Month: January 2024

No Sugar Added Blueberry Jam

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No sugar added blueberry jam is so easy to make! And it’s even easier if you own a Ball freshTECH Jam & Jelly Maker (J&J Maker for short)! I LOVE my J&J Maker! But I was tired of being limited by the few recipes that come with the Jam & Jelly Maker, so I decided to experiment. The first recipe I tried is my husband’s personal favorite–no sugar added blueberry jam! It’s a Bernardin recipe and you can find the link here. But, if you want to learn how to make it in the Jam & Jelly Maker, keep reading!

Image of jar with dark filling. Lettering says "Canning Blueberry Jam, No Sugar Added, JamminandCannin.com".

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Why Use the Jam & Jelly Maker?

The Jam & Jelly Maker is so easy to use because it stirs for you! It also doesn’t require that you use your stovetop, which is a bonus if you work full time and do all of your cooking, canning, and baking on the weekends like me! It is so nice to be able to keep a large burner clear for lunch, dinner, or whatever I’m meal-prepping!

If you are interested in another way to save stovetop space or if you have a glass stovetop and don’t want to put a heavy canner on top of it, I highly recommend purchasing either a steam canner or the Ball freshTECH Electric Water Bath Canner and Multi-Cooker! The awesome thing about this canner is that is can easily hold 12-14 half-pint jars!

What Do I Need to Can?

The simple answer is that you need jars, lids, bands, and a large pot that will allow water to cover your jars by 1-2 inches. However, I do have some favorite canning tools that make life easier! Here’s a list of the tools I use in the video.

Recipe Video

How to Make No Sugar Added Blueberry Jam in Jam & Jelly Maker

Instructions

  1. First, mash 4 cups of rinsed blueberries.
  2. Prepare other ingredients–1 cup unsweetened fruit juice and 49 grams of Ball or Bernardin Low or No Sugar Pectin.
  3. Sprinkle pectin on bottom of Jam & Jelly Maker, spread blueberry mash evenly over the top, and add in fruit juice.
  4. Press “Jam” and press “Enter.” The J&J Maker will start stirring.
  5. After 4 minutes, the J&J Maker will beep. If you are adding any sweetener, pour it evenly over the top of the mixture. If you’re not adding any sweetener put the lid on.
  6. For the remaining 17 minutes, watch the J&J Maker carefully. If at any time it looks like the mixture may overflow, take the lid off and allow the mixture to cool.
  7. The J&J Maker will beep again when it is finished. Take the lid off and either store jam in refrigerator or continue with canning instructions.

    8. Canning Directions

  8. Fill clean, warm jars with jam mixture, making sure to leave 1/4-inch headspace.
  9. Debubble and double-check headspace. Add more jam, if needed.
  10. Clean rim off to ensure no jam is on it.
  11. Put a clean lid on and screw on band until fingertip tight.
  12. Put in water bath canner.
  13. Fill remaining jars until jam mixture is gone.
  14. Water bath process for 10 minutes, adjusting for altitude.
  15. Remove jars and set on towel or wooden cutting board to cool for 12-24 hours.
  16. Remove bands and check seals. If any jars failed to seal, store in refrigerator and use first.
  17. Wash jars and store without bands on.
Image of braided garlic.

The Easiest Way to Preserve Garlic

With the pickled garlic recipe by Ball rumored as unsafe, garlic preservation methods are somewhat limited. If you’re someone who only follows by-the-book, safe, and tested preservation methods (which I do), you need options! Preserving garlic in oil and honey have been popular, but those methods pose botulism poisoning risks. That’s why, this year, I took advantage of some extra freezer space to preserve garlic that is ready-to-sauté! It only took a few minutes of prep work and an overnight stay in the freezer. After breaking the cubes apart, I have garlic ready to go anytime I need to toss some minced garlic in a dish!

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How to Mince Garlic

If you’re planning on freezing a large batch of garlic, it is time-consuming to hand-mince it all with a knife. Using a food processing is faster, if you have one. However, I prefer to use my OXO Good Grips Garlic Press. Part of the reason I love this method is because I can save the leftover garlic “shell” for my stock bag, which I freeze to make stock with at a later time!

Preserve Garlic in the Freezer

After the garlic is minced, put it all in a sandwich bag or mince it directly into the bag like in the video below by purchasing these holders. I prefer to use reusable bags, like these, but I was worried about removing the garlic smell afterwards. You’ll seal the bag, flatten the garlic, and then use a chopstick or some other long, cylindrical kitchen tool to separate the garlic into squares. Freeze overnight, break apart, and store in the same sandwich bag!

