After spending almost a decade in the event decorating industry I have repetatively heard "I can do that". Instead of being dismissed by creative minded people, I want to show you how I do "that" so you can be sucessful in recreating that inspiration image. I just might have a few tricks that you haven't seen yet!
It all started when I had a West Coast Clam Chowder that was too thin….
I learned how to make clam chowder from my mom. And she started her chowder with a roux. Nothing says “please give me a headache” more than trying to fix a roux based sauce or soup than your sauce being too thin. It’s not like you can add more flour because it’s not cooked out. And you can’t make corn starch slurry to thicken it up. I mean technically you can, but it’s not the same. The flavor gets thrown off and the texture is also not the same.
That’s when I had the brilliant idea of adding instant potato flakes. I put diced potatoes in my chowder and so the potato flakes made sense because it’s dehydrated powder that absorbs your excess liquid AND you get to keep the potato flavor.
Over the years, from this dehydrated potato beginnings, I have started dehydrating more and more of my vegetables.
It just made more and more sense, because if you really look at all the seasonings in the seasoning aisle in the grocery store, just about all of it comes from plants, herbs, and their seeds. We already season our food with produce. It’s not a far leap to move to use vegetables as seasoning.
Advertisements
From my chowder I moved to thickening my brown sauce made in my caste iron pan when I once again added too much water. This sauce the water evaporates relatively quickly. But this time I added dehydrated mushroom powder. It added an earthy note to my brown sauce and thickened up in just a few minutes instead of the several minutes that cooking off the water takes. Once again, the flavor improved.
And to be honest, I’ve hated working out the lumps of flour when I tried to re-thicken with flour like my mom use to. Depending on the day, I’m convinced that the flour was giving me attitude, “I’m just going to stay lumpy because there’s nothing you can do about it!”
So my comeback to my lippy flour has become, “Oh yeah? Well I’m going to use vegetables then. They don’t lump up like you do.”
I’m still waiting on some of my produce to finish growing in my garden to replenish some of my vegetable powders, but I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite powdered veg.
From left to right you Zucchini, Spinach, Mushrooms, and sliced Mushrooms. The orange powder on top is the combination of yellow, orange, and red sweet peppers. You know that bag of small peppers in the produce department? Those are the ones that I dehydrated and turned to a powder.
I’m all out of my powdered Butternut Squash. This one is actually my work horse. It has a nice sweet flavor that my boys don’t know that I’m adding vegetables into a meal.
Not only does my powdered veg work as a thickener, it doubles as my mom hack of hiding vegetables from my children who don’t want to see certain vegetables on their plates. Peas and Carrots are still acceptable on the plate, but all the others, I have to get pretty creative. And instead of renaming vegetables to some weird name, like my mom did, I just prefer seasoning everything with it.
Do you have a recipe that your family is always asking for?
Do you always tell them “Absolutely not!” because it’s your recipe and you don’t want anyone else to have it?
If you want to be generous this Christmas, you can dehydrate and turn your secret ingredients into a powder and make a seasoning pack or bag of instant soup.
This is particularly a great idea for loved ones who live across the country from you and shipping out a sauce or soup just isn’t practical! You don’t have to ship glass containers, liquid, or even have the weight of the ingredients that still contain their water content.
Maybe the person you’re gifting is a hiker or camper. But gifting them dehydrated food, in the form of seasoning, you’re able to give them the nutrition they need and taking up a fraction of their pack space.
Not sure about that statement?
Take another look at the pictures of my powdered vegetables. The Spinach is contained in a 9 oz jar and is currently holding two bunches of spinach. Yes, that is two grocery store bunches of spinach.
Looking for a funny gift for your cook or baker this Christmas?
Here’s a design that can take on many different meanings. It’s perfect for your secret recipe cook, a white elephant present, or for that home cook whose mystery meals are not exactly the best surprises to hit the dinner table.
Here’s a sneak peak for Abstract Cooking, which is officially released on Monday.
Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again.
This post contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links, but at no extra cost to you.
One of the first things you’ll hear when you start in the world of making your own jams and jellies is that you MUST stick strictly to the recipe or your jam won’t set.
