Canning jams, jellies, marmalades, & preserves

How to make jelly, jam, preserves, mamalade, etc.

It's easy. Just start doing it.

No jam, jelly, or marmalade is better than the fruit it's made with. Use mediocre fruit and your end result will never rise to excellence.

Search your own yard and neighborhood. Are your local parks and open spaces unsprayed? Ask family and friends to harvest their plants and trees and share your canning results with them. If all goes well, you'll be invited back year after year. Shop farmers markets. Support local agriculture, seek out heirloom varieties, keep money in your community. Have fun shopping with your neighbors. When you find more than you can use right away, prep it and freeze it. Can it later when it's more convenient.

The jars are only an expense the first year. Unless you give jelly and jam as presents. Don't expect to see those jars again. But it's a gift that truly comes from you. Tip: quietly and faithfully collect jars all year and stash them away. Buy them on sale when possible. Half pints are the size you want. Smaller jars let you make smaller batches as well as have less leftover that doesn't completely fill the next jar.

Low methyl pectin doesn't require large amounts of sugar. In fact, you can make pure fruit preseves without additional sugar and still get it to set. The acid groups in pectins can react with calcium ions which have two positive charges, and can link two acid anion groups with negative charges. If enough negative groups occur together, as in low ester pectins, these can link pectin molecules together in a gel network without needing so much sugar.

Make your own pectin from surplus, cheap, extra apples and crab apples. Quince is the Holy Grail of DIY Pectin. Make it and store it for later. Citrus peel too.