Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist

by Shirley Camp, Master Canner and retired University of Illinois Extension Educator

To make jellies and jams that are of good quality, use the right amounts of four basic ingredients:  sugar, pectin, acid, and fruit.

You may choose to make either fresh or frozen fruit or juice.  If you are using frozen fruit, it should be frozen without sugar.  Sometimes commercially frozen or canned juices are lower in natural pectin content and the resulting jellied products may be a little softer in texture.  If you pick your own fruit or make your own fruit juice, you will have a better product if ¼ of the fruit is slightly under-ripe and ¾ of the fruit is fully ripe.

Some of us prefer clear jelly to jams and preserves that may have seeds.  To make a jelly product, you will need to heat the fruit with a small amount of water (usually specified in the recipe) until the fruit is softened.  The fruit and resulting juice is then poured into a jelly bag or several layers of cheesecloth suspended over a bowl.  Allow the juice to extract naturally from the fruit without pressing on the jelly bag (doing so will result in a cloudy jelly – edible but not blue ribbon quality!).

In general, you should expect to use one pound of fruit for each cup of juice to make jelly.

Why Process Jams and Jellies?
I know many of us can remember pouring melted paraffin on the top of the jelly in the jelly jars and that was how we preserved our spreads.  Yes it molded, but we didn’t know then what we know now about mold and foods.  So, here is the reasoning behind processing jams and jellies.

First of all, start with sterilized jars – jars that you have put through the cycle in the dishwasher or jars that you have placed in boiling water for 10 minutes.  Keep them hot until you fill them.

After filling, wipe the rim of the jars with a damp paper towel to remove any bits of jelly that may have gotten on the rim as you poured the jelly.  Add the lids (prepared according to the manufacturer’s directions)  and place the rings on just finger tight.  Lower the prepared jars into the prepared boiling water bath (the water should already be simmering).  The water should be at least 1 inch over the tops of the jars; bring the water to a boil.  Generally, jars of jams and jellies are processed for 5 minutes in the boiling water bath unless your recipe tells you to process longer.

This processing sterilizes the top of the jar and the jelly that may have been exposed to air, and it creates the vacuum needed to seal the jar and helps prevent the growth of mold.  At the end of the processing time, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid; allow the jars to remain in the canner for 5 additional minutes to finish the process.  Then remove the jars to a rack or folded towel to cool.  DO NOT TURN THE JARS UPSIDE DOWN….EVER. After 24 hours, check the jars for seals; label, date, and store.  Any jars that did not seal should be refrigerated and eaten soon.

About Shirley - Shirley Camp, MS, RD, LDN is veteran educator and retired University of Illinois Extension specialist who helped develop the canning education curriculum for Illinois and taught for almost 40 years.  During the nearly 40 years that she worked for Extension, Shirley received a Masters of Extension Education degree from the University of Illinois and completed the requirements and examination to become a Registered Dietitian.  Shirley interacts with canning enthusiasts every day on her canning blog and on her Facebook page.

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For additional information or to arrange for interviews with Mrs. Wages corporate executives or product development team, please contact:

Liz Lareau (B&LPR) - 309.764.7860

Additional Photography (click on the image to download a high resolution image for use):

If you have an abundance of berries, you may want to freeze some for later use.  My favorite way of freezing berries is to lightly rinse them and remove any debris and the caps, make sure all water is removed and place the berries on a tray or cookie sheet in a single layer.  This is called individual quick frozen (IQF) which means you freeze them individually, and then transfer the berries to a freezer bag, label, and date.

IQF berries are great because you can pour out only the amount of berries you need for a recipe and keep the rest frozen.  You do not have a big “chunk” of berries to deal with.

Some like to add sugar to the berries for freezing.  To do this, wash and dry the berries and combine with the amount of sugar you like, trying not to crush the berries as you add the sugar.  Package in freezer containers, label, and freeze.  This is good for berries intended for shortcake or baked desserts.  Keep in mind that when thawed, due to the high water content, the cells within the berries break during freezing and the thawed berries will be slightly mushy.

Berries may also be frozen in sugar syrup which is made by boiling together water and sugar (the amount depends on how sweet you want the berries to be) and cooling this syrup.  Package the berries in a rigid container and add syrup to cover the berries then place a piece of crumbled waxed paper on top to keep the berries submerged in the syrup.  Label, date, and freeze.

One of my favorite ways to freeze berries is to use pectin syrup.  This is a very lightly sweetened syrup made of sugar, water, and pectin as follows:

In a small saucepan, mix together 1 box of regular powdered pectin with 1 cup of water and boil for one minute.  Add ½ cup of granulated white sugar and stir until dissolved.  Pour this mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup and add enough COLD water to make 2 cups.  Chill.  This syrup is then poured over prepared berries – use just enough syrup to form a thin film.  Package, label, date, and freeze the berries.  Two cups of this mixture is enough to coat about 16 pints of berries so you can see that the fruit is just lightly coated, not drenched.

