Grandma Betty's Recipe Book

Grandma Betty's recipe book

My husband and I just returned from 10 days in North Devon. We went with his mom to see her 98 year old mother and of course, my husband's grandmother. A word about Betty before we get to her cookbook. She is as I mentioned 98 years old and she still lives on her own. She has fantastic neighbours who drop in on her daily. They pick up groceries she may need, make her a quiche now and again and visit with her on a regular occasion. But - Gran still makes most of her meals, she knits afghans, for as she puts it "old people in the home" and she does the crossword every day. She is still extremely sharp if somewhat forgetful. 

One day on our trip, we were sitting in Gran's conservatory enjoying the sunshine and the gorgeous view of the Moors from the back of her house when my husband brought out a book that looked like it had seen some action. The spine was cracked as if the book had been opened and closed more times than it could count. He had a curious smile on his face as he was looking at me and I immediately knew that what was inside, would be of immense interest to me.

It was Gran's recipe book and the first recipes inside of it were dated from November, 1938. I sat on my hands and waited patiently as James flipped through the pages on the other side of the room. He read things out like "Cheese Scones, Sweet Orange Marmalade, Red Tomato Chutney and Dried Apricot Jam". I could barely take it.

Finally, he handed it over to me. The book felt so well loved and so fragile in my hands. There were pages that were completely loose from the binding. As I flipped through the pages, I could tell the recipes that were the most popular from the splatters on the pages.

As I was exclaiming about some of the recipes, Gran said these magical words "Why don't you take it home with you?". WHAT??? I couldn't believe it. I got rather choked up at the thought. I wanted it more than I could express, but would never have asked for it.

I continued to flip through the pages and there at the very back was a record from 1941 - 1997 of how many pounds of Seville Oranges Gran had turned into marmalade each year.

Over this summer, I am going to ask friends to join me in making some of the recipes from the book and will post our successes and failures with the recipes here. I already have my first friend chosen and can't wait to choose which recipe we will attempt together!

Understanding preserving recipes for the best results

Have you ever decided that you are going to try a new preserving recipe and even after you follow the instructions closely, when you open that jar to test the results you find a runny jelly or a rock hard jam? It's disappointing - no two ways about it. Not only did you spend money on the ingredients but you took the time to set everything up and the results are less than perfect.

There are parts of a recipe that you need to pay close attention to and if you are new to preserving, you might now know it. Here are a few things you should pay close attention to in a recipe for consistent and delicious results.

Non-Reactive Pot or Pan - A lot of recipes start off by telling you the size of pan or pot you require and it will sometimes state non-reactive. It is important to use the size of pan asked for in the recipe because this determines how quickly the contents will come to a boil and how much of the liquid will evaporate. Both of these things are important if you want to achieve the desired 'set'.

Non-reactive is important because the natural acids in the fruits and vinegars used in preserving can react chemically with aluminum or galvanized metals and have dangerous results.

Stirring constantly, versus stirring frequently or regularly - Preserving recipes will often state that the jam should be stirred constantly, frequently or regularly. When it says to stir constantly, if you fail to do this your jam or jelly can come up to a full boil too quickly and not enough of the liquid will have evaporated. This will lead to a jam with a very loose set or a jelly that does not set at all. 

Powdered versus liquid pectin - these are not interchangeable. If a recipe calls for powdered pectin do not substitute it for liquid. Powdered pectin goes into a recipe right at the start and liquid closer to the end. They each react differently with the ingredients and substituting one for the other will lead to undesired results. It's also always good practice to check the expiry date on your pectin before using it.

A rolling boil - when a recipe tell you to bring something up to a rolling boil, remain patient and don't stop until you have achieved this boil. A rolling boil has been achieved when you stir the jam/jelly and the boiling does not stop. This is to ensure you are getting the product up to the temperature required to achieve set. If you stop before it achieves the rolling boil you are going to have inadequate temperatures for set.

Most recipes also ask that you maintain the finishing rolling boil for 1 minute. This is the appropriate amount of time for the pectin to begin to work. Boiling for less time may leave you with a soft set and over boiling can lead to a very hard set.

Skim off foam - You always want to skim off any foam that might appear on the surface of your jam or jelly. This foam is just trapped oxygen being released from the fruit and if you stir it back into the product, you are simply stirring oxygen into an environment where our goal is to be oxygen free. It's a simple step and it will increase the shelf life of your jam.

Headspace - Why do you have to leave a 1/4" headspace? If you leave more headspace, the contents of the jar may not expand enough to push any trapped oxygen out of the jar and you will have jars that do not properly seal. If you leave to little headspace, the contents may expand so much that they expand right out of the jar and into the water bath itself. This may lead to jars not properly sealing as well.

Hopefully these few pointers will help you achieve a perfect jam the next time you try out a new recipe.

Can I reduce the sugar in this jam recipe?

Can I reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe?

It's a pretty common question in my preserving classes because a lot of people are interested in learning how to preserve BECAUSE they are interested in controlling the type of ingredients they are consuming. I love preserving for this very reason as well. I can preserve ripe organic Ontario peaches in August in a low sugar syrup and know that when I open that jar I am not consuming anything that I don't want to be eating.

So when a new preserver starts to look at a lot of jam and jelly recipes their initial reaction is to be shocked that they contain such high levels of sugar. But once you understand the role of sugar in preserving and what happens when you decide to reduce the sugar you can start to make educated decisions on when you want to reduce the sugar, substitute some of all of the sugar for honey, etc.

In this short video, I talk about the role of sugar in preserving and what you need to know about reducing it in recipes you find.