Polly, I've finally tried the no sugar freezer jam. I just did 10 jars with the no sugar, but it turned out great, (peach preserves). I used the Ball brand of pectin. The difference while preparing is, you add 1 cup of water or fruit juice to the fruit and 1 cup water when cooking the pectin. The pectin is stronger in intensity than the sugar recipe, it gets thick real fast. I also found that if you heat the water slightly before adding the no sugar pectin, it disolves much easier. It was hard to get the lumps out of the first batch I did.

-- Annie (mistletoe6@earthlink.net), July 27, 2002

Answers

Thanks for letting me know, Annie! I just stopped at Wal-Mart this morning and finally found the Ball No Sugar Needed Pectin in a pink box. Now, if I could just find some peaches; I'd be in business! Thought about trying to hunt some up this weekend (Note to self - put out 4 more peach trees next year) but Pop tells me that we will be putting up corn then, so I guess that I'll have to hold off.

I actually didn't go to Wal-Mart to buy jelly mix; but I came home with the No Sugar stuff; plus some Ball Freezer Jam Pectin - have you seen it? It comes in a purple envelope (kinda like taco seasoning) and requires no cooking at all; just stir it in! Don't have to let it set out for 24 hours either - it goes right into the freezer. It says that it yields about 5 - 8oz jars (4 cups crushed fruit and 1 1/2 cups sugar). I bought a half dozen packets to try, anyway!

I actually went there to buy some more of the Ball Medium Salsa mix. We'd made a couple of batches and it was disappearing pretty fast, so I bought six more boxes of mix. I don't quite do it the way the box says.... It calls for 14 cups crushed tomatoes, 1 cup cider vinegar, 1 package mix. I add in about a cup of chopped onion, 2/3 cup chopped green and yellow peppers and 1/3 cup chopped garden salsa peppers. I pressure can it then, at 15# for 15 minutes. Pretty good stuff! It's supposed to yield 7 pints per batch. We made up two batches tonight - used 14 cups tomatoes, 2 cups vinegar, 4 cups total of onions and peppers; that adds up to 34 cups, right? Somehow, I ended up with 12 pints of salsa and 9 pints of spicy tomato juice - that ought to be 40 cups; where the heck did the other six cups come from!? Not that I'm complaining!!

And speaking of which; I need to go pull the salsa out and put the tomato juice in to the canner. Got a grocery sack of green beans to do tomorrow, plus dill pickles - Gosh, I love this time of year!

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), July 29, 2002.

I LOVE the no- sugar pectin, because it is more reliable than regular pectin! It will set up even if the fruit is a little over ripe, and you don't have to add the lemon juice unless you want to!

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), July 31, 2002.

Polly would you mind sharing your dill pickles recipe? I'm just getting back into canning . I started freezing everything,but now will be canning. Any recipes you would like to share from the garden would be great. Our garden is 60x80 doing great also have asparagus bed. If you would like to e-mail me that would be great. I no it's a busy time of year for everybody. Thank You Brenda

-- Brenda (thecfaram@midmaine.com), August 01, 2002.

Hee-hee! Brenda, my FAVORITE pickle recipes are the packaged Ball and Mrs. Wages mixes. I do put a grape leaf in each jar to help keep them crisp. I do have some other recipes, but I haven't seen most of them since I moved - 7 years ago. I like the Ball Blue book for pickled peppers (minus the horseradish) and chow-chow and Dixie relish. I have a few other recipes that I like, but they aren't for things that most folks like; like green tomato piccalilly. I work a lot of hours; and long ones; so the mixes work out well for me.

-- Polly (tigger@moultrie.com), August 02, 2002.