Ok, the preserves are well on their way but I have a couple of
questions.

The first one is that I want to understand the chemistry (if there is
any). The Ball Blue Book recipe I'm using has me boil a thinly sliced
lemon in a heavy syrup. It tastes good, the resulting lemon slices
were nice and I generally enjoyed it but does it have a chemical
reason other than adding acid? Is there a pectin thing going on?

The second question is whether the preserves are supposed to look like
whole figs when they are done. Looks like some will retain their
shape and some will not. Of those that will retain their shape, they
won't once I handle them or somehow get rid of the little green
thingies I forgot to remove prior to starting this process. That
won't taste good...

Sherry

Loki wrote:
> Ok, the preserves are well on their way but I have a couple of
> questions.
>
> The first one is that I want to understand the chemistry (if there is
> any). The Ball Blue Book recipe I'm using has me boil a thinly sliced
> lemon in a heavy syrup. It tastes good, the resulting lemon slices
> were nice and I generally enjoyed it but does it have a chemical
> reason other than adding acid? Is there a pectin thing going on?
>
> The second question is whether the preserves are supposed to look like
> whole figs when they are done. Looks like some will retain their
> shape and some will not. Of those that will retain their shape, they
> won't once I handle them or somehow get rid of the little green
> thingies I forgot to remove prior to starting this process. That
> won't taste good...
>
> Sherry

Loki wrote:

> Ok, the preserves are well on their way but I have a couple of
> questions.
>
> The first one is that I want to understand the chemistry (if there is
> any). The Ball Blue Book recipe I'm using has me boil a thinly sliced
> lemon in a heavy syrup. It tastes good, the resulting lemon slices
> were nice and I generally enjoyed it but does it have a chemical
> reason other than adding acid? Is there a pectin thing going on?

Yes, citrus peel and pulp and even the seeds contain pectin.
>
> The second question is whether the preserves are supposed to look like
> whole figs when they are done. Looks like some will retain their
> shape and some will not. Of those that will retain their shape, they
> won't once I handle them or somehow get rid of the little green
> thingies I forgot to remove prior to starting this process. That
> won't taste good...

Mostly they will hold their shape if handled with care. The stems are
supposed to be cut off before you make the preserves. Maybe I forgot to
mention that? The mark of a good fig preserve canner down here, or so
the Altar Society Ladies tell me, is the figs remain whole and the figs
and syrup are a deep amber color. I can tell you this, I ain't made it
yet but I still like my fig preserves. Miz Pettijohn always gives me a
pint of hers that are perfect and they don't taste any better than mine
but I ain't telling her that.

I wouldn't worry about the shape of the finished product.

George, who had a wonderful time with his descendants and ate waaay too
much Tex-Mex grub while he was there, not to mention the pork ribs.
>
> Sherry

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 19:24:17 -0500, George Shirley
> wrote:

>
>Mostly they will hold their shape if handled with care. The stems are
>supposed to be cut off before you make the preserves. Maybe I forgot to
>mention that? The mark of a good fig preserve canner down here, or so
>the Altar Society Ladies tell me, is the figs remain whole and the figs
>and syrup are a deep amber color. I can tell you this, I ain't made it
>yet but I still like my fig preserves. Miz Pettijohn always gives me a
>pint of hers that are perfect and they don't taste any better than mine
>but I ain't telling her that.
>
>I wouldn't worry about the shape of the finished product.

Well, they came out dark amber as did the syrup. They mostly held
their shape too. I'll worry about the green bits later. LOL.

I did have rather more air in the jars than I'd expected to. I filled
to within 1/4" of the rim as the instructions said, got out the air
bubbles I though but now I seem to have more air than that would
account for. Will this be a problem?

>George, who had a wonderful time with his descendants and ate waaay too
>much Tex-Mex grub while he was there, not to mention the pork ribs.

Sounds like fun to me!

Loki wrote:

> On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 19:24:17 -0500, George Shirley
> > wrote:
>
>
>>Mostly they will hold their shape if handled with care. The stems are
>>supposed to be cut off before you make the preserves. Maybe I forgot to
>>mention that? The mark of a good fig preserve canner down here, or so
>>the Altar Society Ladies tell me, is the figs remain whole and the figs
>>and syrup are a deep amber color. I can tell you this, I ain't made it
>>yet but I still like my fig preserves. Miz Pettijohn always gives me a
>>pint of hers that are perfect and they don't taste any better than mine
>>but I ain't telling her that.
>>
>>I wouldn't worry about the shape of the finished product.
>
>
> Well, they came out dark amber as did the syrup. They mostly held
> their shape too. I'll worry about the green bits later. LOL.
>
> I did have rather more air in the jars than I'd expected to. I filled
> to within 1/4" of the rim as the instructions said, got out the air
> bubbles I though but now I seem to have more air than that would
> account for. Will this be a problem?

You may have lost some liquid during the BWB time, normally this won't
hurt anything as long as the lid seals like it should. What I do is
this: after the jars have cooled for 24 hours I remove the rings then
try to lift the jar by the lid with my fingertips, just a little so the
jar won't break if it drops away. In the last two years I've only found
one jar that wasn't sealed out of the scadzillion I've put up. Turns out
there was a bit of sealing rubber missing that I had not noticed. Put on
a new lid, reprocessed and it worked fine.
>
>
>>George, who had a wonderful time with his descendants and ate waaay too
>>much Tex-Mex grub while he was there, not to mention the pork ribs.
>
>
> Sounds like fun to me!

My four year old greatgranddaughter appears to be about 35 yo in her
thought processes. B-) The one year old is a lot more fun, wanders
around eating the dogs food, getting drinks from the half barrel with
fish and plants, and various other things that astonish and astound her
mother and grandmother but doesn't faze us greatgrands, we've been
through that phase several times. Zoe and Avery are lovely little girls
but I'm glad my grandson and his wife are raising them.

George

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 09:25:44 -0500, George Shirley
> wrote:

>
>You may have lost some liquid during the BWB time, normally this won't
>hurt anything as long as the lid seals like it should. What I do is
>this: after the jars have cooled for 24 hours I remove the rings then
>try to lift the jar by the lid with my fingertips, just a little so the
>jar won't break if it drops away. In the last two years I've only found
>one jar that wasn't sealed out of the scadzillion I've put up. Turns out
>there was a bit of sealing rubber missing that I had not noticed. Put on
>a new lid, reprocessed and it worked fine.>>

Tried that and they all sealed just fine. I opened one and tried it.
Damn, I'm good. <grin> I am quite pleased with the results. Enough
so, that I'll be out back picking figs again tomorrow before it gets
hot. Might even send the boys out with ladders to get the stuff too
high for short little me to reach. We have them this week, might as
well put them to work!

>My four year old greatgranddaughter appears to be about 35 yo in her
>thought processes. B-) The one year old is a lot more fun, wanders
>around eating the dogs food, getting drinks from the half barrel with
>fish and plants, and various other things that astonish and astound her
>mother and grandmother but doesn't faze us greatgrands, we've been
>through that phase several times. Zoe and Avery are lovely little girls
>but I'm glad my grandson and his wife are raising them.

<chuckle> Grand kids are as far as I've gotten but I fully understand
the sentiment!

My almost two year old grandson seems to like to crawl into the dog's
crate. Not sure why, but he thinks it's a hoot and does it all the
time. One wonders how their little brains work...

Loki