PRACTICAL TALKS
OUR JAMS

France is the country of household jams not only in our countryside, where everyone has their own recipes, but also in the cities where there is no bourgeois house that does not want to make its own preserves. But the recipes are followed by tradition, without taking into account the hygienic precautions that science has applied to these preserves. Also, very often, jams and marmalades ferment once put in jars; mold covers the inner paper and they become acidic. By taking into account the following observations, you will avoid all these inconveniences.

Precautions to take. First of all, do not cover the jars as soon as the jams are cold; you must wait one or two days, because they will reduce in volume; moreover, jellies do not form immediately.

Once in the jars, the jams must be protected from any contact with air, contrary to some theories that want to prick the paper lid with needle holes.

To obtain this result, make thin paper rounds that you will soak in brandy. Do not make all your rounds at once. The jars may not be the same diameter; it is essential that the edge of the jams is as well covered as the middle. So apply the sheet of paper to the edge of the jar by pressing lightly with your hand, and then cut out, with scissors, the line of the circle that has remained marked on the paper, then dip the round in the brandy, apply it carefully to the jams by tapping with your finger so as not to leave any air bubbles under the paper. If you see one, take it out, by slightly lifting the corner of the round on the side where it is, and tap with your finger from this round to the edge. Then only move on to another pot. When all the slices are placed, cover the pots.

For the good conservation of marmalades and jams, never use printed paper for this purpose. Printed paper has a strong odor that helps fermentation and harms the quality of the jams. Take strong white paper; if you do not have strong enough, put it in duplicate.

Then tie the paper around the edge of the pot and finish the tie with a loop and never with a knot, because you will have to visit the jams when they are in the reserve.

The conservation of jams, as it is done in the countryside, requires periodic monitoring and checking that you must not do without if you want to avoid losses that would increase the cost price of what would remain in the reserve.

Several causes can contribute to poor conservation: imperfect cooking, putting in pots, "covering", etc. It is for all these reasons that they must be visited from time to time. It is useless to examine all the pots one by one; it is sufficient, for pots of the same preparation made at one time, to take two or three at random to know the state of the others.

First of all, when putting them in jars, all must be filled to the brim, because when cooling, the jams reduce in volume and this reduction is further accentuated in the reserve, from where a greater mass of air will lodge between the insulating paper placed on the fruits and that of the opening of the jar. It is for this reason that they are never covered when they are still hot and that we wait wisely two, three and even four days after cooling.

To avoid any mold. We generally take, to soak the disc of paper used to cover the top of the jams, alcohol of a low degree (white brandy, fruit brandy) which, evaporating quickly, does not have the necessary action to prevent the ferments from producing on the surface of the fruits.

Here is the procedure to follow, thanks to which no mold should form:

Brush the paper disc on the side to be pressed on the jams with chemically pure glycerin at 30°, which you will find at all chemists, using a brush.
You could avoid this meticulous care by pouring on each jar of jam a spoonful of rectified alcohol at 80°, without putting a disc; but, at the current price of alcohol, the expense would be expensive, while the brushing with glycerin will not cost 4 cents.

If, during a visit, you see foam forming on the surface of the jams, it is because they would still contain water from the fruit, and this water would acidify very quickly. Return the contents of all the jars from this cooking to the basin and put on the fire. When the foam begins to form, add half a tablespoon of baking soda, stir in all directions with a spatula and skim immediately. Boil the contents of the basin for a quarter of an hour. But you will also need to wash the jars with hot boric water and dry them without wiping them before putting the jams back in.

The use of paraffin: But the most perfect covering of jams is obtained by the use of paraffin, as is done in Canada and in part of the United States.

After melting the paraffin in a bain-marie without letting it boil over a low heat, pour a thickness of one millimeter on the cold jams of each jar with a spoon. As it cools, it will form a solid cover, adhering to the jams and to the inside wall of the jar. To remove this paraffin cover, press on one side after passing a knife blade between the edge and the pot. The plate will lift up completely. You will remelt these covers in boiling water off the heat to use them again, and what has adhered will fall to the bottom of the water when melted.

AUNT DENISE.