Curious about making jam in a bread machine? Here’s one woman’s experience trying it!
Most of the time, I make jam on my turquoise, 45 year old, electric stove. I’ve also made jam on a camp stove, on an induction burner, on a plain gas stove and even on a high-powered commercial gas range. And now, I’m someone who is making jam in a bread machine.
Several months ago, I spotted this post on the King Arthur Flour blog, in which they make a batch of strawberry jam in a Zojirushi bread machine. Being that I’m fascinated by all things having to do with jam making (don’t tell me you didn’t notice), I determined that this was something I wanted to try. In the interest of science, of course.
I got in touch with the folks at Zojirushi and they very nicely agreed to give me a review unit so that I could see how this whole bread machine jam thing worked. It arrived on my birthday (which was more than a month ago now) and I spent at least a week circling it warily, uncertain whether I wanted to trust my fruit to an automated machine that wouldn’t let me control the heat source.
Finally I unswaddled it from boxes and styrofoam, mashed up two cups of strawberries and got to work. The instructions that come with the Zojirushi say to combine 2 cups of crushed berries, 3/4 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. For the first round, I followed the instructions exactly and cooked the jam without any additional pectin.
Fruit, sugar and lemon juice go into the pan. Then you close the lid and set it to the jam setting (don’t be fooled by the 3:45 time in the picture above, I took that before I set it run the jam cycle. It only takes 1:20 to make jam in the Zojirushi). When the cooking time is up, the machine issues a couple of friendly beeps so that you can rush over and check on your jam (that is, if you weren’t hovering very nearby, occasionally lifting the lid a little to peek at the progress).
So here’s the good news. This machine, which was designed to bake bread, makes perfectly adequate jam. It gets quite hot, the paddles keep the jam moving to prevent any scorching and it’s dead easy to use. If you’re the type who likes to freeze fruit and make small batches of jam throughout the year, making your jam in a Zojirushi is a really good option. However, it has a major flaw as a jam maker and that is that with the lid closed, you’re just never going to get the necessary amount of evaporation to get a really thick jammy jam.
I did one batch without pectin (sorry, no pictures of the jam with pectin, I knocked it over just after pouring it into the jar and splattered my kitchen entirely in sticky fruit spray) and one with and both remained stubbornly runny and without the body that a good jam should have (though the batch with 2 teaspoons of powdered pectin did firm up more than the batch without).
The picture below pairs a stove cooked jam (on the left) with the jam cooked in this bread machine. You can see the difference in the body of the jam. The stove top jam reduced by more than 1/3 during cooking, resulting in a thick-set, glossy jam. The bread machine jam on the right is juicier and has saturated the bread with its syrup. Not a bad thing, but an imperfect thing to use on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It would be perfect stirred into yogurt or drizzled on ice cream though.
I will say that I’ve been absolutely blown away by the quality of the bread that the Zojirushi makes. Of course I couldn’t resist using it to bake up a few loaves while it was hanging out in my kitchen and wow. We haven’t bought bread in weeks thanks to this machine.
I made apple butter a couple of summers ago with a friend who introduced me to canning 🙂 In the process, we also made apple sauce and apple cider 🙂
I make sour cherry jam every year and love it. But last year I tried to make Italian plum jam and ended up with weird stringy stiff goo. It was horrible.
I make quick freezer jam every year because I am scared to can the normal way! But maybe this year will be the year that I try the real deal…
I usually make freezer jam from my black raspberries; haven’t tried a cooked & canned jam. I also make apple butter in the crock pot and have canned it before, although freezing it is sure easier. I’d love to win a ‘Zo’ for making jam & bread!
Congratulations on the Zojirushi breadmaker. I found one at a thrift store many years ago and it was wonderful. I used it until it literally gave up the ghost and stopped working. Been looking for another one ever since. PS: We had your quinoa salad last night and it was an all around crowd pleaser, just enough left for our lunch today. I see it as a recurring summer dinner.
