I have worked 36.5 hours in the last 3 days, including the overnight last night, and it was rather stressful. By the time I got home I was too stressed to sleep. It's also POURING outside. But, the mulberry tree is almost at its peak, so I put on my not-really-waterproof-anymore raincoat and headed out to the tree. With a lot of patience, a lot of strange looks from drivers going by, and not minding the rain, I ended up with almost a full quart of mulberries! We've never gotten that many at once before!"Why do you always can the fruit and not let us have any?"
"Well, there are plenty more berries on the tree that have yet to get ripe - we can go back."
"Oh, OK!"
Today I a
lso tried something new. I had picked up a box of this pectin at Whole Foods a few months ago, but wasn't sure about using it. It requires making a calcium solution and adding it to the fruit which then activates the pectin. Because it's titratable, it's perfect for times when you don't have enough fruit for a full batch. In this case I had 2 cups of crushed mulberries, to which I added 2 T. of lime juice, 1 tsp. of the calcium mixture, 1 cup of sugar and 1 tsp. of the pectin. Worked out great, and I ended up with 1 half-pint jar and 1 12-oz jar of jam. After processing for 10 minutes and hearing them "pop!" I went and took a nap, finally.
I have a box of Pomona Pectin in my cupboard, but haven't used it for fear of ruining a precious batch of jam. It's good to hear it worked well for you.
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