Homemade Tayberry Lemon Jam + Canning 101

I recently started learning more about making jam and how to properly preserve fruits. Now is a great time to learn because there is so much fresh fruit at the market that you can make into jam and enjoy all year long! This jam has about 50% less sugar than your typical recipe and has no added pectin. The only ingredients are tayberry, lemon zest/juice, and organic cane sugar. A tayberry is cross between a red raspberry and a blackberry. If you want to learn more about the tayberry, click here.

If you are just starting out, I highly recommend “It Starts with Fruit” by Jordan Champagne (Happy Girl Kitchen). She goes over food safety, misconceptions, and the attributes of different fruits. This book is extremely well-written and approachable. She also includes recipes for drinks, pie fillings, and other “misfits” like chutneys and candied peels. I benefitted from her troubleshooting section when I didn’t get my jam the right consistency the first time! 

Food Safety 

Canning can be intimidating. Nobody wants to open a mason jar and find mold in there! Nobody wants to worry, “Am I going to make people sick if I give this away?” 

Not to fear! Almost all yeasts, molds, and bacteria are very temperature sensitive. Most will die when exposed to temperatures greater than 175 degrees F and kept there for 5-10 minutes. I used the hot water bath method, meaning these jars sat in boiling water (212 degrees F) for 10 minutes. 

The thing to worry about is the bacteria spore botulism spungum. Botulism spores can survive boiling temperatures. However, they are sensitive to acidity. Fruits, lemons, and sugar are more on the acidic end of the scale (below pH 4.6) so we are in the clear. 

Jordan goes into much more detail about this in her book. Just to be safe- follow recipes as they are published and don’t try to mess around with the acidity (especially until you learn more about how your modifications impact the pH). 

Pectin 

Pectin is a naturally occurring substance in fruit and vegetable cell walls that helps provide structure. When pectin is combined with sugar and acid, it provides the gelling or thickening agent to get that jam consistency. Some jam recipes call for added pectin to help firm it up. However, this is not necessary. Working with added pectin can be challenging and perhaps give you a jam TOO firm (like Jell-O). Working with the natural pectin and testing your consistency often gives you more control over the final texture of your jam. 

Low-sugar, high-fruit 

Did you know that most jam recipes call for equal ratios of fruit to sugar (i.e. 1 pound fruit, 1 cup sugar)? This recipe has 1 cup of organic cane sugar to every 2 pounds fruit. This results in a much more intense fruit flavor. Jordan doesn’t believe that you need to add that much sugar to jams in order to make something taste delicious. I agree with her! I am not somebody who shies away from sugar in my baking but when preserving fruits, don’t you want to highlight the natural flavor of the fruit? 

What is the plate test? 

The plate test is a way to observe the final consistency of your jam while you are still reducing it. The jam will naturally firm up when it cools down to room temperature. In order to help test this while you are still reducing, place a couple plates in the freezer. Every 5-10 minutes, put a teaspoon of the jam on the frozen plate and put it back in the freezer for 4 minutes. When you take it out, you should not feel any warmth on the bottom of the plate. Tilt the plate straight up and down and observe how the fruit falls down the plate. If it is runny and has lots of legs, it needs more time reducing. You want it to slowly move down the plate as one unit. 

So far, I have made apricot vanilla jam, this tayberry jam, and I want to make strawberry lavender next. Comment below with your favorite jam flavors! Do you have any questions about canning?