I taught a pantomime jam class last year. It was a basic intro to canning, but taught in a library meeting room with no water, heat source, etc, so I brought all of the items needed a walked through the process and magically pulled a finished jar of jam out of the pot. We also pantomimed pickles.
Jam in a bread machine!
Last year my family and some friends went blackberry picking while I was at work, and I came home to tons of homemade jam being finished up. I chipped in by making cute labels for the jars.
I can’t believe you can make jam in a bread machine! I’ve had a few canning parties and they were a lot of fun.
I made strawberry jam in my bread machine (not a Zojirushi) and it bubbled up and over the pan….it was a disaster. I’m just guessing here but I did something terribly wrong. I have read about the fantastic Zo. It was nice to see it in action.
My first experience with jam making was when we bought our first house which had a beautiful big grape arbor in the back yard. The first fall we were there I made the best grape jam ever. We moved away 4 years later and I have never tasted jam as good since.
I started reading about the Zojirushi last summer, after my bread machine paddle started shedding metal crumbs into my dough. I’m still making bread by hand, and have learned to make stovetop jam. I started with blueberry because I grow those, and have run through several other kinds. I’m willing to slave over a hot stove for hours to avoid pectin, and people actually tell me that if I want my jars back I have to swap for full ones. I guess my best adventure was the first–I made three batches of blueberry jam and the next morning my kitchen was swarming with ants. Now I shield countertop, stove vent, backsplash, oven dials, etc. with aluminum foil and the ants leave my kitchen alone.
I make tons of apple butter every fall. My father in law loves the stuff and it’s a great way to thank him for all he does for us during the year. I cook it in my slow cooker until it gets really thick, easy peasy!
I must admit, I am more excited about the Cake setting on this thing than the Jam one. The first jam I ever made was marmalade, and I made it because…I needed it for a cake.
I had oranges, etc., and no marmalade, so I thought, “I will just make some marmalade! It can’t take THAT long, and I don’t want to go to the store and how hard can it possibly be?” Famous last words…
oh, sad for me – i have no jam stories yet! pickling is as far as i’ve gotten but this summer was going to be the summer of jam, and i’m so curious about making this in a breadmaker… this giveaway is so timely – i was looking up breadmakers and this one consistently came up as the best one….just a teensy bit expensive. : ) thanks!
I made pumpkin butter in my college kitchen…and had to hack open my pumpkins with a machete!
I have not made any Jam yet, I’m just reading up on it and getting eager to try.
I’m hoping to start jam making this summer. My canning experience thus far has been some different marmalade and chutneys. Delicious!!!
So cool! I’ve only made jam a couple times.. blueberry that turned out alright and a jalapeno/strawberry/cranberry that did NOT turn out so well! Still trying to get it right!
I go to the farmers market and I get suckered (4 out of 5 times) into buying a tray of strawberries. I’ve made strawberry jam in the oven and it turned out great! I haven’t tried making it on the stovetop yet. I’d love to try making it using the bread machine.
My mom made oodles of jam of every kind when I was growing up. It was so much fun helping her prep the fruit and check the seals!
Wow! We were just discussing this weekend what we’d need to purchase if we wanted to make our own jam. Apparently a bread machine – who knew! What a cool post and neat experiment!
I have only made two batches of jam in my life, both freezer jams, because I’m sort of scared of making “real” jam.
When I was young, my mom used to make big batches of strawberry jam to sell….back when strawberries typically came in the little green plastic baskets. She would save the baskets, and my brother and I used them as blocks. We used to build huge towers, 4 feet high or so, and then knock them down with his remote-controlled cars. So fun.
Thanks for the opportunity to win this bread maker! One of my first forays into canning was prickly pear jelly made from prickly pear fruit collected in the open space near our house. Turned out great so I thought I’d try prickly pear jam but couldn’t find a recipe. Attempted my own and it turned into a sticky gooey mess. Maybe that is why I couldn’t find a recipe!
wow, this would probably work really well for making stone-fruit jam. i make my plum jam in the oven and i think it would be fun to try it in a bread machine!
