jamming with the pluots: a how-to guide

the pluots got processed into jam this week with the help of laura and marty. i finally settled on adding ginger to the jam to ratchet up the flavor of the pluots, because as i mentioned in an earlier post, i don't actually like the taste of pluots that much, although i think they're so pretty. i couldn't resist adding some pink peppercorns - because, well, they're pink and they're pepper, and i think pepper should go in everything.
every time i talk about canning someone says to me "oh, really? i've been wanting to learn to do that," and after doing it with aryn's help i realize it's really not hard at all. so this is my first attempt at a blogging tutorial. i am by no means an expert on canning, everything i know i learned from the recipe in the pectin box and from my mom and aryn, so if any of you readers have something to add please do.
first off, laura's time was limited due to our extended lunch - and while she wanted to see the process through, it was a damn good lunch (the panini press is my favorite recently acquired kitchen tool - it's made sandwiches suddenly exciting). so laura and i washed, seeded and chopped the pluots into medium sized chunks. we put the pluots on the stove (with no added water - they boiled down with plenty of liquid on their own) on low heat.
and then laura had to leave and i got caught up in socializing and not watching the pot, which boiled over. oops. try to avoid that.
at the same time, i put a large covered pot of water on to boil. i think you can put the lids of the jars right in the water at this point because you want them to boil for a while and let that gummy stuff get soft.
ideally you would have read the recipe in the pectin box prior to starting this process, which i didn't. so my ingredients didn't go in quite in the right order, but now you're learning from my mistakes. as i mentioned, i'm thrilled with Pomona's Universal Pectin, but depending on what type of pectin you use, your process and ingredients will be different. just follow the recipe on the box.
so for the ginger-pink peppercorn-pluot jam i used Pomona's recipe for "sweet plum," which calls for 1/4 cup of lemon juice and somewhere between 3/4 - 2 cups of sugar for every 4 cups of mashed fruit. i didn't actually measure the fruit before putting it on the stove, but instead based my recipe on laura's assessment that it looked like "more than 4 cups." therefore i put in a little more than 1/4 cup of lemon juice and one cup of sugar. as you can see, this was not a precise process. and it turned out fine.
the reason pomona's pectin requires so much less sugar than your average pectin is that it uses calcium for the jelling process (i don't really understand how that works, but i'm explaining it here like i do). and there was a question about if pomona's pectin is vegetarian, and yes - it is, my understanding is that all pectin is vegetarian, it's gelatin that is not, but i know for sure this one comes from fruit peels.so part of your canning process then is to mix up the calcium with some water (1/2 teaspoon calcium powder to 1/2 cup water). and this is the only complaint i have so far for pomona's: the box comes with two packets in it which look identical except that one has less powder in it, and one is the pectin and one is the calcium powder and neither are labeled. sure, the instructions tell you that the pectin is a darker color powder and there's less of the calcium powder, but for your average frantic canner who's never dealt with calcium powder before and has several things on the stove boiling over i think they could just label those suckers. maybe i'll call their jamline to give them this feedback.with pomona's you stir together the pectin and the sugar first and then mix that into the fruit. what the recipe actually says is that you put the calcium water and the pectin-sugar mix into the fruit and then bring it to a boil. i did it the other way around, letting the fruit boil for a while before adding the calcium and pectin, but i think that worked out ok because the largish chunks of fruit needed time to cook down. i still put the calcium water in first and then added the pectin, just in case that's important. what IS important is to constantly stir while pouring the pectin-sugar mixture into the fruit on the stove, otherwise you're liable to end up with gelatinous chunks. thus the awkwardness of me trying to pose the above photo while using both hands. thanks to marty for his photo documentation of this process.at this point your water should be at a nice rolling boil and you can add the jars for sterilization. i always give my jars a quick soapy wash first just because who knows what they were exposed to in the factory and they always smell kinda chemically. here the pomona's package said you should bring the lids and rings to a boil but then turn off the heat and let the jars sit in the hot water. i think this is to reduce your chances of breaking the glass, but i called to consult aryn about this and we agreed that i'd rather reduce my chances of getting botulism so i boiled the jars too for about 3 minutes. then i turned off the heat and let them sit in the hot water for a while, just to be sure.