About Shirley - Shirley Camp, MS, RD, LDN is veteran educator and retired University of Illinois Extension specialist who helped develop the canning education curriculum for Illinois and taught for almost 40 years.  During the nearly 40 years that she worked for Extension, Shirley received a Masters of Extension Education degree from the University of Illinois and completed the requirements and examination to become a Registered Dietitian.  Shirley interacts with canning enthusiasts every day on her canning blog and on her Facebook page.

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For additional information or to arrange for interviews with Mrs. Wages corporate executives or product development team, please contact:

Liz Lareau (B&LPR) - 309.764.7860

Additional Photography (click on the image to download a high resolution image for use):

Canning Expert Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist

by Shirley Camp, Master Canner and retired University of Illinois Extension Educator

So you are ready to make jam, jelly, conserve, marmalade or some other type of jellied product and you know what type of fruit you want to use.  You go to the store to get pectin – and you find that there are several brands and types of pectin available.  Can you just buy whichever brand costs the least and use it?

The quick answer is no.

Rule of Thumb: Follow the recipe. At the store, you will find regular dry pectin, light dry pectin, liquid pectin, and freezer pectin.  Which one do you choose?  That depends on what you intend your end product to be.  My first rule of thumb is that if you have a recipe that specifies a brand of pectin, buy the brand specified in the recipe or you may end up with an unset product.

This is particularly true when liquid pectin is called for in a recipe.  Sometimes you can interchange brands, other times it just doesn’t work.

Rule of Thumb: Sugar content matters. As for the powdered products, they are more interchangeable because of the type of pectin used in the manufacture of each kind.  Do not interchange regular pectin for one that allows you to use less sugar, sugar substitute or no sugar.  Again, this does not work.

Regular pectin is used in jellied products that are high in sugar content.  Read the package insert and follow the directions for the order of adding the pectin and sugar to the mixture.  Also, measure exactly – do not add more fruit or less sugar and never double a recipe.

The lite products use less sugar or they may allow you to use sugar substitutes.  Again, follow the package inserts explicitly for making the type of product you are making.  Many of the products made this way need to be refrigerated or frozen until used.  Because they do not contain high enough sugar content to make them shelf-stable, they will likely mold if not kept cold.

Rule of Thumb: Liquid pectins are different. Liquid pectin comes in a pouch and is used for specific recipes.  I have recipes for lemon jelly and pepper jelly that use liquid pectin.  Again I will say, if you have a recipe that specifies the brand of liquid pectin you need to use, follow the directions because you cannot be sure that another brand of liquid will work.  Also, liquid and powdered pectin are NOT interchangeable in recipes.

Ruble of Thumb: Freezer Jam is easy and can save time. To make freezer jam, usually you prepare the fruit by crushing and adding sugar (and maybe lemon juice) and the freezer pectin.  Allow the product to sit at room temperature until it sets, then label, date and freeze.  You may use a food processor to prepare the fruit, but I have found that sometimes the resulting product is a little “foamy”.  Store opened containers in the refrigerator.

Shirley’s Helpful Tip: If you are looking for various pectin products, visit mrswages.comwhich offers a variety of pectins for canning and preserving.

About Shirley - Shirley Camp, MS, RD, LDN is veteran educator and retired University of Illinois Extension specialist who helped develop the canning education curriculum for Illinois and taught for almost 40 years.  During the nearly 40 years that she worked for Extension, Shirley received a Masters of Extension Education degree from the University of Illinois and completed the requirements and examination to become a Registered Dietitian.  Shirley interacts with canning enthusiasts every day on her canning blog and on her Facebook page.

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For additional information or to arrange for interviews with Mrs. Wages corporate executives or product development team, please contact:

Liz Lareau (B&LPR) - 309.764.7860

Additional Photography (click on the image to download a high resolution image for use):

Canning Expert Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist

Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and other berries are wonderful foods for making jams, jellies and preserves.  Of course half of the fun of doing this was always going to the “patch” to pick the fruit and enjoying some sneak bites as we filled the buckets.

But here are four tips that go beyond the patch …

Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist

1. Pick ‘em right.
When picking berries, keep in mind that these fruits have a high water content and are very fragile.  Therefore it is important that when picking them, smaller containers are used so the berries do not get crushed under their own weight.

2. Rinse, don’t soak.
Another thing to keep in mind is that since they are fragile, the berries should be lightly “rinsed” to remove surface dirt.  Do not allow berries to sit in water for very long because they tend to take on more water and will become mushy.

3. Firm and ripe
When selecting berries for jellied products, ripe berries are best, but not overripe ones.  Choose those that have good flavor and are still firm to the touch.  For strawberries, I prefer the smaller juicier berries to the large Driscoll types that are available today – use those big berries for dipping in chocolate!

4. Mix flavors and add some heat
While some of you like your jams to be one flavor, I have found that mixing two or more different types of berries together produces great jams with good flavor.  My favorite is to mix blackberry and red raspberry or strawberry with red raspberry.  I also like to use pureed berries and peaches mixed together to make jam – red raspberry peach jam was a hit last year!

One of the downsides of mixing berries is that you have different jelling properties.  I did mix strawberries and peaches together and the resulting spread was soft – but no one seemed to mind that mix either.