For me, school letting out is strawberry jam time. When I was younger, I’d go picking strawberries with my mom on a Saturday morning, and then when we got home she’d clean the berries and get to work. By the end of the weekend we’d have enough freezer jam to last us for the year 🙂
I’ve had a desire to make jam for a while (hence following your blog) but haven’t mustered the courage to try it yet.
I made jam for the first time last summer. The first kind I made was pepper jam & it came out so hard that I could have craved it into bricks! I also managed to fling a hot pepper seed right into my eye in the process. Yeowch! My daughter thought it was very funny to see me hopping around the kitchen, screaming curses & pouring milk on my face! This year, I’m trying out a recipe for 3-Day Strawberry Jam. It wounded like a safer bet to me.
I’d like some great onion/garlic jam recipes. As I was baking Pesto Bread this past winter, I though “How nice would this bread be hot from the oven, slathered with butter & some kind of sweet & savory onion/garlic jam?” I think I could make a whole meal of that!
i made my first batch of strawberry apple jam..pretty good
I, too, make jam in a free vessel. However, I had to find mine (a magnificent copper pot) next to my dumpster.
wow, so many comments already!
my most vivid jam-making memory is of the first time i tried making it–i went for a pink grapefruit marmalade recipe from nigella lawson. i don’t know what i was expecting, but it looked to me like the marmalade wasn’t jelling at all, so i just kept cooking it. for like an hour. finally i thought, it must be done, canned it, processed it, and waited until the morning to open the jars (which all sealed perfectly, btw!). uh. basically i had canned burnt pink grapefruit hard candy. the jam was rock solid in the jar! my next attempt was much better. 🙂
I love your blog. I just made your small batch strawberry vanilla jam it is delicious! I have been wanting a bread machine soooo much, I would love to make jam in one!
Very interesting, think I will stick to the stove top for jam and leave the bread-maker for all the other goodies it can do! lol I got so excited when I saw your comment ‘when I taught canning classes at Terrain at Styers last summer’ We have been to Terrain 3 times now, as independent nursery owners when we travel we always love to go to other nurseries 🙂 and Terrain is so fun. We had the cheese platter last year which is one of the reasons I started canning! lol Plus they had ‘Rogue Creamery blue cheese’ which is a local cheese here and that made us happy. I would love to hit on of your jam classes this year. We will be in the Philly area the week of August 7th any plans for classes then?
I have never made jam or jelly. I have put various fruits in canning quantities into the freezer with plans to make jam/jelly, but ended up using them for other things!
I love canning and have been on a jam-kick for the past year. Brought home kumquats from a friend’s tree in Louisina and made roasted kumquat vanilla bean marmalade…it was good, but i think I can do better! I just need more free kumquats :-)…….this free bread machine would also be nice!
My grandmother canned and preserved everything she could. After she passed, I got all of the recipes that were actually written down (most were in her head and are gone forever). Hopefully this summer I can get them organized so that I can actually try some of them. 🙂
We have a beautiful mulberry tree in the yard and I’ve been wanting an easier way to make jam!
Wow! That’s very generous of Zo. From what I gather (I follow the KAF blog too), they’re the Cadillac of bread machines and I know from experience that mileage varies from brand-to-brand in terms of quality of the loaf.
I don’t have any really crazy canning experiences with jam (other than the typical failures of not having a good set). I do remember making my first batch of jam–blueberry without pectin and how delicious it was compared to store-bought stuff. I decided right there and then that I’d probably never buy another jar of store-bought jam or jelly.
There are so many things people just take for granted as “too hard” these days and small batch refrigerator jam is one of them. There’s really no reason not to make your own jam instead of buying the junk from the store that’s mostly corn syrup and has very little in the way of actual fruit. It doesn’t take very long and you can use things like frozen fruit, slow cookers, and this amazing bread machine to make it a more or less set-it and walk-away experience.
My grandparents lived on a small farm, and every summer I used to help my Bubbe pick fresh raspberries for her wonderful freezer jam. We had to battle the goats for them. 🙂
Before finding your blog, I made a weird plum/black grape concoction I can probably call jam. It was delicious and made one pint, which I ate promptly. Due to the extremely low acid content, I’m glad i ate it quickly and that it lived in the fridge its entire short life.
