Kitchen Experiments

Well, my jam making adventure was a success! It was a lot messier and harder than I thought it would be, though. I used a cooked jam recipe (as opposed to the easier freezer jam recipes because I don't have enough room in my freezer) and I had so many berries that I ended up making two batches. I used the recipe on the back of the pectin package I bought which was simple but had a TON of sugar in it. The directions said not to reduce the sugar or else the jam wouldn't set properly so I didn't risk it, I went ahead and used the full amount. It turned out delicious, but a tad sweet for my liking so the next time I attempt to make jam, I will definitely use a low-sugar recipe. Plus, doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of making your own jam as opposed to buying sugary store-bought jam? Yes... but I didn't realize how much sugar I'd be using until I was already underway. And I made 8 big jars for a grand total of around $4. So I'm happy overall. I've since discovered a few canning blogs that have some amazing looking recipes and I'll probably use one of those in the future..

I had to use a skillet to cook the jam in because I only had one stockpot which I used to process the jars. Unfortunately, the jam recipe barely fit into my pan and resulted in a big sticky mess all over my stove and counters. It probably didn't help that I also don't have a funnel and had to ladle the jam right into the jars. And I will also definitely invest in a pair of those jam jar tongs to take the jars out of the pot next time. I used regular tongs this time and the jars kept slipping and splashing my arms and shoulders with boiling water. Not fun. But hey, no pain, no gain right? At least I got a ton of dirt-cheap jam out of it.I also got the immense satisfaction of making my own jam, something I've always wanted to do!

This week I also tried to make homemade yogurt and, to my great surprise, it actually worked! I used this recipe here and was totally convinced it wouldn't turn out because I either wouldn't follow the directions perfectly, used 2% instead of whole milk, or because I don't have a big cooler to incubate the yogurt in. Instead, I put the jars in my oven with the pot of boiling water underneath and added more boiling water a couple times. I could not believe my eyes when I realized it had actually turned out!

Brandon asked me what that "white stuff" was and looked at me like I was crazy when I told him. Then he gave me the same look later on as I jumped for joy that my milk had actually turned into yogurt. He's a little suspicious of it, but I've used the yogurt all week and nobody's gotten sick yet, so I'm chocking it up as a huge success and will definitely keep making my own yogurt in the future.

Anyways, the whole point of this post was just to brag about my canning and yogurt-making skills! Mission Accomplished. I hope you all are as impressed with me as I am! Just kidding ;-) If I can do it, anybody can! Also, I've heard that if you strain yogurt using a cheese cloth, it turns into Greek yogurt and then eventually cream cheese? I'll let you know how it turns out if I actually try it...