And the first thing anyone will set out and do is try to take a single batch recipe and double it or triple it, like you’re making chocolate chip cookies. After all, if your family goes through PB&J like nobody’s business you really don’t want to make 6 pints of jam at a time. That would take forever!
Plus, if you have kids underfoot there is absolutely no chance you’ll get four pots of jam on your stove top. Because the odds are that you’ll have a four ring circus around your ankles and all your pots start a rolling boil at the same time. At least that’s how things would play out in my house IF I had to make jam one batch at a time.
Fortunately for us, my husband and house a lady who was selling off her jam inventory and gave us her large batch recipe. Unfortunately I can’t share that recipe with you because of a verbal agreement that we made with her. And that’s one thing about my husband and I, we keep our word.
BUT, it got us on the path to know that you don’t have to make single batch jams and jellies if what you are really looking for is to make one large batch and set your family up for a year’s worth of jam in one day!
Advertisements
I’m sure that there are other large batch recipes out there if you took the time to search, but there’s not going to be many. One, too many people have a small business making jam for bazaars and other venues. And if you’re in the business, you’re not going to put your recipe online because that’s just not a good business model. Ball has an extensive jams and jelly section, but all of them are single batch. I haven’t had time to scour the pages of extension offices to see if they have large batch recipes. But I did find one rather quickly with the company that I buy my pectin in bulk.
Yes! You can buy pectin in bulk and at a far greater savings than buying the box of 2 packets of gel pectin at your local grocery store.
For the last several years I have been buying Hoosier Hill Farm Powder Pectin. They have an amazing product and I’ve preferred this over the gel/liquid pectin that I grew up using. It’s less mess. And like I mentioned above, it’s at a far better price than buying the same quantity in the gel/liquid form.
If you don’t have the time to search out your own large batch of Jam and Jelly recipe, you can use this one from Hoosier Hill Farm. You can go directly to the site through the link, but for your convenience I have it here:
Cooked Jam Directions and Recipes
Locate and mark off fruit recipe on chart below. Check 8 OZ jars for defects. Because containers are not filled to the rim, one more container than the specified cup yield may be needed.
If jams will not be placed in boiling water bath, wash, scald and drain jars, or use automatic dishwasher with very hot rinse water. Keep hot. If jams will not be placed in boiling water bath, wash jars and sterilize in boiling water for 10 minutes. Keep hot. Wash lids and place in a small container. Cover with cooling water shortly before placing on filler jars. Always use new lids.
Prepare fruit as directed in recipe.
Measure amount of prepared fruit specified in recipe ingredients listing, pack solidly in cup. If measure is slightly short, add water. Place measured fruit in 6 or 8 quart sauce pot. Add lemon juice if listed.
Measure sugar and set aside. DO NOT REDUCE SUGAR.
Stir fruit pectin into prepared fruit. (Sauce pot must be no more than 1/2 full to allow for full rolling boil.)
Bring to a full boil over high heat stirring constantly. At once stir in sugar. Stir and bring to a full rolling boil. (a boil cannot be stirred down). Then boil hard one minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Skim off foam with large metal spoon. Immediately ladle into jars leaving 1/4 inch space on top. With a damp cloth, wipe jars and threads clean.
Immediately cover jars with hot lids. Screw bands on firmly.
Place in boiling water bath carefully setting jars on rack in canner or large sauce pot of boiling water. Water should cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Cover canner, and return the water to a boil, then boil 5 minutes. (At high altitudes, increas boiling time by 1 minute for each 1000 feet above sea level). Remove jars from canner.
Let jam stand to cool. Check seals. Jar lids should be slightly concave or remain so when pressed. Remove bands from jars. Store jam in a cool dry place. (small amounts of unsealed jam may be covered and stored in the refrigerator).
I added the pint yield for anyone who might not yet have the conversion memorized.
Tip: The above jam recipe is a little on the loose side for my taste. So by cooking it a couple minutes longer on the rolling boil will firm it right up. The next time I run this recipe I’ll rolling boil for 3 minutes instead of 1.
What I want to point out is that this recipe does set jam every time. AND if you take a look at all the measurements you will see that they are exactly doubled or tripled the original measurements.
Can I use grandma’s recipe in a large batch?
I have yet to find any real information that says you cannot.