I would LOVE to win this…I’ve been drooling over a Zojirushi for a few weeks now 🙂
I just started canning last year and I am addicted. I sat at our kitchen table for hours hulling strawberries that we picked at the farm 🙂
i’ve only made jam in kitchens, from my grandmother’s, to my mom’s, my mother in law’s, and now mine. it is always interesting to see everyone’s different rituals and set ups 🙂
I made two quart jars of jam on our little propane-burner stove in Alaska last month and loved watching three guys get to the bottom of both within a week. There’s nothing like watching people happily eat up what you’ve made! I don’t know about making jam in a bread machine, but I’d sure like to try making bread in it! Thanks, Marisa.
My mom and grandmother took us strawberry picking every summer (we got to go to school late, a very big deal) and then we helped them wash and hull millions of berries for yummy freezer jam!
One summer I spent a month living on a family farm in Oregon. Most of their seasonal income came from selling at the farmer’s market. They sold blueberries and jam. I never ate so many blueberries in my life that month and I also never made so much jam. Dozens of batches and hundreds of jars over the month. We rented a school kitchen and three of us spent all day once a week making mostly strawberry rhubarb jam. It was my first introduction to jam making and canning. It was pretty epic.
I’ve got to try this! Sounds like a little experimentation might help the runniness (if that is a word).
My funny jam story is from last summer. A friend and I decided that we wanted to make jam but couldn’t decide what kind of fruit. We went to that market and got totally overwhelmed. So we decided we would make my grandmother’s recipe for ginger marmalade. I had to call my mom to double check the instructions and she said “Why are you doing that? You can make ginger marmalade anytime of the year!” But we made it anyways and it was tasty and then a few weeks later we made blackberry jam. If anyone is wondering ginger marmalade is exactly the same as the recipe for orange marmalade that comes with the package of pectin, you just replace the orange with shredded ginger (you can leave the peel on). I want to go make jam now!
I made both strawberry and strawberry rhubarb jam this weekend. Since my cabinets are white, I have a wooden spoon in one hand to stir the jam and a wet sponge in the other to wipe up the splashes. Way easier than trying to get the pink stains off later!
Last summer my neighbor gave me multiple boxes of peaches. I made peach jam, peach-raspberry jam, peach-ginger jam, peach salsa, peach-vanilla sauce…and there were still more peaches!!! I’m really hoping my neighbor’s trees are just as prolific this summer! Thanks!
Recently I made jam in my VERY old and VERY cheap breadmaker. It was just ok…yes, too runny, but I think it didn’t stir enough as my machine doesn’t seem to have the power it used to. It can’t handle a stiff dough any more (which is why I tried jam instead). I drool over the Z machines!
I tried canning grape jelly with concord grapes from my grandmother’s vines. It was such a gorgeous purple color but it didn’t set. Bummer.
I have only made jam once, Peach jam, in cute little jars with pretty lids and rings, to bad my jam looked so bad my kids didn’t want to eat it! It tasted alright but the fruit sat on the surface and all the juice sat below. I have made jelly several times, I used to make a cranberry apple jelly and a honey sauturn jelly as Christmas presents but now, I pickle. Everything!
While I have canned beets, various pickles, and tomatoes, I have not yet tried my hand at jam. But I want to! And I want to make bread too! Pick me!
My favorite jam session so far has been making grape jam with my husband and 3-year-old. They both usually stay out of it, but they were *perfect* helpers for squeezing the grapes out of their skins.
When I was in college my boyfriend and I made freezer jam with pears from a tree at his frat house. We didn’t read the directions very well and missed the part about waiting 24 hours before putting it in the freezer. The jam would not set, but made great sauce. My mother informed me about waiting 24 hours at room temperature. (it IS in the directions). I have helped countless people over the years with the same problem. I keep telling them to wait 24 hours and to read the directions completely. Thanks Mom.
