RECIPES: Fruits - Conserves, Sauces, & Butters

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Golden Pineapple-Cranberry Conserve

 

Yields 4 to 5 Half-Pint (8 oz, or 236 ml) Jars

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 bag (12 oz, or 340 g) cranberries
• 2 C (330g) chopped pineapple
• 3/4 C (109g) golden raisins (or dark raisins, if you prefer)
• 1 1/4 C (296 ml) water
• 2 T (30 ml) lemon juice
• 2 t (10 ml) calcium water
• 1 1/2 C (300g)  sugar
• 2 t (6g) Pomona's pectin powder

RECIPE:

1. Prepare your jars, lids, and bands; heat up your canner; sterilize your jars
2. Rinse cranberries and combine in a saucepan with pineapple, raisins, and the plain water.  Bring fruit mixture to a boil over high heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until fruit is soft and most cranberries have burst, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.
3. Measure 4 C of the cooked fruit mixture (saving any extra for another use), and return the measured quantity to the saucepan. Add lemon juice and calcium water, mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and pectin powder.  Mix thoroughly and set aside.
5. Bring fruit mixture back to a full boil over high heat. Slowly add pectin-sugar mixture, stirring constantly.  Continue to stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve pectin while the conserve comes back up to a boil. Once the conserve returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.
6. Can Your Conserve: Remove jars from canner and ladle hot conserve into the jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, put on lids and screw bands, and tighten to fingertip tight.  Lower filled jars into canner, ensuring jars are not touching each other and are covered with at least 1 to 2 inches of water. Place lid on canner, return to a rolling boil, and process for 10 minutes (adjusting for altitude if necessary). Turn off heat, and allow the canner to sit untouched for 5 minutes, then remove jars and allow to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours.  Confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly.

NOTE:

Whole cranberries give this conserve a pleasing texture, but if you prefer your cranberries chopped up, feel free to give them a whirl in your food processor before cooking them.

Recipe From Preserving with Pomona's Pectin by Allison Carroll Duffy and the partners at Pomona's Universal Pectin.

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Pear-Cranberry Conserve with Almonds & Crystallized
Ginger

Yield: 4 to 5 cups

Before You Begin:

Prepare calcium water. To do this, combine ½ teaspoon calcium powder (in the small packet in your box of Pomona’s pectin) with ½ cup water in a small, clear jar with a lid. Shake well. Extra calcium water may be stored in the refrigerator for future use.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pounds ripe, firm pears
• ½ cup dried cranberries
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger
• ½ cup sliced almonds
• 1½ cups water
• ½ cup lemon juice
• 4 teaspoons calcium water
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 teaspoons Pomona’s pectin powder

RECIPE:

1. Wash your jars, lids, and bands. Place jars in canner, fill canner 2/3 full with water, bring canner to a rolling boil, and boil jars for 10 minutes to sterilize them. (Add 1 extra minute of sterilizing time for every 1000 feet above sea level.) Reduce heat and allow jars to remain in hot canner water until ready to use. Place lids in water in a small sauce pan, heat to a low simmer, and hold until ready to use.

2. Peel, core, and dice pears.

3. Combine diced pears in a saucepan with dried cranberries, crystallized ginger, sliced almonds, and the 1½ cups water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes or until fruit is soft, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Mix well.

4. Measure 4 cups of the cooked mixture (saving any extra for another use), and return the measured quantity to the saucepan. Add lemon juice and calcium water, and mix well.

5. In a separate bowl, combine sugar and pectin powder. Mix thoroughly and set aside.

6. Bring pear mixture back to a full boil over high heat. Slowly add the pectin sugar

mixture, stirring constantly. Continue to stir vigorously for 1 to 2 minutes to dissolve pectin while the conserve comes back up to a boil. Once the conserve returns to a full boil, remove it from the heat.

7. Can Your Conserve: Remove jars from canner and ladle jam into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch of headspace. Remove trapped air bubbles, wipe rims with a damp cloth, put on lids and screw bands, and tighten to fingertip tight. Lower filled jars into canner, ensuring jars are not touching each other and are covered with at least 1 to 2 inches of water. Place lid on canner, return to a rolling boil, and process for 10 minutes. (Add 1 extra minute of processing time for every 1000 feet above

sea level). Turn off heat and allow canner to sit untouched for 5 minutes, then remove jars and allow to cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Confirm that jars have sealed, then store properly.

TIP: Crystallize It!

This recipe calls for crystallized ginger — essentially, slices of fresh ginger root that have been cooked and preserved with sugar. Crystallized ginger is easy

TIP: Best Fruits

For the best texture, use pears that are still quite firm so that the pear pieces remain intact when cooked. While unsweetened dried fruit is generally preferable in conserves, it’s very\ difficult to find unsweetened dried cranberries, so feel free to use the sweetened version if that’s what you have available.”

Excerpted from Preserving with Pomona’s Pectin by Allison Carroll Duffy (Fair Winds Press, June 2013)

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