This whole canning thing started when my friend was given close to 3 paper grocery bags full of cucumbers. With cucumbers coming out of her ears, I said "hey, I can make pickles out of those if you want." Oh little did I know what I was diving into! Lol I found an easy recipe online for refrigerator pickles, and started slicing away. I realized after making about 40 cups of pickles that they had an expiration period of two months. Great....so I decided to buy canning jars and can them. I THEN realized a large soup pot is not a suitable replacement for a canner. Thus the desperate shout-out to my mother! Thank the Lord for sending her to me to save me from drowning after diving into canning with both feet!
My mom came with her canner, gave me a crash course on Canning 101, and 4 hours later, we had canned pickles (11 pints) AND canned jam! This jam mind you is nothing short of amazing. With apple juice concentrate (NO SUGAR ADDED), strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, lemon juice, and pectin, we made 10 pints of jam.
I LOVE MY MOM. She is a Proverbs 31 woman all the way!
I am hoping to continue with this new knowledge and can applesauce, apple butter, and my dad's famous sweet corn. I feel so domestic and am loving every minute of it!
After searching AND searching the internet for a non-sugar option for canned jam, and finding no luck, I peeled back the label on my jar of no-sugar needed pectin and found an amazing recipe! Most recipes online for non-sugar jam were for frozen jam, something that wasn't an option due to limited freezer space. So, after tweaking & guessing, here is the recipe my mom and I concocted:
8 cups pureed strawberries
5 cups pureed blueberries
2 cups pureed blackberries
10 1/2 TBSP pectin
6 tsp lemon juice
2 12oz containers frozen apple juice concentrate
Beware- this yields A LOT of jam! ;)
