Food safety starts with cleaning!
Wash hands for 20 seconds
- Wet hands under hot running water. Add lots of soap.
- Rub and wash back of hands, wrists, between fingers and under fingernails for 20 seconds.
- Rinse well under running water.
- Dry with paper towels.
- Use paper to turn off the water faucet.
Clean and sanitize sink and counter tops
- Wash counter tops and prep sinks with hot soapy water.
- Fill squirt bottle with 1 quart water. Add 1 teaspoon of unscented regular chlorine bleach or ¾ unscented ultra (6% sodium hypochlorite) chlorine bleach. Or use commercially prepared cleaner and follow directions on label.
- Spray counter tops and sink with bleach solution. Let air dry.
- Wash hands.
Clean as you go
- Wash dishes, utensils, cutting boards, etc. in hot soapy water.
- Let air dry.
Blackberry and huckleberry jam recipe
Jams are made from crushed or ground whole fruit and usually have a thick consistency due to the high pectin content. Fruit gives the product its special flavor and often provides pectin for thickening. Pectin is needed to provide thickening or gel formation.
Ingredients
- 6 cups wild blackberries
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup huckleberries (half under-ripe)
- 7 cups sugar
- 1 liquid pectin pouch (3 ounces)
Procedure
- Wash blackberries, crush, and combine with water in saucepan.
- Bring to a boil and simmer, covered for 5 minutes.
- Force mixture through coarse sieve or food mill to remove most of the seeds.
- Add water to blackberry pulp to get 3 cups.
- Combine pulp, huckleberries, and sugar in large (8 quart) kettle, mixing well.
- Heat to full, rolling boil; boil hard 1 minute, stirring constantly.
- Remove from heat; stir in pectin; skim off foam.
- Pour jelly into hot, sterilized half-pint or pint jars to 1/4 inch of top. Seal with two-piece canning lids.
- Process in a boiling water bath. The time in the boiling water bath varies by elevation. For Minnesota, it is 5 minutes for half or quarter pints and 10 minutes for pint jars.
Yield: 10 1/2 pints.
Blackberry syrup recipe
Wild fruits from Minnesota's fields and woods can make very good syrups. Extraction of juice from the fruit is the first step in the preparation of fruit syrup.
Steps for extracting juice
- Using ripe blackberries, gently wash in cool running water.
- Crush berries and place in a stainless steel or enamel kettle.
- Add 1/4 cup water per pound of fruit.
- Bring to a boil and then simmer for 5-10 minutes, covered.
- Cool and strain through cheesecloth or a damp jelly bag.
- A pound of blackberries will yield 1 to 1-1/3 cups of juice.
Ingredients
- 4 cups blackberry juice
- 4 cups sugar
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
Procedure
- Combine all ingredients and simmer until sugar is dissolved.
- Remove from heat and pour into hot, sterilized half-pint or pint canning jars. Seal with two-piece canning lids.
- Process in a boiling water bath. The time in the boiling water bath varies by elevation. For Minnesota, it is 5 minutes for half or quarter pints and 10 minutes for pint jars.
Reviewed in 2021