Fair entries, bad extension cord, zucchini jam

My Canning Cellar

Fair Entries, Bad Cord, Zucchini Jam
Two different kinds of zucchini jam using the same base recipe.
The equipment I used was my digital canner, a dutch oven pot, a wooden spoon, a food processor with the shredding attachment, a vegetable peeler, a paring knife, a skimmer, a dish towel, a canning funnel, a rubber daisy, a jar lifter, and I always wear the funky tomato pattern snap front apron my late mom gave me years ago. I ended up using 7 half pint jelly jars and 2 quarter pint jelly jars.

The ingredients I used were

1 zucchini about 10 inches long

1/2 cup bottled lemon juice

(2) 15 ounce cans of fruit cocktail

6 cups sugar

(2) pkgs of 3 oz orange gelatin which was to take the place of added pectin

I washed and peeled the zucchini, and shredded it with the food processor. I put the zucchini in the dutch oven pot with the lemon juice and brought it to a simmer and let it simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally with the wooden spoon.

While that was going, I drained the fruit cocktail and put the fruit through the same shredding attachment on the food processor. It turned out mostly mush but with enough chunks to make it look like a jam, in my opinion. I drained it again after shredding, and of course shredding it is using that term loosely as already soft fruit doesn’t exactly shred.

I added the fruit and the sugar to the dutch oven and brought it to a boil, stirring until the sugar was dissolved. Then I let it cook for another 7 minutes, skimming off as much of the white foam as I could, then I shut the heat off, and stirred in the two boxes of gelatin. The reason I skimmed the foam is because foam takes up space in the jars that would be better served by filling with the actual jam product. I never throw out jelly or jam foam, I put it in the fridge for eating.

Using my canning funnel, I put the hot mixture into the hot jars, leaving about a half inch of space, wiped the rims with hot water on a paper towel, put on the lids and then finger tighten the rings. The original recipe said to water bath for 5 minutes, but because my elevation is just over 1000 feet above sea level, I processed the jars for 10 minutes.

The orange gelatin of course colored the jam a very pretty color, but it’s hard to make out any of the fruit or zucchini pieces. So I decided to do another batch but use canned pears and clear Surejel.

I did the 2nd batch almost the same way I did the first, only this time using (two) 15 ounce cans of unsweetened pears. Because I didn’t like the looks of the zucchini seeds in the first batch although I did cut out some larger ones, this time I cut out all the seeds. I put the zucchini and then the drained pears through the food processor shredding attachment, and then let the zucchini and lemon juice simmer in the dutch oven pot for 30 minutes.
This batch cooked down almost all the liquid out so I had to pay particular attention to it to avoid scorching. Then I added the sugar and the pears, brought to a boil while I stirred the sugar until it dissolved, then again let it cook for about 7 minutes. After turning the heat off, I stirred in the one box of Surejel. I knew that if the one box wasn’t enough, I could always re-process the mixture with a 2nd box although I was really hoping that wouldn’t be necessary. And it came out so nicely that this was the jam I entered in the fair.
http://grandmasquickfixrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/02/quick-easy-zucchini-cherry-jam.html
https://www.britannica.com/technology/food-processor#ref197227