What's Up With Welch's Grape Jelly?

I saw an ad for Welch's Grape Jelly the other day, starring their happy spokesman Alton Brown.  

At the end of the ad, Alton mentions that Welch's Grape Jelly contains no high-fructose corn syrup. That was delicious news to my ears, because I read labels and one of the things that puts a product on my "Do Not Buy" list is the inclusion of HFCS - and I haven't bought Welch's jams or jellies in a long time.

But when I checked out the labels at the grocery store, I found that apparently, nothing has changed. All of the Welch's jams and jellies, regardless of packaging (large or small jar, ridiculous squeeze tube, and so on) show that Welch's is still using corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup, and not a bit of cane sugar.

So, what's up, Alton? Is this a transitional period where sugar-sweetened jelly is on the way but the last of the HFCS syrup still hangs around? Or is someone just blowing smoke up our ass?

Check out the Welch's in your supermarkets, and let me know in the comments if you find the no-HFCS version there.

Mixed Fruit Jam

One of the best things about my local Stop & Shop is their "markdown bin" where fruits and vegetables on the verge of being pitched into the dumpster are sold at deeply-cut prices.  I never shop there without checking the markdowns.  Sometimes I don't find anything that inspires me, but other times it's like a gold mine of delicious possibility.

Last week, I made quite a score.  Peaches, plums, kiwifruit, a few lemons, a couple of apples, and two pounds of strawberries, all mine for less than five dollars total.  It was amazing, and because it was a cool day, just right for making a batch of jam, the family and I sat down, peeled some fruit, and made five pints of delicious jam.

Mixed Fruit Jam

About 5 pints

6 fresh peaches

3 large kiwifruit

3 plums

1 apple

1 pound strawberries

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

Sugar

Blanch the peaches, kiwifruit, and plums in boiling water and slip off the skins.  Chop fruit coarsely into a bowl.   Pare and core the apple, and chop that into the bowl as well.  Cap the strawberries, cut them up and add them to the bowl, too.  Stir in the juice and zest of the lemon.

Measure the fruit into a stainless steel stockpot, and add sugar equal to 3/4 the volume of the fruit.  For example, I had nine cups of fruit, so I added 7 cup of sugar.  Stir the sugar in well, over medium-high heat, until the sugar is completely liquified.  Turn the heat to medium and bring to a fast simmer.  Continue to cook the mixture, stirring occasionally.  Use a tablespoon or large serving spoon to remove scum from the surface of the jam a it cooks.

As the jam cooks, monitor its temperature with a candy thermometer or digital probe.  When the temperature reaches 220 F and doesn't cool way down when stirred, the jam has reached the "gelling" point and is ready to can.

Ladle the jam carefully into 1-pint jelly jars.  Cap and process in a boiling-water bath for 10 minutes.  Remove jars from the water-bath canner at the end of the processing time and store until needed.

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Pomegranate Glazed Pork Chops and More

The friendly people at Pom Wonderful sent me a case of their delicious 100% pure pomegranate juice this week, and my family and I have been having a blast with it. Of course it's a delicious beverage, but to make the best use of our bounty, I wanted to see what other ways we could come up with to enjoy it.

Last night, we had pomegranate-glazed pork chops. We started with six beautiful bone-in pork chops from the neighborhood butcher up the street, and made the glaze from POM pomegranate juice, fresh pineapple, and brown sugar. Fresh thyme and rosemary provided savory notes that complimented the sweet glaze.

Pomegranate Glazed Pork Chops
Serves 6

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sprig fresh rosemary (about 4 inches long)
a few sprigs fresh thyme
6 bone-in center cut pork chops, each about 3/4-inch thick
12 ounces POM 100% pure pomegranate juice
¼ cup finely minced fresh pineapple with its juice
3 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a skillet large enough to hold the chops; sweat the rosemary and thyme in the oil to flavor it, but don't allow the herbs to brown. Pull the herbs to the side of the skillet and add the chops. Brown the chops well on both sides, then remove the chops to a warm platter and pluck the herbs from the pan, discarding them. Pour off excess fat from the pan, but keep a tablespoon or so of the fat in the skillet.

Over medium heat, add the pomegranate juice to the pan and deglaze it quickly. Add the pineapple and brown sugar and stir well to blend, simmering all the while. In a few short moments, the sauce in the pan will begin to thicken a bit. Return the chops to the pan and, turning them frequently to cook and coat them evenly, cook gently for about 15 minutes, just until they're done. As the chops cook, the pomegranate sauce in the pan will thicken and glaze the chops. Serve the pork with a drizzle of sauce on the meat, and a small condiment bowl with more glaze on the side.

Side dishes are up to you; we had ours with fried eggplant sticks (one of my daughter's all-time favorite veggie sides.)

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I've mentioned before that we like to make jams and jellies. POM pomegranate juice is an ideal ready-made base for preserves because it's 100% pure, with no added sugar or water. I made a small sample batch of jelly:

Pomegranate Jelly (Small Batch)
Makes about 1 cup

12 ounces POM pomegranate juice
1¼ cup sugar

Combine juice and sugar in a small pan and stir well to completely dissolve the sugar. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a full rolling boil, then turn heat down to maintain a constant high simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture reaches 220 F on a candy thermometer (jelling point) then pour the jelly off into a small Mason jar, cap it, and allow it to cool and set. Store in the refrigerator.

