Naturally Sweet Food In Jars workshop

Pollinate Farm & Garden hosted a workshop by Marisa McClellan of the blog Food In Jars and book by the same name. She also recently published the book Naturally Sweet Food in Jars. At the workshop she water bath canned a strawberry cocoa jam and talked about her methods. (See an interview and the recipe for the jam here.)

I signed up for the workshop as soon as I saw it on the schedule, because I was intending to, at some point in the future, buy a pressure canner (which can also be used as a water bath canner). Amazingly, my friend Rachel bought me one for my birthday! I have not yet used it because I am currently focusing my efforts on learning to use my other new toy, an Instant Pot (more on that in a future post).

Here are some things I learned:

• Sugar thickens jam, so if you're making a low sugar preserve, you need to use pectin. Marisa like's Pomona's Pectin the most, and the Ball brand is also good.
• Coconut sugar has an earthy taste and smell - I liked it. Agave and maple syrup are other examples of non-cane/beet sugar sweeteners.
• When canning, you can use fresh lemon juice for flavoring, but don't rely on it to increase the acid content of your preserve (and therefore make it safe for water bath canning). This is because fresh lemons vary widely in the amount of acid they contain. Instead, use bottled lemon juice, which is federally required to guarantee and minimum level of acid.
• You can use citric acid instead if you don't want to add extra liquid.
• Low sugar preserves will not last as long once opened, since sugar increases shelf life and preserves color (hence its use in so much processed food).
• Vanilla beans are worth buying in bulk; they're too expensive when you get the little packs. They last 12-18 months if tightly sealed up.
• Mix the pectin with your sugar/sweetener at the end and then add it to the hot jam a little at a time.
• Signs that the jam is done: you hear sizzling from the bottom of the pot, you can glimpse the bottom of the pot as you stir, and slow droplets fall from the spatula.
• The jars can take 24-48 hours to finish setting.
• You don't need to sterilize your jars before filling them IF you will be processing them for 10 minutes or more. (You still need to preheat them.)
• It's okay for the jars to touch each other within the pot, as long as you're using a trivet to keep them off the bottom. Marisa likes silicone trivets.
• Don't use metal utensils in your canning jars - they will cause micro damage when they scrape and your jar might someday explode.
• White vinegar prevents deposits from hard water on your jars/canner. Put "a couple good glugs" from the container into your canning water.
• When your processing time is up, turn off the heat but let the jars start to cool off in the pot for at least 10 minutes before removing them. If you pull one out and you hear hissing, put it back in for another 10 minutes.
• You can tweak the spices and flavors of recipes, but maintain the fruit to acid ratio for safety.
• Do not double recipes - it messes up the ratio of depth to surface area and will take a very long time to cook down, and may burn.

We got to taste the strawberry cocoa jam she made. I could definitely taste the earthy coconut sugar. I liked it, however it covered up the taste of the strawberries almost completely. I wouldn't have been able to tell what fruit was used. I probably won't make that particular recipe because it doesn't seem worth the amount of strawberries needed. However I did purchase her book and am excited to explore the other recipes!