23 August 2015

Blackberry Preserves

1# 6oz blackberries (1qt at $0.99/half-pint, yielded 3c juice & berries)
1 1/2tsp calcium water
1c sugar
1 1/2tsp Pomona's Pectin

Yielded (7) 4oz jars. A little on the sweet side; we'll probably cut the sugar a bit next time.

22 August 2015

Chokecherry Syrup

4c juice
3c sugar

Cooked this a little too long, it's more jelly than syrup. It also has very little chokecherry flavour.

Pectin Test

Stir together equal parts cooked cooled (room temp) juice and grain or denatured alcohol. The larger the pectin lumps that form, the higher the pectin content. Small lumps that cannot be picked up with a fork indicate pectin levels too low to use as is. Reduce the juice and test again, use apple stock, or use commercial pectin.

15 August 2015

Chokecherry Syrup


Pectin test seemed to indicate a medium-ish level, so we'll try 3/4c sugar to each cup of juice. I need to pectin test the crabapple juice, so I have more of a baseline.


1 1/4c chokecherry juice
7/8c sugar


Bring juice to a boil, add sugar 1/2c at a time, returning to boil after each addition. JSR (since it's just a test, and a very small amount)


Yield: We didn't quite get (2) 8oz jars filled, but almost.

9 August 2015

Chokecherry Juice


Got 2qts plus a 1 1/2c out of 1 3/4 ice cream pails (5qt). The juice is really opaque; I wonder if it's the city water?

6 October 2013

Tomato Sauce


7# CSA paste-type tomatoes
1T lemon juice per pint


JSP/RWB35(16oz)


Yield: 3 pints plus 1.5 cups.

30 September 2013

Shirley Sauce


5.5# CSA tomatoes, mostly paste-type
4.9oz mixed CSA hot peppers
11oz CSA & Candy (our own) onions
2c sugar
2c red wine vinegar
2T pickling salt


Cook til thick. JSP/RWB15(8oz)A


Yield: 10 cups and enough for a meal for two.


This one was quite ketchup-y. We like slicers better in the sauce.