So many fruit flavors are complimentary to pomegranates that I can't wait for early Spring produce to start coming in. I'm looking forward to putting up a batch of strawberry-pomegranate jam, and when the small sugarplums near my house are ready, I'll try combining them with pomegranate as well.

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As a final note, I just want to add that pomegranate juice and vodka - on the rocks with a twist - is delicious.

Link:

POM Wonderful's website. Turn your speakers down, they have sound effects.

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Mixed Summer Fruit Jam

I have this love/hate relationship with canning.

On the one hand, I love it. I love making pickles, jams, jellies, and more all through the growing season - my wife and I start putting up jars of stuff with the very first rhubarb stalks in the spring, and we don't stop until the last of the tomatoes are harvested in October. I make double and triple batches of baked beans just to be able to can off eight or ten pints for days when we want beans but don't want to spend a day waiting for them. My canning kettle stays handy on the bottom shelf of my rollaway cart year-round so it's at my fingertips when needed, and my pressure canners are atop the fridge, ready at a moment's notice to put something by.

On the other hand, my kitchen isn't air-conditioned and we're in the midst of a mid-July heat wave. And yet, here I am, fruit cooking on the stove, the canning kettle boiling away, and the temperature in the kitchen coming up close to 90F even with fans in the window and it being 8:00 at night. There's nothing I can do about it; the fruit is ripe and has to be processed, and I can't let it stand around until the heat breaks. So I wait until after dark when it's a little cooler outside and sip iced tea as the preserves simmer, and retreat every now and then for short breaks in the haven of my air-conditioned living room.

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One of the supermarkets in my town marks down produce as it starts to get less than perfect. I always check the markdown bin when I go there because I regularly get some great deals, especially on fruit destined for jellys, jams, or juicing. Cosmetic flaws, bruises, and overripe spots don't bother me that much when all I'm going to do is cut the stuff up into the kettle anyway.

And so, today I came home with some slightly underripe strawberries (high in pectin) and an assortment of nectarines, yellow peaches, white peaches, and limes, all for about 39 cents a pound.

Mixed Summer Fruit Jam

Strawberries
Peaches
Nectarines
1 lime
Sugar

Hull and slice strawberries; scald peaches and nectarines and then plunge into cool water to loosen their skins; skin and stone the fruit and cut into chunks. Prepare a total of 8 cups of fruit. Place cut fruit into a large heavy Dutch oven. Add the juice, pulp, and zest from the lime.

Bring to a simmer over medium low heat, then gradually stir in 6 generous cups of sugar. Continue cooking and stirring until sugar dissolves. Allow to cook, uncovered, over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Simmering jam will foam up - keep an eye on it and stir down the foam if it looks like the pot will boil over.

Continue cooking until temperature reaches the jelly point, 220F. Test the jam by dropping a little bit onto a cold plate and chilling for a few minutes in the fridge; if the jam on the plate wrinkles when pushed with your finger, it's ready.

Turn off heat and allow the foam to settle. Skim off the foam with a spoon, then ladle the jam into jars, cap, and process in a boiling water bath 10 minutes to seal.

Makes about 9 half-pints.

Cherry Jam

We're getting to the tail end of the California cherry season, and the stores here have been loaded with bags of delicious cherries. At least two of the blogs I read regularly - Fritter and Caviar and Codfish - have featured impromptu small-batch cherry jams.

Both recipes called for one pound of cherries, the juice and peel of one lime or lemon, a bit of almond extract, 2/3 cup of sugar, and half a cup of water as needed. Since I didn't have any limes on hand, I used a lemon.

The jam turned out pretty good. A pound of cherries only makes about 12 ounces of jam, which isn't enough for my needs (we give baskets of homemade jams, jellies, and pickles as holiday gifts) and although the lemon juice helps make the jam a little more tart and brightens the cherry flavor quite well, I'm less happy with the zest. Getting a bite of zest causes a tiny lemony burst which is okay, I guess, but not really what I'm after in a cherry jam.

I still have an eight-pound flat of strawberries in the fridge that needs attention tonight so cherries will have to wait, however. The produce store in town has been selling them at the gorgeous price of $1.99 a pound and if they still have some tomorrow I'll get six pounds and make enough jam for gifts as well as family eating.

Small Batch Cherry Jam

1 pound cherries, pitted and halved
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water if needed

Place cherries, lemon juice, and almond extract in a saucepan over medium heat and simmer just until cherries are soft, about 20 minutes. Stir in some water (up to 1/2 a cup) only if needed, then add sugar and continue to cook over medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until hot jam is thickened and bubbly.

Cherry jam sets up readily, so you need not bring the temperature to the full 220 F normally needed for jelly. When your stirring paddle comes out from the pan coated with a thick sheet of jelling liquid, test a few drops of jam on a chilled plate. If it's ready, it will set up on the plate after a moment of cooling; if not, cook a few minutes longer and test again.

Makes 12 ounces of jam - enough to fill three small 4-ounce jars.

Recipe adapted from Robin's at caviarandcodfish.com and Sarah's at fritterblog.blogspot.com.