I cant enter (not in the states) but my gran once attempted jam and just left the pot on the stove to do something else, when she came back she went to stir and suddenly there was scalding jam exploded everywhere, thankfully though no-one was hurt.
My first jam-making experience involved 30 lbs of strawberries, 2 midnight runs to the grocery store, and a 3am bedtime – all with my favorite canning buddy, Kate 🙂
Going to go home and see if my bread machine has a jam setting!
I haven’t yet made jam but am more than ready to try!
I made my first jam two summers ago. I was fresh out of college and working for a local farm. They had these purple everbearing raspberries in the fall. They smelled like flowers and I had to preserve them. I followed your raspberry jam post, and the jars were all eaten in about two months.
We had no idea what we were doing the first time my husband and I tried to make strawberry jam. Instead of having a canning rack, we set a wooden spatula over the pot and suspended the jar with kitchen twine into the boiling water. The jam turned out fine!
Just made a delicious white cherry brandy jam – although pitting cherries is, well, the pits, well worth the effort! I have moved from freezer jams only to the full stove/water bath method – so worth it!
I made seven batches of jam this weekend:
(1) Blueberry
(1) Strawberry Cranberry (yes with frozen cranberries)
(1) Strawberrry Lemon
(2) Apricot Pineapple
(2) Peach
ALL of them were made the old fashioned way… on my stove top. With lots of standing and stirring. I’d love to experiment to see how you could get the bread machine to make jam that is, well, more “jammy!” 🙂
(I’ve been making jam for years. Was even written up in our local paper… something about “Any Sunday you can find Sue at the local farmer’s market, buying the freshest fruit of the day to put into jars before noon”!! I’m famous in my own little mind! LOL!)
I made jam a wek ago for the first time. It was strawberry jam and it came out beautifully!
I’ve only made jam once (a few weeks ago!) and it was the one and only time I was unsure of myself in the kitchen. My boyfriend and I had picked all of these strawberries and I didn’t want them to go to waste but I was terrified my jam would just not…be jam. I can’t even explain the surprise and elation I experienced when my jam turned out delicious and the canning went off without a hitch.
I make jam whenever we need it. But usually I make a big batch of strawberry in season, then a big batch of blackberry in season and then some apple butter in season. Last year I took a bunch of blackberries over to a friends house and we made jam in her basement canning kitchen. It was so nice to have all that space to spread out and jam away!
I have many fond memories of watching my grandmother can and make homemade everything as a small child. My first attempt at making jam was just a few weeks ago I made strawberry freezer jam. I’m definately anxious to learn how to can!
I made some great strawberry rhubarb jam about a month ago. It was wonderful
My first was a freezer strawberry jam, made in my tiny manhattan kitchen, from our own picked strawberries. Loved it and made of ton of others shortly after – blueberry, peach, fig & black pepper, etc. But moving over the past 2 years has dampened my canning and I’m ready to get back to it!
Love this idea! I love making jam and this sounds so easy!
how about a salsa-making story? more than 10 years ago, we got a bunch of friends and a *bunch* of peppers and tomatoes. proceeded to make an unholy amount of salsa (which was still gone too soon — never enough salsa). it was fun and wonderful, except for the part where my friend Nicki sliced hot peppers for hours, rubbed her eyes, and ended up in the shower, running cold water in her eyes, wondering if she needed the emergency room. didn’t spoil the canned goods, though.
You telling us that you dropped the jam with the pectin reminded me of the time I was cooking up plums for jam. I had it all cooked down and wasn’t quite ready for the final canning process so I put it all into an enormous plastic container with a lid. There was easily a gallon of cooked plum. I dropped the container, it fell flat on it’s bottom on the floor which caused the entire contents to shoot straight up. My ceiling was covered with purple plum puree, along with my walls and floor…I’d be lying if I said the thought of trying to save it didn’t cross my mind 8^)
I send a few jars of jam to my MIL for use of an antique yellow enamel canner every summer.
My grandmother and I made strawberry jam every summer when I was little, that’s where I learned it all!
