Chapter 22
JELLIES, JAMS AND FRUIT BUTTERS
As an adornment for cathead biscuits, filling for some types of layer cakes or topping for pancakes, or used in a variety of other fashions, what Appalachian folks typically describe with the generic, catchall word preserves has long been of culinary significance. The “preserve” part is critical, because the recipes that follow offer a cross section of ways to utilize the goodness of fruits and berries long after their short season of ripe, fresh availability has come and gone. It is also worth mentioning some of the tools of the jam- and jelly-making trade that come in handy. A fine sieve works well to remove seeds. It is common for foam to form on top as the jelly juice boils; it can be skimmed off with a homemade wooden skimmer somewhat similar to those you find in paint stores (just be sure the wood you use is suitable). Alternatively, adding a teaspoon of butter at the outset of cooking helps decrease foam.
Blackberry Jelly
Blackberry jelly is one of the easiest things to make. The only hard part takes place before you ever start cooking. First, you have to fight the heat, bugs, snakes, bees and briars to pick the blackberries. It takes about 2½ quarts of blackberries to get the amount of juice needed for a run of jelly.
2½ quarts of blackberries (yield is about 3¾ cups blackberry juice)
1 (1¾-ounce) box powdered fruit pectin
4½ cups sugar
Sterilized jars, lids and rings
Place blackberries in a large stockpot and add water until you can just begin to see it come up around the berries. Cook for 20 minutes. Mash berries every once in a while during cooking with a potato masher or spoon.
Strain blackberries, reserving juice to make jelly and discarding cooked blackberries (chickens and hogs will welcome the pulp being thrown away). I use a food mill to do my first straining of the blackberries and then use cheesecloth to filter out the seeds that made their way into the juice. Place blackberry juice into a large saucepot, add pectin and stir well. Bring mixture to a boil. I’m not sure there’s anything that smells as good as blackberry juice when it’s cooking. Add sugar all at once and stir to combine. Bring mixture back to a full rolling boil and boil 1 minute.
Quickly ladle hot liquid into sterilized jars and seal.
NOTE: If you have enough blackberry juice, this recipe is easily doubled. If you don’t have quite enough for a second run, you can freeze what you have until you harvest more blackberries for juice.
—Tipper Pressley
A handful of blackberries ready to be worked up. Tipper Pressley.
Mulberry Jelly
4 quarts mulberries
1 cup water
1 (1¾-ounce) box powdered fruit pectin
3 tablespoons lemon juice
5 cup sugar
After washing mulberries, put them in a large saucepot with water. Cook on medium heat until berries begin to simmer, then cook 10 minutes more. Use back of spoon or potato masher to mash mulberries every once in a while to encourage them to release their juice. Drain mulberries, reserving juice to make jelly and discarding cooked mulberries. I use a food mill to do my first straining of the mulberries and then I use cheesecloth to filter out the seeds that made their way into the juice. I do the same thing when I make blackberry jelly (see previous recipe). I don’t like seeds. Pour strained juice into a large saucepot and stir in the box of pectin and the lemon juice. Heat juice until it comes to a full rolling boil then add sugar. Stir sugar until it’s combined well with juice. Allow juice to come to another boil, then boil for 1 minute. Quickly ladle hot liquid into sterilized jars and seal.
TIP: I do not remove the mulberry stems, and the jelly still turns out great.
—Tipper Pressley
Fox Grape Jelly
In my family, at least—and my study of regional cookbooks suggests this is generally the case in the South—there was a pretty simple, straightforward method for making fox grape jelly. One of its advantages was that there’s enough natural pectin in fox grapes to make the jelly set nicely without using anything beyond fruit and sugar.
8 to 10 quarts fox grapes
¾ cup sugar for each cup pulp/juice mixture
Start by squeezing the pulp from the skins and placing in separate bowls. Remove the seeds from the pulp. This is easily done using a plastic sieve with small holes. Discard the seeds. Cook the skins until they are tender, strain and then combine with the pulp/juice mix that you have once the seeds have been removed. For each cup of the recombined mixture, add ¾ cup of sugar or to taste (some folks like fox grape jelly with a bit of tart bite to it). Bring the mixture to a slow boil for 10 to 20 minutes, stirring frequently until it becomes noticeably thick. At this point, pour into half-pint or pint jars and allow to cool. Seal with melted paraffin or two-piece lids. A cup of fruit with the seeds removed will make about ½ pint of jelly.
—Jim Casada
Clusters of fox grapes hold promise of tasty treats come early autumn. Tipper Pressley.
Grape Jelly
5 cups grape juice
1 (1¾-ounce) box powdered fruit pectin
7 cups sugar
Pour juice into a large saucepot and stir in pectin. Cook over medium-high heat and bring mixture to a full rolling boil. Add sugar all at once and stir. When juice returns to a full rolling boil, boil for 1 minute. Immediately ladle hot jelly into sterilized hot jars and seal.
—Tipper Pressley
Peach Jelly
4 cups peach juice, from peach skins and salvaged flesh from fruit that is going bad
½ teaspoon butter (optional)
1 (1¾-ounce) box powdered fruit pectin
5½ cups sugar
Sterilized jars, lids and rings
Place peach skins and flesh in pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Once mixture is boiling, turn down to medium/low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Let mixture cool slightly. Strain juice. If you have less than 4 cups of juice, you can add water to make up the difference, but don’t use more than 1 cup of water. If you have more than 4 cups of juice, you can double the recipe or freeze extra for later use. Place juice, butter and pectin in a pot on high heat and bring to a boil. Add sugar all at once and stir well. Bring mixture to a full rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Ladle jelly into hot jars and seal.
NOTE: Peach pits are said to be poisonous; however, one would have to ingest a whole lot of ground-up peach seeds to be poisoned. Peach seeds can be left out if so desired.
—Tipper Pressley
Old-Fashioned Pear Preserves
Many folks have fond memories of the pear preserves their mother or grandmother made every year from cooking pears. At least four generations of my family have used this simple yet delicious recipe for pear preserves.
1 peck or more of cooking pears, cored and sliced
1½ cups sugar for every 2 quarts prepared pears
Peel pears and slice into slivers as big or small as you like. Place the sliced pears in a bowl, pour the sugar over them, stir, cover and allow to sit overnight in the refrigerator. The pears will make a little juice overnight. The amount of juice will depend on how ripe your pears are. If the pears don’t produce sufficient juice overnight (enough to make a slurry or keep them from scorching over medium low heat), additional water can be added. After removing the pears from the refrigerator, cook on medium low in a large pot for 15 minutes. Ladle hot pears into sterilized jars and seal. Process 10 minutes in a boiling-water canner.
Old-fashioned pear preserves made from “cooking” pears. Tipper Pressley.
TIP: I’ve used several varieties of pears, and the recipe always turns out well, but it is an especially useful way of dealing with hard or “cooking” pears.
—Tipper Pressley
Easy Persimmon Butter
Wash persimmons thoroughly and remove stems and other debris. Drain well. Press through a non-aluminum sieve to remove skins and seeds. Add a bit of honey (to taste) and mix well with a fork. Store in refrigerator and use as a spread on bagels, biscuits, muffins or toast.
NOTE: Persimmon pulp freezes well, and whenever you have a craving for its distinctive taste, a portion of the fruit can be thawed and converted to butter.
—Jim Casada