The rumor is that you can’t double a recipe because it won’t set. But here’s the deal, jams and jellies set because the sugar to pectin ratio is kept!
If companies dealing in high volume jams and jellies sales can make recipes in high quantity, you can too. You just have to understand the science and process behind making jams and jellies.
Pectin has to have a high sugar concentration to set. Low or No Sugar Pectin doesn’t have to have that sugar content because it has dextrose (a simple sugar extracted from corn and other vegetables). Because a sugar was already added into the Low or No Sugar Pectin, less is required when you you make your jam or jelly.
So if you are meticulous in your math for creating a larger batch of grandma’s jam then there is no reason why you can’t have success in doubling, tripling, or quadrupling grandma’s recipe!
Tip: Switch from measuring out your ingredients from cups to a unit of measurement, lbs. or grams. By switching to weight measurement you eliminate the dead space of your berries and the precise measurement of your dry ingredients. The reason why the set can be different in using the same recipe over and over again is because the weight of the measurements is different even if the look of your cup measurement seems to be consistent.
If you’re nervous about increasing your batch amount, you can take a trick from candy making to test your jam. Keep a bowl or glass of ice cold water handy. When your cook time is done, drop some of the jam into the water. If it’s not going to set, but remain a syrup, the jam/jelly will dissipate in water. If it is going to set, then it will gel up in the water.
I’ve known too many canners who process their jam and then wait until they crack open a jar to find that their jam/jelly didn’t set. The simple water test, or even setting a small quantity of jam in a bowl and putting it a freezer to cool down, will give you a rather quick indication if your jam/jelly will set or not.
If the jam/jelly doesn’t set or is too loose, then there was something wrong with the ratio of sugar to pectin. (This is all the more reason to find a successful recipe and translate it into weight measurements. Then you can recreate the recipe and have perfection each and every time.) Unfortunately I can’t advise you in adding more sugar or adding more pectin to your recipe because I can’t tell you where your recipe went wrong.
Advertisements
So in this moment of uncertainty, what I would do is head this off in a scientific approach– set aside two samples. In one sample sprinkle in a little more sugar. In the other sprinkle in a little more pectin. What happens? Which one thickens the jam/jelly? Which one makes it looser or no change at all? Also remember that if you’re using powder pectin, it will take a little bit for the pectin to do its thing. It has to hydrate and react with your jam/jelly.
The same goes with if your jam/jelly is too thick. The reason for it being too thick is either because there’s too much pectin or the jam/jelly got reduced too much (you cooked off the water content). There are some fruits that have more natural pectin in it. That’s the reason why apples don’t need pectin to make an apple jelly. So if you’re working with a jam that has a mixture of apple in it, then this is one thing to keep in the back of your mind, the effect that pectin has on your recipe.
But as I mentioned above in the recipe Tip, sometimes the only change you need to make is how long you run your rolling boil for. The longer your rolling boil goes, the more your water content will burn off. Just be careful not to burn your jam on the bottom of your pan. That flavor will permeate through your entire batch.
Making a Memorable Gift
We’re living in a moment of time where family budgets are taking an extreme hit. And with the holidays quickly approaching us I want to share with you one quick idea on how to make a budget friendly gift that will leave a lasting memory. So whether you’re looking to give a hostess, thank you, teacher appreciation, Christmas, or white elephant gift you can take this skill of jam/jelly making and make a gift that will be appreciated!
Once you’ve processed your jam and the jar has cooled, take a selection of material that fits the person or gifting moment. You can choose to cut the fabric in a square or a circle. Depending on if you’re using a wide mouth or standard jar lid will determine what size of square or circle you will make. Another determining factor will be if you want the overlying fabric to hang low or high.
Tip: Set your jar upside down on the back side of our fabric. With a marker or chalk, mark out 2″ from either side of the lid of your jar. Draw out your circle or square. (The Christmas Truck print was a 2″ square. The Red Plaid was a square cut 3″ off both sides of the lid.)
Once your fabric is cut place it on top of your lid and secure it with the jar ring, string, ribbon, or even elastic. Decorate as elaborate of simple as your taste leans.
And now you’re ready for the holidays with simple gifts that don’t suck the joy right out of your festivities!
How I Can Do That 
Leave a comment