JELLY AND PRESERVES - Pickling and Preserving: The Foxfire Americana Library - Foxfire Students

Pickling and Preserving: The Foxfire Americana Library - Foxfire Students (2011)

JELLY AND PRESERVES

Making jellies and preserves was yet another way of keeping fruits. Daisy Justice told us, “We canned berries, peaches, and apples. For instance, with blackberries, we’d put them in a big aluminum dishpan, and when they come to a boil, you started dipping them into your jars that you’ve already washed and scalded and sterilized. We’d seal them as we went.”

Sallie Beaty gave specific directions for making jellies and preserves. “[To make our jellies,] we would boil our fruit peelings. We would boil ’em half an hour to one hour and then strain [the] juice out. [We] used [the juice] to make our jelly. [Then] we would use one cup of sugar to one cup of juice and boil it down on top of the stove till it was thick like we wanted it.”

BLACKBERRY JELLY

1 quart of Blackberries to make 3¾ cups juice

1 box Sure-Jell (or pectin)

4½ cups sugar

Boil blackberries with ½ cup water to make a juice. Mash berries to see when they are done. Strain berries and place juice and Sure-Jell in pot. Stir while cooking. Let boil and then add sugar. Stir and cook until mixture jells.

—Leona Carver

PRESERVES

Lettie Chastain shared her mother’s method for making preserves. “My mother made fruit preserves by putting whatever fruit she was using, pears or figs or whatever, into a pot on the stove. She’d add her sugar and a little water and any spices she might like, and let the mixture boil while she was cooking breakfast. Then, when she finished the meal and the fire was beginning to go out, she’d cover her pan up. Then the next time she started the fire in the stove up, she’d let the fruit get to boiling again. Sometimes it’d take her a couple of days to get the preserves ready, but they’d sure be good. They were better than any I’ve ever made.”

PEAR PRESERVES

Wash pears, peel, and cut into quarters. Rinse and place a layer of sugar and a layer of pears until all the fruit has been used. Let this stand overnight. Put over moderate heat and cook until well done and a syrup has been made from the mixture. Put into sterile jars and seal.

MINT JELLY FROM APPLE JUICE

One cup mint leaves (chopped fine and packed tight). Pour boiling water over the clean mint leaves, cover and allow to steep for one hour. Press juice from the leaves and add 2 tablespoons of this extract to 1 cup apple juice and ¾ cup sugar. Boil until jelly test is reached. Add green food coloring. Pour into hot glasses and seal.

QUINCE HONEY

1 quart (2 pounds) sugar

1 pint water

3 quinces

Grate quinces. Boil sugar and water and add grated quinces and let boil twenty minutes. Seal in jars. Pear honey is made the same way.

SORGHUM

Years ago, when sugar was hard to get, sorghum and honey were often the only sweeteners available to farm families. So, in typical mountain fashion, families grew sorghum cane; usually one or two families in the community had a sorghum mill; and neighbors helped neighbors harvest and produce sorghum, sharing the final product. Minyard Conner remembered fondly the times his family worked together with his neighbor Bill Lamb at sorghum-harvesting time. “We growed sorghum cane here, and [Lessie, his wife] and the young’uns hauled it in a one-horse wagon [over to Bill Lamb’s farm]. Bill had one horse over there, and we’d use his’n when we had to double up. Bill had a big ol’ syrup mill over there, and Lessie and the boys would strip the cane here and carry it over there on our wagon. [They’d help Bill make his syrup, and he’d help them.] We’d get a barrel of syrup, you know. Just living at home, wasn’t we!”

We wanted to mention sorghum because of its importance to the diet of most mountaineers. However, for in-depth information on sorghum making and diagrams, please refer to the last chapter.