars. It’s best to run
them through the dish washer, but you can wash them in sudsy hot water, too.
Then, fill them full of hot water and
set them aside. You want to keep them a bit warm so when you put in the hot
jam, your bottles won’t crack or break.
Get out your food processor or chopper
and the rest of the kitchen tools you are going to need like a knife, a cup,
bowls, spatulas, etc. You want to be ready because when the jam is ready to go,
you don’t want to be looking for a utensil. Trust me on this one. When you are
in a hurry to find something, it can’t be found.
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| Sure Jell |
Wash the nectarines carefully. You never
know what might have crawled over it. Besides, you probably don’t want to know
what’s crawled, licked, or performed any sort of “thing” on it. Most recipes
don’t want you to peel the fruit. Just put out of your mind any potential
challenge you might conjure up.
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| the other pot with water |
Before I begin cutting up the nectarines,
I have already placed another pot on the stove about half full of water and
begin heating it to boiling. This is where you are going to do about a
ten-minute water bath shortly.
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| Cutting the fruit |
I also put the lids in a small pan with
water that covers the lids. I put this on a very, very low heat.
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| pan with lids |
Then, cut up the nectarines, take out
the pits, and place the cut-up nectarines in the food processor. I usually cut
out bruised spots and any anomaly that I see on the skin.
Once the nectarines are cut up and
placed in the food processor, put on the food processor lid, and let it rip.
Now, I like a few chunks of the nectarines in my jam; so, I don’t purée the stuff.
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| Food processor full of nectarines |
I then measure out five cups of fruit
and put them in a larger kettle where I will mix in the pectin and the lemon
juice.
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| Nectarines, Pectin, and lemon juice mixture |
Once the fruit, Sure Jell pectin, and lemon juice
are mixed, you stir until it comes to a hard boil. Initially, I had no idea
what “rolling boil” met. It means that when you are stirring, you cannot break
the boiling. In essence, you stir and it continues to boil.
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| Nectarines, Pectin, and lemon juice mixture boiling |
Once it comes to a rolling boil, you mix
in seven cups of sugar—yes, seven (7) cups! I also wondered why I like jam and
jelly. Once I discovered that you usually add more cups of sugar than cups of nectarines,
then it made perfect sense. I am really making nectarine-flavored sugar. But
try to put that out of your minds. Think: fresh nectarines with a touch of
sugar. Besides, when you mix seven cups of sugar with five cups of nectarines
and 1/4 cup of lemon juice, you can’t even see the sugar. I think the sugar
disappears, never to be seen again. At least, that’s how I see it.
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| Seven (7) cups of sugar |
Okay. Once the sugar disappears into the
nectarine mixture, stir until it comes to a rolling boil. At the rolling boil
stage, boil and stir for exactly one minute. That’s 60 seconds exactly. Then,
turn off the heat and begin ladling the nectarine mixture into your jars sans the water, which you have poured
out.
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| Stirring and boiling |
After you fill each jar, wipe their
mouths clean, carefully dabbing a clean cloth around the edges. Then, lift out
one of the lids with your knife from the very hot water, place gentle on the
top, and screw a ring band around it. Once you have tightened it—not too tight—place
it in the wire container that is sitting in the pot of water that you already
prepared earlier. It should be almost ready to boil by now.
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| Putting on the lids |
Once you have the bottles in the wire
container, lower them into the water. You should have about 2-3 inches over the
top. Bring the water to a soft boil.
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| Putting the jars in the wire container to be lowered into the water |
At a soft boil, set your timer for ten
minutes. You can read a book or begin cleaning up. The biggest downside to this
jam-making business—or any cooking gig for that matter—is the clean up. I’m
always amazed how many bowls, utensils, and other things you use to cook with.
I don’t like it, but I know it’s part of the job. Besides, it’s always nice
when Joanne sees her kitchen clean again after jam making and comments how
clean it is. There is little worse than seeing the look in your wife’s eyes
when she sees her kitchen in a state not normally known when she is around.
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| Cleaning up: the right thing to do |
Once the ten minutes are up, turn off
the heat, and begin taking out the bottles, one at a time with your handy-dandy
bottle taker outer (I have no idea what it is called).
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| The taker outer |
Place them gentle on a
cooler tray, which also doubles as cookie cooler. I think Joanne calls them “cooling
racks.”
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| Placing each jar on the cooling rack |
Once all of the bottles are out, stand
back, and listen to them “pop.” That means they are sealing and you have done
it correctly. Plus, I like to look a little close to see how pretty they turned
out. My nectarine jam turned out beautifully today.
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| Almost done! |
I usually let them set out for a few
days. Then, I clean them, print the date on the top of the lid with a permanent
marker, and put them away in our storage downstairs.
There you have it. Nectarine jam in less
than one hour!
Provecho!