Speed Jamming

So after realizing what an amazing deal the pineapples were and how easy they were to can, I returned to Superstition Ranch Market to pick up some more for $.69. I called ahead to make sure they were on sale. By the time I got there they had 14 left. That’s it. I grabbed 10 of them and threw them in a box. They were very soft, for a pineapple, and a little wet on the outside. But I knew I was using them tonight. I also grabbed another flat of strawberries for $.33 a pound, knowing that this might be the last time I do strawberries this year. Walking through, I saw blackberries at $.50 per 6oz, which isn’t the greatest deal I’ve seen, but is still an excellent price. I grabbed another flat.

I’m finally getting the hang of formulating a game plan before I start. I came home and decided what jam I was making tonight, as well as what I was going to can. First thing I did was get all of my jars ready. The jars were opened, lids and rings stacked separately, and jars aligned to the left hand side of my stove.

Then I prepped all my fruit. I cut the tops and bottoms off the pineapple, peeled it, removed the core, and chopped them into chunks. I simmered the pineapple in the simple syrup as I prepped the berries. I cut the hulls off of the strawberries and threw them in a bowl.

That’s when I realized I was out of pectin. I put the quarts of pineapple in the processor, set the timer, and ran to the grocery store. When I came back the pineapple was removed and I set in on the jam.

I ran the strawberries through a food processor. Recently I have found this is faster than smooshing them down with a potato masher. I run about a quart and a half of strawberries each batch. I pulsed the food processor in quarter to half second bursts. You do not want to liquefy the strawberries, just break them down in size. If you need to, err on the size of too big rather than too small. As the strawberries will break down further as they cook.

I also use the potato masher on the fruit from approximately 1 1/2 to 2 pineapples to make the “crushed pineapple” for the jam.

First up, Strawberry Pineapple Jam.
2 C Pineapple
2 C Strawberries
1 Package Pectin
4 C Sugar

I’m not going to give instructions on every recipe that I post on here for jam. Jam is jam. The ingredient list is what changes, the process stays consistent from time to time. If this is your first time making jam and you need to find out how, browse back until you find my strawberry lemon jam recipe which gives you explicit step-by-step directions.

I managed to score a sous chef tonight. While I was working on my first batch of strawberry pineapple jam, my son was busy mushing up blackberries with the kitchen aid food mill. This is hands down his favorite job to do in the kitchen. I swear he gets more joy about shoving little blackberries to their death and he does doing anything else. And I really appreciated having the extra set of hands tonight.

So this is the part with my time-saving process. I have all my fruit ready to go, pectin and sugar sitting on the countertop, jars are open and ready to go, waterbath processor boiling at a full, and another pot ready to be filled with fruit.

I start with the first batch. Fruit and pectin in, bring it to a boil, add the sugar, bring it to a boil, and fill the jars. The dirty pot, ladle, funnel, and whisk immediately go into the sink and get filled with the hottest water my sink can muster. As that is happening I return to the full jars, put a lid and ring on each, and place them in the water bath. Now I have just 10 minutes to get my next batch done.

I wash the pot and accessories and return it to the stove that is still hot. I measure out four more cups of fruit, and four more cups of sugar. Fruit and pectin go in the pot and are heated to a boil, then the sugar is added and it is brought to a boil again. This is right about the 6 to 7 minute mark. After boiling for a full minute I remove it from the heat and start filling the jars. Usually the timer on the first batch goes off as I’m filling the first couple jars of the second batch. I take a timeout from filling the jars and remove the first batch from the water, placing them to the right of my stove on a dishtowel. As soon as the jars of the second batch are full the pot and accessories go back in the sink full of hot water, rings and lids are placed on the second batch and they are placed in the water bath processor. And then I move onto my third batch.

I don’t have the timing down perfect yet. It seems that about the fourth batch I’m running just a little bit late. Right after I pour the sugar in my fruit, the batch in the water is ready to be removed. I find myself stirring hot jam with my left hand while removing jars from the water bath with my right. It’s precarious, and I’ll admit I have my fair share of scars on my wrists, but I wear them with pride.

If I prep my fruit for each batch of jam as I go along it is taking me approximately 25 to 35 minutes per batch. That is still a pretty good time. If I take 20 to 30 minutes to prep all of my fruit ahead of time I can now do one batch every 10 minutes…I guess 11 to be perfectly honest about it. That to me is a satisfying time.

As I finished up the strawberry pineapple jam, my son was done with the blackberries. The third batch turned into blackberry jam.

Blackberry Jam
5 C Blackberries (through a foodmill, not whole)
1 Package Pectin
7 C Sugar

On the fourth batch I found myself short of strawberries, short of pineapple, and short of blackberries. This is where I love making jam. Because so many fruits just naturally go together. The last batch was a near even mixture of strawberries and blackberries.

Strawberry Blackberry Jam
3 C Blackberries
2 C Strawberries
1 Package Pectin
6 C Sugar

The last of the pineapple was wrapped up to be put in yogurt the rest of the week.

Just over three hours later I have 6 quarts and 3 pints of canned pineapple, 18 half pints of strawberry pineapple jam, ten half pints of blackberry jam, 2 pints and 6 half pints of strawberry blackberry jam. Adding this together with Tuesday’s production I managed to make 90 half pints of jam and 3 gallons of canned pineapple in about 7 hours. I’m pretty happy with that.

I definitely think that prepping your fruit ahead of time is the way to go. Make sure that you have enough jars and pectin to supply what you want to make, and get everything laid out on the countertop. If you are organized and dedicated you can really go through six batches of jam in an hour. If each batch yields 8 to 12 jars, that’s can you keep you well-suited for a while.

