State of Superior Cuisine

State of Superior Cuisine: Yooper Food

Yooper Food

Jams, Jellies, Preserves, & Marmalades

What's the Difference, Anyhow?

Jam, jelly, preserves, and marmalades are all made from fruit mixed with sugar and pectin. The chief difference Jams, Jellies, Preserves, and Marmaladesbetween them comes in the form that the fruit takes.

Specifically, the fruit used in jam is in the form of fruit pulp or crushed fruit, while the fruit used in jelly comes in the form of juice. This explains why jams are not as stiff as jellies. Preserves are made from the fruit and its juices. Jam is made by boiling fruit, and does have fruit bits, while jelly is made from fruit juice and has no fruit bits, and preserves are made from syrup containing both fruit bits and fruit juice.

Marmalade, on the other hand, is usually a citrus-based preserve, sometimes containing the rind, but other fruits can be used. Marmalade and jam are similar, but not identical.

So, to wrap it up:

  • Jam - Made from fruit pulp or crushed fruit.
  • Jelly - Made from the juice of the fruit.
  • Preserves - Made from syrup continuing the fruit and its juices.
  • Marmalade - Marmalade has citrus fruit in it, and sometimes rind as well.

If I really wanted to get picky, I could throw in the question of conserves, which consist of mixed fruits and citrus, with raisins and nuts, while preserves contain whole fruits or large pieces of fruit in a slightly jelled syrup. But we’ll include the conserves and the preserves on the same page, calling them whatever the recipe refers to them as.

In general usage, they are often used synonymously. In this country, we tend to blur the definitions of words, while the Brits can usually be depended upon to keep such things straight and in good order. I don't know whose silly idea it was to name our language after theirs to begin with.

In these pages, I'm not going to get picky. If the recipe calls it jelly, I'll call it jelly. I can do that. It's my web site, and I'm not British.

Now for a few tips that might come in handy while you’re trying to interpret the recipes for making these spreads.

Homemade Apple Pectin

  • 4 lbs. apples, skin and cores
  • 4½ pints water for first extraction

Select tart, hard, ripe apples. Remove bruised spots. Cut into thin slices. Place in large granite kettle, bring quickly to a boiling point. Cover, let boil rapidly 20 minutes. Strain through 4 layers of cheese cloth. When juice stops dripping, press pulp lightly with spoon, but do not squeeze bag. Set aside juice. Remove pulp from bag. Weigh or measure, and add to it an equal quantity of water. Boil again 20 minutes, and strain. Mix the two liquid extractions, which should measure 3 quarts. Place in wide granite pan so that liquid is not more than 2 inches deep. Heat rapidly 30-45 minutes, or until liquid is ½-inch deep or reduced to 1½ pints. If not wanted for immediate use, pour at once into hot, clean bottles that have been standing in boiling water, and seal. Bottle should not hold more than ½ cup.

Google
 
Web kenanderson.net

 

General Rules for Making Jelly

Jelly should be of a clear bright color, tender, quivery, but firm, and retain its shape.

Fruits are preserved into marmalades, jams and conserves, by cooking with from ¾ to their whole weight in sugar. They retain their best flavor and bright color if cooked rapidly over a hot fire

Medium sized preserving kettles are best to use in making jelly. Do not make more than a quart of juice at a time.

Can fruit juices during summer and make into jellies, as wanted. Freshly made jellies are always best and storage room is saved.

Wash, remove stems, cut the larger fruits into quarters. Put into a saucepan and cover with water. With small watery fruits, as currants and grapes, use only a little water, but crush with spoon or masher. Allow to simmer until the fruit is tender. Put into a bag to drain. Do not squeeze bag if a clear jelly is wanted.

Turn out pulp, add more water, reheat, then squeeze the bag and drain off all the juice; this jelly will not be clear, but can be used for jelly cake, etc.

Jams made with pectin require less boiling & retain their color & flavor. They require extra sugar, but produce more jam or jelly.

Measure the juice. Use 2/3 to 1 cup sugar to 1 cup of juice. The sugar may be heated. Let the juice boil a few minutes, then add the sugar. Boil rapidly. The jelly point is reached when the juice drops as one mass from the side of the spoon or when two drops run together and fall as one from the side of the spoon. Skim the juice, pour at once into sterilized glasses and cool as quickly as possible.

To Make a Dripping Bag

Tip chair or stool upside down with seat resting on table, and back of chair hanging down over side of table. Tie corners of a square strong cloth firmly to four legs of chair. Place pan beneath to catch drippings.

Or, take a 3-cornered piece of cloth or felt, sew two sides together and attach the third side or opening to an iron hoop. Tie stout cord to opposite sides of hoop and hang up. Place crushed fruit or juice in bag to drip.

Kinds of Fruit to Use

Fruits should be fresh, just ripe, or a little underripe. Juicy fruits

Pectin is that substance in some fruit that, when heated and combined with fruit acid and sugar, causes the mixture to congeal or jell. All fruits do not contain this substance. The acid and pectin may supplied by the addition of the juice of apples, plums, quince, etc. or by homemade apple or commercial pectin.

, currants, raspberries, should not be gathered after a rain. Currants, sour apples, crabapples, underripe grapes, quinces, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, wild cherries, and green gooseberries contain pectin and make the best jellies.

Peaches, strawberries, and cherries lack pectin, but may be made into jelly by adding lemon juice and the strained juice of fruits that contain pectin, or by adding apple or commercial pectins.

Preserving and Pickling of Fruits

Fruits are preserved into marmalades, jams, and preserves, by cooking with from ¾ to their whole weight in sugar. They retain their best flavor and bright color if cooked rapidly over a hot fire.

Jams made with pectin require less boiling and retain their color and flavor. They require extra sugar, but produce more jam or jelly.

Please send any U.P. recipes you might have to
kenanderson@kenanderson.net

 

Visit our Sister Site: Pasties, Plain & Simple