Freezer Jam

I'm supposed to be doing a boatload of cooking this week to fill up my brand new freezer, and, hopefully, still have enough energy to blog about.  Unfortunately there is a problem with the new freezer, and I am holding off cooking until it's taken care of.  Instead I decided to make freezer jam, which can go in the small freezer on top of my fridge.

My grandma used to make freezer jam when I was a kid.  I loved the stuff.  Later as an adult I decided to try my hand at making it.  I was delighted to find that it is super easy to do and soon had delicious freezer jam of my own.  I was less delighted to discover that the two main pectin brands, Ball and Sure Jell, did not yield a consistent product.  Sometimes I would end up with delicious, set jam, but just as often my jam would not set at all.  Instead I would have many jars of fruit syrup.  It was still delicious but not what I wanted.  In talking to other jam makers I learned that others also had problems with inconsistent set.



Once after one of these frustrating jam sessions I did some searching online and read a very interesting article by a woman who taught food preservation classes.  She said that people have trouble with freezer jam setting because of the recipes included with Ball and Sure Jell Pectin.  According to her the pectin makers are always trying to simplify the recipes and eventually they simplified it so much that it didn't work anymore.

I also discovered that when using these pectin brands that the set is affected by the sugar content of the jam.  This can make it difficult for the set to be consistent because the sugar content of fruit varies.  That's when I discovered Pomona's Universal Pectin, and my jam making life changed.  I have never had a failed batch with Pomona's, and I highly recommend it. You can purchase it on Amazon, or I have seen it in the natural foods section of my grocery store.  I'm going to list the benefits of Pomona's and why it is better than other pectin, but first I'm going to go over the reasons you should make freezer jam.  I'm not being sponsored to write this or anything.  I just really, really like the product.

Why to Make Freezer Jam

It's Delicious!

When you make your freezer jam I highly recommend
spreading a graham cracker with cream cheese and topping
it with jam.  My mom introduced this to me when I was a kid
and it is one of my favorite easy treats, like a simplified
cheesecake.

Freezer jam just tastes better than regular jam.  This is mostly because regular jam is cooked both in the process of making the jam and again when canning it.  Freezer jam is made from fresh fruit and then frozen.  The fruit doesn't get cooked at all, so the jam has a fresh fruit flavor.  Also making freezer jam allows you to make whatever fruit combinations your heart desires.  I particularly like to make raspberry peach freezer jam.  Lastly you can utilize fruit at it's height of ripeness and taste.  I a make freezer jam from regular supermarket fruit, but sometimes I have gotten fruit from farmer's markets, farms or fruit festivals.  That fruit is always tastier and yields a more delicious jam.

It's Super Easy!

The first time I made freezer jam I was very surprised at how east it was and kicked myself for not making it sooner.  Here are the steps to making freezer jam:

1. Wash and prepare fruit by removing stems and leaves.
2. Mash or puree fruit.
3. Add sweetener to fruit.
4. Blend pectin into boiling water.
5. Add pectin to fruit.
6. Add calcium water until the desired set is achieved.
7. Divide into containers and freeze.

See? Easy!  The full recipe comes with every package of pectin, so I don't feel the need to post it here.  I made 5 containers of jam in less than an hour yesterday while also feeding my kids lunch.  The dishes involved are minimal too.

Less Sugar

One if the big advantages of Pomona's Universal Pectin is that it allows you to use way less added sugar than other pectin brands, so this one only applies to jam made with Pomona's  According to the nutrition label Wegman's Stores Brand Strawberry Preserves has 14 grams of sugar per ounce of jam.  My homemade freezer jam has 5.3 grams of sugar per ounce.  The store brand has almost 3 times the sugar.

Price (Maybe)

A 32 oz jar of store brand strawberry jam costs $3.  I calculate that it cost $6 for me to make the same amount of freezer jam (not including the cost of containers).  Clearly I did not come out ahead in the price department.  However, the price can fluctuate a lot and I do think it could be cheaper to make it homemade or at least a similar price.  I didn't put in any effort into finding inexpensive fruit this time.  I just used what was at the grocery store.  In the past though I have sought out bulk fruit at fruit stands and such to make less expensive freezer jam.  U-picks are also a potential source of cheap fruit.  

It's hard to tell in the picture, but these berries are shriveled and
squishy, not great for eating but still makes delicious jam.

I think that where freezer jam really shines price wise is in using up fruit that is past its prime but still usable.  The reason this particular batch of jam was made was that recently we bought a package of blueberries that just wasn't great.  A lot of the blueberries were squishy or a little shriveled at the outset, and they didn't get better with time.  These blueberries weren't pleasant to eat, but they were good for jam.  We regularly buy big packages of berries, and we don't quite get through the package before the last few are shriveled and unappetizing.  I threw a few old strawberries into this jam too.  This wasn't enough fruit to make the full batch.  I had to add some fresh strawberries, but I'm thinking that when I have those last bits of fruit that no one wants to eat I can prep and freeze them,then make jam when I have enough.  This way the jam can save money and food waste by being made from fruit that may have otherwise gone to waste.

Why Pomona's

Consistent Set

The main reason for using Pomona's Universal Pectin is that the jam sets every time.  With most pectin brands the set depends on the sugar, so if your fruit is too sweet or not sweet enough your jam will not set properly, which is very frustrating.  Pomona's set is dependent on calcium, which comes with the pectin and you add until you reach your desired thickness.  I have never had a batch of jam not set using Pomona's.  With other pectin brands I found that the jam only set about half the time.

Less Sugar

The less sugar is coming up again, but Pomona's is what makes it possible for freezer jam to have less sugar.  While I was happy to discover how easy it is to make freezer jam, I was less pleased to discover how much sugar went into it.  Sure Jell's freezer jam recipe calls for 4 1/2 cups of sugar for 2 1/2 cups of fruit.  That's a lot of sugar!  I wanted my jam to be more fruit than sugar, so next time I tried their low sugar pectin.  It called for 3 cups of sugar  for 4 cups of fruit.  Better, but still more sugar than I wanted.  Pomona's recipe calls for 3/4 cup of sugar to 4 cups of fruit, which is more like it.  I suppose in theory you could even try less sugar since the set is not dependent on it.

You can blend the fruit

With other pectin brands you must mash, not puree, your fruit.  The jam won't set properly with pureed fruit.  With Pomona's you can do whichever you prefer.  I prefer blended, both for the texture and because throwing everything in a blender is easier than mashing, especially if you're I'm making a lot.

There you go.  I hope this information was helpful.  Good luck in your jam making endeavors.