GZ Tai-Tai

Pear Mincemeat

We made a couple of versions of mincemeat using the Pear Mincemeat recipe in this book as a guide. The other versions we made were, apple mincemeat and a combination apple-pear mincemeat.  They taste wonderful in pastry, phyllo or straight from the jar.

1 cup dried currants

1 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup dried apricots, coarsely chopped

1 lemon the juice and the zest

1 orange the juice and the zest

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

a pinch of salt

10 cups of pears, peeled, cored. (treat to prevent browning drain liquid before adding)

1 cup almonds, slivered and blanched

1/4 Myers’s Jamaican rum

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the currants, raisins, apricots,lemon zest and juice, orange zest and juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt. Add the drained pears to the pot and fold gently into the dried fruit and spice mixture. try not to bruise or break the pears. Bring to a boil over a medium high heat. Lower the heat  and cover, boil gently for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until slightly thickened. Uncover and cook until it is thick enough to mound on a spoon about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the almonds.

Ladle hot mincemeat into hot jars leaving 1/2 headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace by adding more hot mincemeat. Wipe jar rims. Center lids on jars. Screw the jar bands to finger-tip tight.

Place the jars into prepared canner. making sure jars are covered with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

Peach Jam made with Stevia

My daughter was a huge help this Fall with the Jam making and canning. It was great fun the two of us had in the kitchen! We decided to make jam diabetic friendly. It just happened that our daughter was diagnosed with diabetes and some other health issues during jam making this Fall.  We tried making jams with Stevia/Truvia and with Splenda We found after making them them that we like the jams made with Stevia/Truvia the best. The jams made with splenda had an aftertaste. The jams made with Stevia/Truvia did not have an aftertaste, which made daughter very happy.

We used Real Fruit Pectin from Ball  for Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin . I had never used powdered pectin before and found this product easy to use and we got great results. We used the instructions and amounts from the package as a guide for the Jam made with Stevia. We decided that 2 Tbsp of Stevia was perfect for our fruit. The packaging pretty much leaves it open to you on the amount of sweetener up to a half cup. 

This amount is for 2 (8oz.) half pints of jam

2 cups peaches, peeled, pitted, and  finely chopped

1/3 cup water

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 1/2 Tbsp Ball RealFruit Low or No-Sugar Needed Pectin

2 Tbsp. Stevia/Truvia

 

Using a prepared canner and clean, sterilized, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot, combine the fruit, lemon juice, water and pectin powder. Over high heat, bring mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir constantly.

Remove from heat, stir in the Stevia/Truvia , return mixture to full rolling boil. boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Skim off the foam.

Ladle the hot jam into your prepared hot jars, leaving 1/4 of an inch head space. Remove air bubbles and add more jam if needed to acquire the correct head space. Wipe the rim of the jar. Center lid on the jar. Screw the band on the jar until fingertip tight.

Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water 1 – 2 inches.  Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes with lid on canner.  Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes then remove jars, cool and store.

Spirited Peaches

I wanted something a little different in my peaches, so I opted for adding a touch of rum to them instead of just the sugar syrup.  The rum gives a tropical flavor to the peaches and make them a delight to have on their own. I used this book to guide me.

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

7 cups peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced. treated to prevent browning.  I used 3 Tbsp lemon juice to 2 liters of water that I sliced the peaches into to keep them from browning. You could use a browning agent and follow the manufactures directions.

1 Tbsp Myers's Jamaican rum added to each 8oz (250 ml) jar.

Prepare canner, jars and lids. For more info on this you can go here to the Ball website and they have step by step for all your canning needs I did the water bath method of canning.

In a large stainless steel pot combine the sugar and water over medium high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add peaches, stirring constantly, and return to boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 5 minutes.

With a slotted spoon pack the peaches into the hot jars, leaving a generous 1/2 inch headspace. Add 1 Tbsp rum to each jar. Ladle hot syrup into the jars to cover the peaches, leaving a 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary, by adding more hot syrup. Wipe jar rim. Center the lid on the jar and screw jar band finger-tip tight.

Place jars in canner, making sure that jars are covered with 1-2 inches of water. Bring to a boil and process in canner with lid on for 20 minutes. Remove canner lid and wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.