North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>]

Title: Message

Underripe fruit also has more pectin.  What your mother does remains common and effective practice.  I do the same.

Very ripe low-pectin fruits can take a long time and some reduction to set up.  Back to the frozen fruit thing – commercial frozen fruit may be so ripe that pectin and lemon juice would be needed for a reliable set in a reasonable amount of time.  Often, home-frozen will contain enough slightly underripe fruit.  You want that – not green, but some fruit just a bit underripe; the acidity and pectin will help the flavor and texture of any cooked fruit product. 

 

~ Stephen

 

From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Brungardt, Sam
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 9:54 AM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] making jam from frozen fruit

 

My mother always tried to include some underripe fruit with fully ripe fruit to raise the acid content (although she also added some lemon juice to do this and as a flavor enhancer).  What do you think of this practice, versus adding commercial pectin and ascorbic acid? -- Sam Brungardt, St. Paul, Minn.

-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Sadler
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2008 11:47 AM
To: 'North American Fruit Explorers'
Subject: Re: [NAFEX] making jam from frozen fruit

I think preserves from frozen fruit can be better.  There are flavor compounds that begin to dissipate the moment a fruit is picked.  Quick freezing ASAP will preserve those flavors, and they’ll be there when you make your jam or jelly.  The best frozen fruit will have little or no underripe fruit, and one might need to increase the acid and pectin a little - but you’ll probably be just fine keeping to the recipe.

The uniformly best strawberries I’ve ever had were individually quick frozen ones for a restaurant I owned; we used them for smoothies.  The strawberry flavor was so rich people started buying the berries individually for snacks.

 

~ Stephen

 

From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Mark Angermayer
Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2008 7:43 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: [NAFEX] making jam from frozen fruit

 

Diane wrote"

"with 9 gallons of red currants frozen to await jelly making in December instead of July"

 

I've wondered about this, is jam from frozen frozen fruit and less tasty than jam from fresh fruit (assuming both are home grown)?  Like Diane, we have more time in the winter months, and it's easier on the utility bills, to can in the winter.  Obviously, for fresh eating, fresh fruit is much tastier than fruit that's been frozen and thawed, but does it work the same for fruit used for jams?