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Show FARManaHOMEto UTAH STATE EXTENSION SERVICE AGRICULTURE - HOME KCQNOmCH By Mary Lois Reicherl Home Demonstration Agent For eye appeal as well as taste appeal, uncooked jams will rate high with todays home-maker. home-maker. These retain every bit of the fresh fruit flavor; they're easy to prepare. The preserving kettle can be discarded in favor of the freezer or refrigerator for the fruit need not be heated. Pectin does an efficient job of gelation if the ingredients for jams are combined at room temperatures. It may take only a few minutes for this gel to form or it may take two or three days. Since the yeast and mold spores have not been destroyed, des-troyed, the resulting gel will mold or ferment if allowed to stand very long at room temperature. temper-ature. Therefore, it is necessary to use frozen storage for these jams. If they are to be kept only a few weeks, refrigerator storage will be adequate. Commercial pectins are used in making these uncooked jams. Either powdered or liquid pectin pec-tin is satisfactory. Powdered pectin pec-tin has the advantage of producing pro-ducing jams with slightly better bet-ter color and flavor. Liquid pectin pec-tin has the advantage of ease preparation. If, at the time of serving, uncooked un-cooked jams are stiffer than desired, de-sired, a small amount of stirring will soften them. If "weeping" or syneresis has occured after the jams have been cut for serving, stirring will blend them again. Proper preparation of the fruit for making these jams is important. The fruit may be very finely mashed or may be put through a colander, a food chopper, a food mill or an electric elec-tric blender. To prevent the formation of a film of crystals, the jams should be covered as soon as poured and sealed with paraffin before storing. Strawberries, plums, cherries, raspberries, grapes, peaches and apricots are satisfactory for uncooked un-cooked jams. Here is a recipe of peach jam: 2 cups finely mashed peaches 4 cups sugar 1 cup water 1 pkg. powdered pectin 1 tsp. powdered citric acid Combine citric acid and mash, ed peaches. Then add sugar and mix thoroughly. Let stand about 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Stir the pectin into the water, bring to' boiling and boil rapidly for one minute stirring constantly. constant-ly. Remove from range. Add the peach mixture and stir a-bout a-bout two minutes. Pour into jelly glasses or freezer containers. contain-ers. Cover and let stand at room temperature 24 to 48 hours or until gelled. Seal with paraffin and store in a freezer. (Or it will keep several weeks at refrigerator re-frigerator temperature). Yield: Approximately 6 glasses. ' Recipes for other types of uncooked un-cooked jams may be obtained at my office. Remember these must be frozen for long storage. |