Now I need to find time to get to those 8 pounds of pears that are mocking me from the refrigerator….

Easy As Pineapple

This week I canned my first batch of pineapple. It was pretty much the easiest thing ever. But I thought I would make a post in case you are like me, and love step-by-step directions with pictures attached.

I found myself at Superstition Ranch Market again this week and they had pineapples on sale for $.69 apiece. I picked up four of them.

Start by cutting off the top and the bottom of the pineapple and then slicing the peel off from top to bottom.

Cut the pineapple into quarters.

Now it’s a breeze to slice the tough core out of the pineapple. Simply cut along the top of each quarter removing the hard woody material that made up the core.

I sliced each quarter in half lengthwise and then chopped the pieces into almost cubes about 2 to 3 cm in width.

Pineapple has to be preserved in fruit juice or syrup. I did not have any pineapple juice or grape juice on hand, and I did not want to go through the process of trying to juice the small amount of core and peel that I had sliced off. Since the pineapple was already very sweet I decided to go with a very light syrup. 2 cups of sugar for 7 cups of water.

Combine the sugar and water in a large pan and apply heat.

As the syrup heats up the sugar will disappear and the liquid will turn clear. Heat until boiling, then add your pineapple. Pineapple is better preserved using a hot pack method over a cold pack method. The fruit is also less likely to float in the syrup if you hot pack it.

Allow the fruit to simmer in the syrup for approximately 10 minutes. You’ll notice the pineapple appears slightly more translucent and floats in the pot.

After that it’s business as usual. Place your fruit into clean jars, packing the fruit down slightly. If you need to add some of the syrup from the pot to leave one 1/2 half inch headspace. Put on your lids and bands and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes for pints and 20 minutes for courts.

Four pineapples filled 6 pints and one quart, or 1 gallon of process pineapple. Visually it is very consistent with store-bought pineapple. It does not seem to have broken down any more than the fruit that you purchase and I can.

I have not priced out canned pineapple recently but at $.69 each, already having the jars at home, adding the trivial cost for sugar, this seems very cost-effective. Basically a gallon of pineapple for just over three dollars. I don’t think that can be beat at the grocery store. The more I think about it the more I’m considering heading back to buy ten more.

On a side note, this is the first post that I’m making with the WordPress iPhone app. I’d appreciate any feedback anyone has on whether the format is different, or if I’ve overlooked anything due to my speech to text posting.

Happy Canning.

Lemon Cake and Pineapple Banana Bundt Cake

Making two quick bread type cakes tonight for a Super Bowl party tomorrow. And destroying the kitchen in the process.

The first is a Lemon Cake.
Lemon Cake:
1/4 C Butter
3/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
2 t Lemon Zest
2 C Flour
1 t Salt
2 1/2 t Baking Powder
3/4 C Milk
———
2 T Sugar
2 t Lemon Juice

Preheat to 350.
Cream Butter and 3/4 C Sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in eggs, 1 at a time, beating each well. Stir in zest. In separate bowl sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend flour mixture into egg mixture, alternating with milk, until combined (dry/wet/dry/wet/dry). Pour into flour dusted 9″x5″ pan. Bake 50-55 min, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

———
Dissolve sugar in Lemon Juice (it doesn’t tell you to heat it, but I would). After loaf has cooled 10 minutes, spoon glaze over loaf. Also, I skip this step. It makes the bread really sweet.  I topped mine with a dusting of powdered sugar instead.

I love this recipe.  But the top of the cake, which turns in to the bottom when I invert it, always poofs up over the top of the bread pan.  Do I just slice it off so the cake sites level on the plate, or does anyone have a suggestion for reducing the rise?

A sprinkling of my home made candied lemon rind, and a couple of fresh lemons finish it off…..Now that I’m typing this, it occurs to me that if it weren’t so late, making some lemon curd with this would be good.

The second thing I made was a tropical themed bundt cake.

3 c. flour
2 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. crushed pineapple with juice
1 1/2 c. Wesson oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. soft chopped bananas

Mix above ingredients. Grease bundt pan and dust with flour.  Pour batter in to pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes.

This was a train wreck.  I found the recipe over at Cooks.com.  This recipe may WAY TOO much batter. I poured it all in the pan.  When I checked on it 40 minutes later, it had risen out of the pan, over the sides, and dripped in piles on to the sheet pan I set the bundt pan on.

The globs of dough that poured over.

I let it bake for one hour and then pulled it out.  I used a large brad knife, and the top of the pan as a guide, and sliced the top (or bottom, if you will) of the cake off.

Looks gross, tastes good.

Which left this:

I left the cake in the pan for about 5 minutes, and it shrunk from the sides.  I inverted and voila:

Now, I have to say, the flavor is great. Like a really moist, spongy, banana bread, with a pineapple chaser.  But I think the recipe needs work.  Less moisture for sure.  Maybe go down to 1 cup of oil, 1 1/2 C bananas, and 1 C pineapple?  Not sure.  I think I may play with this recipe again, in regular loaf pans, and see what I can come up with.  Suggestions welcome.

I printed and made little team flags for the game. Mainly, to prove that I do actually know who’s playing. I think I may buy strawberries on our way, and fill the center of the stadium/castle with them. Just an idea.

In the morning I’ll be starting my variation of Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers. This recipe looks decent enough, but I like to supplement the cream cheese with green onions, and some Colby cheese, if I have some on hand. I’ll post story and pix int he morning.