A Jam and Jelly Tasting/ by Shelley Lance, Cookbook co-author
A jam and jelly tasting first thing in the morning is not the worst way to start your day. These are jams and jellies Garrett is developing in the test kitchen for the upcoming Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. Every recipe we develop presents its own set of issues because we’re going from the professional kitchen to the home kitchen. One of the big issues for jams and jellies is that Dahlia Bakery bakers use apple pectin which is difficult to find, even in the industry, and would be almost impossible for the home cook to find. So, Garrett developed recipes using the kind of pectin you use in the supermarket, which sets things up with a much clunkier textue and with less finesse. The blueberry jam (at the top in the photo) was pretty much perfect. The cranberry hibiscus jelly ( to the right in the photo) has gorgeous color and great flavor, but needs more pectin. The whole preserved strawberries (at the bottom in the photo) taste good but the jelly part is too clumpy. So a bit more work is needed. Garrett made whole wheat flax biscuits because in his opinion, you can’t taste jams and jellies on a spoon. As a professional eater, of course I would have tasted them on a spoon, but I wasn’t going to argue with the warm, delicious biscuits!
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August 18th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
You can find apple pectin capsules at the natural foods stores. I have some; what are the proportions to use apple pectin instead of regular pectin in the Dahlia recipes?
August 18th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
I’ll pass your suggestion on to Garrett. There’s not a simple formula to switch one type of pectin to the other, unfortunately.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:11 pm
How about using grated apple like Granny Smith to provide the pectin? I’ve used other recipes that go that route. Much more appealing to me than a packet of pectin. The jam is lookin’ great!
August 29th, 2010 at 9:19 am
I like the way Garrett thinks! Of course you need some delicious biscuits to test the jams and jellies with!