Currently, many are adding a little “heat” to their jams by adding finely chopped jalapeno peppers.  If that is your taste, I am sure you can find recipes for great products.

About Shirley - Shirley Camp, MS, RD, LDN is veteran educator and retired University of Illinois Extension specialist who helped develop the canning education curriculum for Illinois and taught for almost 40 years.  During the nearly 40 years that she worked for Extension, Shirley received a Masters of Extension Education degree from the University of Illinois and completed the requirements and examination to become a Registered Dietitian.  Shirley interacts with canning enthusiasts every day on her canning blog and on her Facebook page.

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For additional information or to arrange for interviews with Mrs. Wages corporate executives or product development team, please contact:

Liz Lareau (B&LPR) - 309.764.7860

Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist

For much of the country, canning season is just around the corner.  Master Canner Shirley Camp provides five essential items that should be on your to-do list if you want to make 2013 a great year for canning and food preservation.  Shirley Camp is a former University of Illinois Extension Educator and currently consults with Mrs. Wages® – a leader in the canning spice and mix category.

by Shirley Camp, Master Canner and retired University of Illinois Extension Educator
It looks like the meteorologists are saying that spring will finally get here.  In the Midwest it seems as though we’ve had snow every week and that is delaying some of our preparation for gardening.  The upside is that we are getting some moisture back into the ground which will help the trees and other plants in the future months.

Keeping all that in mind, I’m offering up my five essentials for a successful canning season.

1. Plan to Can Your Favorites 
Determine what types of foods you want to preserve this year.  What did your family like in particular?  Plan your garden and canning around those you know will be worth the work.

2. Check your recipes for safety.  
Are they from USDA tested sources?  Better to be safe when doing home food preservation.   The Internet is a wealth of information and recipes for cooking and food preservation.  In fact, I have found some of my favorite recipes using the web.  But, when it comes to food preservation beware:  A safe food product depends on the acidity of the food and how you process it.  Low-acid foods, which include vegetables, meats, and mixtures containing these foods, need to be processed in a pressure canner.  The exceptions are tomatoes, which require acidification with lemon juice prior to processing and pickles.

Do not take shortcuts.  Botulism toxin can grow in improperly canned food and botulism can be deadly.  If you have questions about correct food processing methods, call your local Extension Office.

3. Check Your Spices, Pectins and Mixes for Freshness
Open the container and sprinkle a bit of the spice into your hand and crush it.  Smell the spice to see if it has the appropriate aroma.  If the aroma is weak or the spices seem discolored, throw them away and replace them.  If you have some of the spices in the rectangular metal cans – I would bet they are outdated because I’ve not seen them packaged that way for years!  Whenever possible, I like to purchase spices in bulk so I can buy only what I think I will use for the year.

Jams, jellies, and preserves are always popular and many recipes call for pectin. Pectin does have an expiration date.  Check any packages of pectin you have and make sure they are not outdated.  If they are old, throw them away and buy new.

If you have any leftover packets of mixes for canning, check those too.  Last year I ended up with some that had taken on moisture and were caked together.  Now I use containers that are more airtight and store them with my dry goods.

Mrs. Wages® products, along with lots of canning supplies are coming to the stores in full force.  Check out some of the newer products in the line – the berry pie filling, spiced peaches, apple spice mix and apple/pear pie filling.  If you are not seeing these in your favorite store, start asking the manager if they can add them to their inventory.  That way you will be ready when the produce is ripe.

4. Make your canning kit.  Replace lids every year.
So, it’s time to gather together all of your canning supplies into what I like to call a food preservation kit:  your canner, jars, two-piece lids, funnel, lid magnet, bubble freer, cooling racks, towels, measuring cups (liquid and dry) and spoons, ladle, paper towels, cutting board, sharp knives, and any other equipment you might find useful.

Speaking of leftover supplies, did you know that the lids (or flats) used with the 2-piece canning lids should be purchased new every year?  The sealing compound can break down in storage and cause seal failures.  Also, the manufacturers change the compound every so often.  Buy only what you will use during the canning season and follow the manufacturer’s directions on preparing them for use.

Include labels along with the equipment you will need so it is all in one place ready for the season. Print your own labels from the Mrs. Wages website.

5. Try some new tools
If you make a lot of tomato products or fruit products where you need to discard the skin, you might want to consider a good food mill.  Several kinds are on the market – one type will separate the skins and seeds from the pulp/juice and send them out through different shoots.  They are a little more expensive but if you do a lot of canning, they are worth the money.  If you process a lot of apples and need them peeled, a good apple peeler is also a great find.

Finally, if you have particular questions that you would like answered, go to my new Facebook page and post your question or contact me directly through this website.  I will check the posts periodically and try to help you with answers.

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For additional information or to arrange for interviews with Mrs. Wages corporate executives or product development team, please contact:

Liz Lareau (B&LPR) - 309.764.7860

Additional Photography (click on the photo to open a high resolution image to download):

Shirley Camp, Retired University of Illinois Extension Specialist (Home Economics)

Shirley Camp – Retired University of Illinois County Extension Specialist