I’ve made three jams and a conserve in my short jamming career: apple, peach-caramel, strawberry vanilla and plum-fig. I’m hoping to get one more strawberry in before the season is over! As for the rest of the summer, I’m looking forward to trying new and different recipes – things you could never buy in a store. Maybe something with lavender is next…
My Nana taught me how to make jam when I was 11. There is nothing better than making something delicious and enjoying it with friends and family. The fantastic thing about jam is that you can have that feeling months and years after you’ve actually put in the hard work 🙂
I was given an entire box of pluots from a neighbor who bought them on clearance at a produce store. Knowing they had to be used *that evening*, I spent the next several hours stirring up a large batch of jam that was delicious on toast, but also as part of a savory marinade for meats. Best part was, it didn’t cost me a penny – only my evening. I’ve long-wanted a Zo, as our large family eats an entire loaf of bread a day.
I’ve never made jam, but my husband loves to. He made some from wild plums and some from a surplus of peppers from my school’s garden. My role is typically screaming late night runs to the grocery for more pectin.
I make Jam in my kitchen, on my electric stove, in my ‘knock off’ Le Cruset dutch oven 😉 I have hubby on the hunt for an old fashion iron, propane feed burner I can use outside to do some canning as well.
I can’t believe you can make jam in a breadmaker – and that is has a “jam” setting! Bread + jam = delicious – I’d love to give it a try! Perhaps there’s some way to get the jam thicker through experimentation…. 🙂
One time I was getting ready to go on a trip and I knew I would be away for several days but there were some cherries in the fridge that were starting to pass their prime … so I thought it would be good to whip up a batch of cherry jam before leaving. Of course, I had never made cherry jam before and I didn’t have a cherry pitter, so I was kind of doomed to start with. I proceeded to wash and pit all the cherries by hand, one at a time, with a paring knife. Once that was done, I started cooking the jam and then realized that I didn’t have enough sugar! I think I nearly fainted from frustration – but, I was resourceful, and I decided to substitute honey (luckily I had enough on hand) for half the sugar in my recipe. Ultimately, the jam turned out quite nicely, although a little runny. I haven’t made cherry jam again …
My most recent foray into canning fruit was making kumquat marmalade. It’s nearly impossible to find a good recipe, and the one I used had the proportions of water to fruit wrong, i think. It tastes yummy, and set up only slightly more loose than a good marmalade should, but there just isn’t enough kumquat throughout to make it truly satisfying. Perhaps finding/perfecting a kumquat marmalade recipe could be an interesting challenge for this blog…? Oh, and full disclosure, I don’t think I would ever use the bread machine to make jam, but I would make lots of bread!
I’ve only made jam once or twice, but I’m eager to make more.
I tried my first match of jam last winter, orange marmalade, which never set…hmmm. So I have resolved to gathering as much knowledge and tools as possible (small pot didn’t let me boil high enough, kept bubbling over). Which is exactly why I am here reading your blog eagerly awaiting getting back from vacation so I can begin again.
I used to make jam with my grandma all the time when I was kid ~ I have such great memories with her in the kitchen!
I have only made jam once – when living in France for a semester in college I assisted a host-mother in making homemade strawberry jam – the process was so fun and the jam delicious! I am just starting to collect items to begin canning myself, and this breadmaker would be a wonderful addition!
We’ve been considering getting a bread machine, but haven’t been sure we wanted to get yet another appliance. It’s nice to see that it has more than one function.
My strangest jam making experience was when I tried to make a couple carrot jams this winter (using some of the can jam recipes). They ended up being awful–the carrot never softened–so I pureed them, strained out all of the solids, added Pomona’s pectin, and ended up with more of a butter consistency. At least the flavor is pretty good. It did help me see how far I’ve come in my jam making–that I was able to experiment and fix it–from my first experience turning pretty, homegrown grapes into sugary tar.