a note about water: it's a delicate balance to determine the right amount of water to boil - you want it to completely cover your jars (about an inch above their tops) but remember the displacement factor - once the jars go in your water level will rise. maybe a good idea is to test the jars in the water before it starts boiling to make sure they fit right. another tip if you're not thinking ahead is to add already boiling water if you've guessed too little on the water - that way your water keeps boiling and you don't bring down the temperature. meanwhile, i'm stirring my jam - vigorously - for 1-2 minutes until the pectin dissolves and it returns to a boil. then i take it off the heat. don't worry if it seems too liquidy to be jam at this point - as long as you've added the right amount of pectin. it will thicken as it cools and it will set up completely in the jars. i worried that mine looked to thin, even once i put them into jars - but after several hours it set up nicely. here is a great website resource for jamming - much more thorough and knowledgeable than what you're reading right now. in it she suggests a way to test for jellyness: keep a metal spoon in a glass of ice water, grab a spoonful of your jam and let it cool to room temperature on the spoon. if you need to add more pectin to make it thicker you can, just follow the instructions in the pectin box.now you're going to want to take your jars and lids out of the hot water and put them on a clean dish towel to dry off a bit. i considered buying the actual jar grabbing tool that they sell specifically for this purpose, but decided that i could make do with my metal tongs. after several scalding and near-dropping experiences i really recommend not being cheap like me and getting that jar grabber.
remember to turn your water back on to boil (i keep it covered) for the final water bath.once your jars have cooled a bit - or grabbing them with a towel if you're impatient like me - you're going to fill them to 1/4 inch below the rim with jam. do your best to get the jam into the jar and not on the outsides of it because that will make your next step easier. that being said, it's harder than it looks, so don't worry if it's a messy process. we decided to put in sprinkles of pink peppercorns in layers as i filled up the jars because we were worried they would all sink to the bottom. they actually float rather than sink, so a lot of the peppercorns ended up at the top of the jar. i think if i were to do this again i would stir them into the pot of jam just before jarring and hope it was thick enough that they mixed in well. i tried to place them close to the edge of the jar in hopes of maximizing their visibility from the outside, but they had a mind of their own.the next step is wiping the rim of your jar. i did this with a half-wet, half-dry paper towel. the point of this step is to get all the gunk off so you get a tight seal and no botulism. once you've got the rim clean you can set your lid on top and twist the ring on - it doesn't need to be twisted on super tight at this point, i'm not sure why that is, but i give it a quarter turn back from super tight - i don't know why - maybe because of my training with air tanks for scuba diving. who knows.

once you've got all the lids on the jars you're going to process them in the water bath. gently put them all upright in the boiling water (again, the water should completely cover the jars). the recipe in the pectin box says you only need to boil the jars for 5 minutes - plus an additional minute for every 1,000 feet you are above sea level, i won't even pretend to know what that's about. i didn't really believe that and left them boiling longer while i checked the internet for a second opinion. it's confirmed, in fact, that they only need to boil for 5 minutes, so go ahead and believe your box. as i said, i left mine boiling longer and they turned out fine.
the other thing the box says that i don't believe is that the jam "lasts about 3 weeks once opened." that can't be true, right? doesn't jam last basically forever in the fridge? i'll let you know, because i had not enough jam left over to fill a whole jar, so i kept my leftovers in the fridge - i'll keep you updated on their decay if it lasts more than 3 weeks. once your jars have boiled for 5 mins you can take them out and leave them to cool - ideally in a "draft free area where they won't get bumped." but if you happen to leave them in front of the fan to cool and your boyfriend comes along to shake them up and down trying to find the peppercorns - that'll be ok too.
the way you test for a secure seal (and no threat of botulism) is the fun little popping button on the top of the lid. don't worry if it still pops up and down when you take the jars out of the water bath (i love that term, by the way, it's like my jam is getting a spa treatment). give them a couple hours and they should seal as the jam cools. if one or two jars don't seal and the button still pops up and down - don't worry, just keep that one in the fridge and eat it first.
and that's it. enjoy that jam.