Homemade foods make thoughtful holiday gifts. But, extra baking and cooking can compound the time crunch of an already busy holiday season.
Gifts of home canned foods are also thoughtful kitchen gifts, but with a big advantage– they can be made weeks or months in advance and then wait patiently on a shelf in a cool, dry place until the holiday season.
Extension food preservation workshops have been popular this fall, and our next canning class focuses on gifts from the kitchen.
A multi-county food preservation workshop on “Homemade for the Holidays: Jams and Jellies for Holiday Giving” will be held on Tuesday, November 17 from 5:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the McKenna Youth and Activity Center on Main Street in Palco, KS. The $10.00 registration fee includes a simple supper and class expenses.
The purpose of this workshop is to help participants learn or review safe techniques for preserving top-quality jams, jellies and sweet spreads. Participants will work together to make jelly from commercial juice, savory jam for a holiday appetizer and a low-sugar freezer jam. Participants will take home at least one product at the conclusion of the workshop.
Instructors are a team of three Extension Family and Consumer Sciences agents: Linda Beech, Ellis County; Karen Shepard, Graham County; and Anna Schremmer, Phillips-Rooks District.
Pre-register and pay fees no later than November 10 at the Ellis County Extension Office, 601 Main Street in Hays, 785-628-9430. A minimum of ten and a maximum of 15 participants is necessary to hold this workshop. Registration is taken on a first come- first served basis; registration is complete when fees are paid.
Making homemade sweet spreads is a great way for beginners to learn basic food preservation techniques.
Freezer jams are the easiest– chop or mash clean fresh fruit, then mix with sugar and pectin, and spoon into sterilized containers. The process is also family-friendly so that children can help make gifts to give at the holidays time.
If freezer storage doesn’t suit your gift-giving needs, cooked sweet spreads can be preserved quickly and easily in a boiling water bath canner. The glistening jars of jams and jellies can wait on a shelf in a cool, dry place until needed for gifts.
Food science experts at K-State Research and Extension offer these additional tips for jam and jelly making:
* Follow a research-tested recipe from a reliable source or use the instruction insert that comes with canning products. Recipes that are packaged with products such as pectin or jelly jars have been tested by family and consumer science professionals who understand how ingredients interact. Extension and USDA sources are tested and trustworthy, too. Be cautious of online canning information from sites where recipes are shared by individuals and not tested or verified for accuracy or safety.
* Follow a tested recipe precisely and do not double the batch, or the spreads may not set. Dry powdered pectin and liquid pectin are not interchangeable, so substituting one for the other in recipes may also cause runny jams and jellies.
* Seal all sweet spreads with proper processing in a boiling water bath canner. Old-fashioned treatments such as inverting jars or sealing with a layer of paraffin wax do not stand up to food safety testing and are no longer recommended.
* Use standard canning jars and new, fresh lids for every batch of homemade sweet spreads.
* Increase processing time at higher altitudes. Jams and jellies preserved above sea level require longer processing in the boiling water bath canner to ensure safety. Since most Ellis County locations are at an elevation of about 2000 ft, make sure your recipe includes extra processing time for higher altitudes.
Homemade jams and jellies extend fresh-fruit flavors into the fall and winter months. They take relatively little time to prepare, and, when used as gifts, can save time and money and reduce stress during the busy holiday season.
For more information on making homemade jams and jellies or to register for the jam and jelly canning workshop on November 17 in Palco, contact the Ellis County Extension Office at 601 Main Street in Hays, 785-628-9430.
Linda K. Beech is Ellis County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.