Last year we visited the apple festival in Westminister, SC which is famous for their apples with the intent of buying apples to make apple sauce and apple butter. Of course, my husband chose the bushel of apples from the vendor that was the furthest from our car. It was fun to watch him carry them! I don’t think my singing, “Macho, Macho Man” by the village people was entertaining to him at all but I sure had fun. 😉
Decided to learn how to make jam 2 yrs ago and went a little crazy. We are still eating the strawberry, raspberry and blueberry jams that I made and have given several as gifts. Also learned to make applesauce! Would love to have the breadmaker to make some healthy home made breads.
My favoritejam making experience…hmmm…probably making pear jam last year out of my dads pears. His tree seems to grow rock hard pears but cooked long enough, they soften up. Pear is an excellent base for any flavoring -started with vanilla bean, made a bourbon batch, and then a faretti (italion biscotti liqueor). yum!
I am a new *Food in Jars* reader, and fellow philly gal, and have been inspired by all your delicious concoctions. I made my first jam just weeks ago, blackberry (w/o pectin-how easy), but never would have had the confidence without taking some tips from yourself. Needless to say, it was a major hit, I took some up to my boyfriend’s parents over Memorial Day and even my picky guy has been gobbling it up! I would love to win this bada$$ bread machine so I can expand my cooking repertoire in that direction now too.
I made jam for the first time last year after finding this site. Lots of successes and a few not so much. But would love to try it in the breadmaker!
The first time I ever made jam, it took hours because I was so freaked out about doing something to cause contamination. I was also scared to eat it, taking one slow bite at a time even though I knew you can’t taste taint. Glad it goes faster now!
This is my first year making jams. I’ve been successful at strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, and low-sugar strawberry.
My husband and I went blueberry picking last year with my mom in upstate NY. We were thrilled to bring home about 10 pounds of blueberries to make into jam and butter. Upon washing them we realized that there were little worms in most of the fruit. So we spent hours going through the entire batch to get the usable fruit!
As a kid my mom helped me make a batch of blackberry jam from a huge crop of backyard blackberries. I insisted that it be seedless. She left it to me to strain out all of the seeds. I spent hours getting every last seed out of the batch, but it threw off the recipe. We ended up with the most heavenly blackberry syrup instead. I rationed it for years.
My first experience making jam was a too complex recipe for a novice, a raspberry jelly made from a tea not juice. I ended up scorting it and setting off the fire alarms as well as covering the whole kitchen with splattered mess. I didn’t give up but my husband will not let me forget that first batch, lol! Thank you for the chance to win such a nice bread machine!
I’ve never made and canned jam by myself before. This summer will be my first try at that!
However, last summer my mom when to one of the U-Pick places and came home with a reeediculous amount of strawberries. We tried to make some freezer jam with them. Unfortunately, we ended up with tons of jam that is just too runny. I don’t mind it and still ate it. It was good drizzled over icecream or dripped on a bagel and cream cheese. On the other hand, my mom hated the runny texture and the flavor, so she never really ate much of it. It was a total fail! Hopefully, the recipe I am using this year will have better luck!
I made my first batch of strawberry jam last Summer when it was the final week of berries at my favorite local stand. I then tried a mixed berry jam (blackberries, blueberries and raspberries). My faculty seemed to agree that their favorite by far was my Vanilla Almond Raspberry jam.
I also began to make bread last Spring with the help of my bread mentor that I met online – Steve helped me get my sourdough starter healthy. A bread machine would really be a great addition to my kitchen.
I am a true beginner at jam making–I just made my first batch two weeks ago following your strawberry-vanilla jam recipe. It turned out great and I’m looking forward to making more jams this summer and the thought of doing it in a self-contained unit is nice given my unairconditioned house.
I recently started canning and making jams. Living in Arizona, we have a lot of citrus. I decided to make lemon marmalade. The first batch – whoa – sour as all get out. I’m pretty sure that it was MORE sour than the lemons themselves. The second batch never set up. Until the next day in the trash bin. The third batch was grapefruit – even worse. Thankfully, my husband was supportive in my several runs to the store for yet more sugar, and we didn’t run out of lemons until after I determined the correct lemon to sugar to water ratio. Phew! Thanks for giving me some great ideas! 🙂