Enjoy Summer Year-round with Freezer Jam
Anyone can take advantage of summer’s abundance of sweet, and often less expensive fruits by making jam to last throughout the rest of the year, without the fuss of special canning equipment. All that’s needed is fruit, pectin (a natural ingredient that thickens the jam), sugar, and freezer safe jars. Many recipes involving soft fruits don’t even require cooking.
Typically, a no-cook freezer jam requires washing the fruit, and removing any inedible portions (some seeds, pits, and skins, for example), then crushing the fruit with a potato masher. For the best jam, use well ripened fruit. Then a mixture of pectin and sugar is stirred in, before pouring the finished jam into jars. The jars then must sit at room temperature for a period of time, about 30 minutes, followed by freezing. Jam made this way will keep for up to one year.
Not only does making freezer jam allow for a taste of summer all year round, it saves money, especially when one buys fruit in season. Thrifty fruit shopping can bring the cost of the finished product down to only cents per jar.
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