Are you on the search for equipment to elevate your jam making game? Look no further than these tools from OXO and enter the giveaway for a chance to win a set!
I often think of July as the pinnacle of the jam making season. It is the moment when berries, peaches, currants, cherries, plums, and even early apples are all competing for space at markets and in our kitchens. I find that the secret to being able to make the most of the abundance is to be prepared with sturdy, durable equipment. To that end, I’ve teamed up with my friends at OXO to show you some gear that can help make your jam making efforts a little easier.
Most critical is a good pot to cook your jam. Some people like using copper preserving pans while others prefer enameled cast iron. While those are both good, my preference is always a low, wide, stainless steel pan that can hold about 8 quarts. Stainless steel is a non-reactive metal, so it will never impart a metallic flavor into your preserves (copper is reactive and can leave your jam tasting tinny if you don’t use enough sugar).
Stainless steel is also the most forgiving surface. If you burn your jam in an enameled cast iron pot, you might be able to soak and scrub the burned spot off, but the finish will never be the same. When you burn in stainless steel, elbow grease and steel wool will eventually make you whole again.
Right now, the jam pan in constant rotation in my kitchen is the OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Pro 8 Quart Covered Casserole (OXO | Amazon). It is similar is size, shape, volume, and performance to my favorite All-Clad jam pan, but at a third of the price. I often briefly simmer small stone fruit and let them cool before pitting to make the process easier, and the glass lid makes it easy to see when to turn off the heat. It’s also got volume markers up the side of the interior, which helps you have an idea of what your yield is going to be. All in all, it’s an excellent pan.
Another tool I turn to all summer (and fall!) long is the OXO Good Grips Food Mill (OXO | Amazon). It can strain out the seeds from berry and grape pulp, separates tomato skins from the meat, and does a masterful job of making applesauce that is smooth but not entirely without texture. I went through several food mills before this one found its way into my kitchen, and if it broke, I would replace it with an identical model.
Finally, the hand tools. I would be lost without a sharp paring knife (OXO | Amazon), a good peeler (OXO | Amazon), a heat-proof spatula (OXO | Amazon), and a citrus squeezer (OXO | Amazon). I particularly like having these tools in bright colors because that helps them stand out from the peels and stem ends (I can’t be the only person who’s ever accidentally thrown away a peeler because it blended into the scraps too well).
Thanks to the good folks at OXO, I have a second set of jam making gear to give away to one lucky Food in Jars reader. Please use the widget below to enter.
Disclosure: OXO has provided the equipment you see pictured here, along with the second giveaway set, at no cost to me. No additional funds were exchanged and all opinions are entirely my own.
I have a kitchen colander that fits across my sink that is perfect for washing berries before I start the jam.
i have my grinder tool it seperates the seeds from the fruit it’s from the 20’s
I’d be lost without my 2 quart Pyrex measuring cup and my wide mouth funnel!
My grandmothers jelly jars!
Love my cherry pitter this year. Pits six at a time. Cherries are a good price this summer.
My heavy bottomed stainless steel pot and my jar lifter. Great giveaway.
This is awesome! Thanks for the chance to win!
I love my funnel from my mom.
I really love my upgrade to the Ball Secure Grip Jar Lifter. With the configuration of my new kitchen, I have to walk across the kitchen when I pull my jars out of the canner to set them down. This would never be possible with a basic jar lifter!
After decades of preserving food, I now use the Ball FreshTech Electric Water Bath Canner – LOVE it for small batch, outdoor canning.
I have a stainless steel Revereware pot I got from my grandparents that serves as both jam pot and hot water bath.
Looking for a small batch canning pot!
I finally bought one of those screen things a couple of years ago and now all the plops and splats don’t escape all over the stove.
I can’t live without that tool to remove the jars from the water! 🙂
My favorite equipment is my lid lifter… Saves my fingers!
All these look great, but I especially want the pot for small batch canning.
A good heatproof silicone spatula for scraping all the goodness out of the pan!
Love my jar lifter and funnel!!
i dont tweet so i guess i will be unlucky in this giveaway
I keep it pretty simple – other than my normal cooking pans, a canning funnel, jar lifter, and lid lifter
Absolute essentials for making really great jam. Thanks IXO
I love my oxo tools, but the scale and spatulas are there with me every batch!
Looks great!
Have just started jamming recently and love the fresh fruity flavors. Would love to have these tools
My small stockpot and rack that fits inside it so I don’t need to pull out the big canners when i make a small batch of jam.
What a lovely prize package, SO many useful items! My most used items in my kitchen are my stainless steel canning funnel and my wustof chefs knife. There’s not a single day that goes by that both aren’t washed and dried at least, twice!
I use quite a bit of canning items that were my grandmas, so all of the are my favorites; strainer, peeler, funnel, wooden spooner, large milk glass bowl, even a special hot pad that was hers. I learned to can from my grandma, and I love the memories I thought no ever time I use her tools.
I have been freezing strawberries as they are on sale. That way I can make my Christmas gifts. This would make it so much easier.
I have my grandmother’s old enamel stock pot which I use as my canning pot. Works great, but would love to update my canning supplies and use the old stock pot for planting flowers or something where I can still use it and see it every day. Thanks for the opportunity!
Love my oxo peeler!
This is a very nice starter set
I have the exact peeler in black and it is still going strong after 12 years of use. Would be great to win this fabulous prize!
I have that same food mill and it is awesome. I also can quite a few cherries, and so one of my favorite tools is a cherry pitter that clamps to the table with a little reservoir.
This is a great starter or refresher kit! I make about 500 jars of jam a year from all my own fruits or foraged ones❤️
This would be awesome. I love making your small batch jelly. So far this summer I have made strawberry balsamic, vanilla rhubarb,
I’ve never made jam or jelly before so I would love to win this and learn how!
My favorite tool is a funnel that was my grandmother’s.
i’m still a relative novice, so favourites yet.
My favorite heavy bottom jamming pan has been in use for 30 years. Sadly, it got dropped and now the bottom has a ding in it and as time has passed has become a little “bubble” so it doesn’t sit as flat as it should. I would love to have a replacement, but I don’t dare pass this treasured pan on until it is already replaced.
A good food mill is so nice to have!
Love having a strainer for jam making.
Oooh or my victorio strainer. Makes tomato and apple seasons SO much easier!
The tool that made the most difference in my canning was actually the plain wooden citrus reamer I picked up while helping clean out my husband’s grandmother’s house. It’s super simple but it makes juicing lemons and lines so much easier!
My Vitamix, apple corer/peeler, and cherry pitter!
I love my canning funnel with the head space measurements on it!
I love my big stainless pots. Sand plums grow wild like crazy here (except when a late freeze gets the flowers like this year) and my 16 and 20 quart pots come in very handy!
What a great giveaway! Thanks for the opportunity.
I would be lost without my trusty all clad pan!
I’m fairly new to canning but the first few times canning were rough without a canning pot and rack. It was a nightmare trying to jerryrig one with my largest stockpots. My mom bought me a canning pot set for Christmas last year with that I’m sure it will be a much smoother process for me in the future.
Seems crazy, but I. Most thankful for my Wusthof knives, even when cutting fruit for jams. I’m also thrilled when my mother lets me borrow her very nice KitchenAid blender… one day, I’ll splurge and get one for myself. Until then, I’d really love a food mill.