Today I made my own apple pectin. Yes, you can buy this in the store for a few dollars, but my goal is to make jams from local and organic produce. By making my own pectin, I can control the source and exact amount of pectin in my jams. It is also cheaper — especially if you can find discounted unripe damaged apples (aka “windblown” apples) at a local farm. Potential problems with using homemade pectin include 1) running out of it mid-way through the year 2) making everything taste like apples and 3) not achieving as good or as reliable a consistency as the store-bought stuff. We’ll see…

 

Here’s how I made the apple pectin:

 

Chop apples very roughly, keeping the skin, core, and seeds; and add 2 tbl lemon juice and enough water to cover the apples. Ideally, I’d use crab apples or unripe tart apples. It is winter, however, so I bought 7 big organic granny smith apples in the supermarket. I have no idea when they were picked. I covered them with 6 cups of water.

 

Cook apples and water for 45 minutes until it looks like this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strain for 12 hours. I am using several layers of cheesecloth inside a colander over a pot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning, I test the pectin to see if it is strong enough to gel. To do this, I mix a tablespoon each of rubbing alcohol and apple pectin in a small cup. If it strongly gels (sits on a fork) then I’m good to go. If not, then I need to boil it down to reduce the water content. As you can see from the photo at left, my pectin was slightly gelled, but dripped through the fork very easily.

 

After boiling it down ~25% (as measured by a marked wooden skewer), I test again. Because the test only works with cool pectin, I put a small cup of the reduced pectin in the freezer for a few minutes. Still thin. After boiling it down slightly more than 50% I achieve a thick gel (see photo at left). I’m guessing that less boiling is needed (and, therefore, a better yield is obtained) if you are able to find unripe apples, which have a lot more pectin per apple.

 

Here are two photos of before-boiling and after-boiling pectin. Note the color change from a pale yellow to a dark orange. Some sticky foam accumulated on the surface during boiling. I skimmed this off during the boiling process. The 7 large apples gave me just over 2 cups (2 half-pints) of reduced pectin. [In case you’re curious, the homemade pectin did end up costing ~70% as much as the store-bought liquid pectin (by the oz) — and this ratio could obviously be improved if I bought in bulk and in season.]

Now that I’ve come up with a name, and designed the website, logo, and blog, my next task is to come up with some standardized recipes. My jam-making thus far has been freewheeling. Whatever I happen to see at the market, or whatever sounds tasty that day. I’ve made jams like apple-pear-ginger marmalade and cranberry-pear-lemon jam. I haven’t paid a whole lot of attention to the recipes I’ve used. They usually turn out pretty tasty, but, like the good folks at Cooks Illustrated, I’m on a scientific quest to find the best combinations of sugar, pectin, and acid.

 

First up…pectin. If you Google “pectin” you’ll find a wide variety of (sometimes quite passionate) opinions on using pectin in jams. Some jam-makers insist that the only authentic jams use no added pectin. Others say that jams with pectin keep more of the nutrients and flavor because of the shorter cooking time needed. And, then, there are those who make their own pectin from apples. I don’t know who’s right, but my plan is to make four types of the same jam — no pectin, store-bought powdered pectin, store-bought liquid pectin, and homemade apple pectin.

 

Welcome to Half Pint Harvest! This idea grew out of my love of food, my desire to preserve more of the seasonal harvest I found at the local farmers markets, and my dream of running my own business. We have a ways to go before we begin selling any jams, but, until then, I’ll be blogging about my experience of starting the business — from the fun part (testing the recipes) to the technical side (logistics of getting a license and finding a commercial kitchen).

Luckily, I’m not starting from complete scratch — I already know how to make and preserve jams, relishes, and salsas (see some 2007 gifts pictured at left); I know how to design a website and blog; and I’m pretty good with a budget. I have no idea, however, how to legally found a business; how to find and use a commercial kitchen; or how to get a product sold at farmers markets, stores, or supermarkets. But, it can’t be that hard, right? I am a rocket scientist, after all. (more on that later…)