Using Preserved, Frozen Garlic

Using your preserved garlic is as easy as pulling one or two cubes out as needed–no need to thaw! They taste great in soups, stir fries, and pasta sauces!

Sourdough Simplified – Part II

As promised, this is the post where I’ll describe my easy sourdough schedule–the one that allows me to forget about my starter for weeks at a time! If you haven’t read my first Sourdough Simplified post, click here! If you want the quick version of my sourdough schedule, it goes like this: bring starter to room temperature, discard, feed, bake, feed, and store in refrigerator until you’re ready to bake again.

Preparing to Bake

A day before you’re ready to bake, remove your starter from the refrigerator. The photo to the left shows a sourdough starter that had been in the refrigerator for around 2 weeks. DON’T TOUCH IT! First, you’ll want to observe the top and look for any signs of mold or streaks of color. If you see mold or pink or orange streaks, it’s time to throw your starter away. If you see a clear or dark liquid on top, this is known as hooch, and you have two options: Dump the liquid off or mix it back in and go to the next step.

People have very strong opinions about whether you should dump or mix in the hooch. I personally mix it in, as pictured on the right, because I don’t want to throw off the hydration of my starter. It might taste a little tangier, but the tanginess is the reason most people prefer sourdough!

Discarding Starter

If you’re following my sourdough schedule, this step is very important. I personally love sourdough discard because it makes some of the BEST recipes! I turn my discard into pizza dough for the freezer, pie crust, crackers, as a boost in granola, biscuits for freezer breakfast sandwiches, etcetera. The possibilities are endless! I put my discard into a mason jar and then store it in the refrigerator until I’m ready to make something with it.

In order for your starter to stay healthy, it must have enough to feed on. A good rule of thumb is to feed at least a 1:1 ratio of water and flour to sourdough starter. This means that, if you save 100 grams of starter, you must feed it at least 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. Because I make so many recipes using discard, I usually feed at a 1:2:2 ratio–200 grams of flour and 200 grams of water to 100 grams of starter. To get your starter down to 100 grams, you must discard some of the unfed starter.

Once you have discarded, in an ideal world, you’ll let your starter come to room temperature before you go to the next step. However, you don’t have to wait for it to come to room temperature. It just might rise more slowly if you don’t.

Feeding Your Starter

Next, it’s time to feed your starter. I prefer to add water first and mix it together with the starter, as this prevents clumps. Then, mix in the flour and stir well. Cover and set aside in a warm spot to rise.

Bake!

Once your starter has at least doubled in size, it is time to bake! I tend to make sandwich loaves, artisan loaves, or hot dog buns, as that’s what my husband and I eat the most of.

Feed Again

After you bake, it’s time to feed your starter again to make sure it has plenty of food for its nap in the refrigerator! Feed just like you did in the previous step, making sure to discard, if needed.

As soon as you feed your starter, put it back in the refrigerator. It will slowly eat and double in size in the refrigerator–just like it did on the countertop–but at a much slower pace. It usually takes my starter about 5 days in the refrigerator to rise and fall again. When you’re ready to cook again, just start back at step one!

Final Thoughts

Everyone maintains their starter their own way. You’ll eventually find what works best for you and your family. It might be the same way I maintain mine, but it might be completely different, and that’s okay! What matters is finding a way that is sustainable for you.

Sourdough Simplified

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When everyone was jumping on the sourdough train in 2020, I didn’t. Why? Because everyone made it look so difficult! The modern way of caring for sourdough is basically like having a pet–you feed it twice a day, make sure it has a safe, warm spot in your house, and, if you fail to maintain it properly, it will make a mess on your counter! I’m in my late 20s, and I’m not nearly ready for that kind of responsibility just to make a loaf of bread! And, yet, I make sourdough bread, pizza crust, scones, granola, and crackers whenever I want!

How do I do it? I simplify it! Sourdough has been around for thousands of years and was even eaten by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. French bakers brought it to America during the Gold Rush! Do we really think the Egyptians and Greeks, people mining for gold and mothers in the 1500s were wasting precious flour to feed their sourdough starter multiple times a day? There’s no way!

My method consists of feeding a starter and not messing with it again until I’m ready to cook in a week or two…or three or four.

Yes, it really can be that simple.

All you need is an active starter and a refrigerator! Sourdough is simply grain fermentation. If you’ve ever fermented anything before, like sauerkraut, then you’ll know that cold temperatures, like refrigeration, slow down the fermentation process. While those frigid temps don’t stop fermentation, it will greatly inhibit it. Which is exactly what you want if you don’t want a high maintenance starter!

I hope this has given you some encouragement when it comes to starting and maintaining a sourdough starter! Click here to read my next post, which focuses on my sourdough starter’s feeding and “sleeping” schedule.