I bought her book but haven't looked seriously at it barring the introduction and the oven method. I see the risk of the oven method with full-sugar traditional preserves as one of jar breakage, not safety. Jams are inherently safe; processing is meant to extend shelf life and prevent mold, not because they're prone to risky forms of spoilage. The exceptions would be such low-acid fruits as figs, mangoes and cantaloupe. And while there is risk with those if the levels of added acid are insufficient, I'm guessing it's quite low because to set a preserve you have to cook to about 68% sugar; at that level any remaining water is pretty well bound up by the sugar, which discourages the growth of micro-organisms. In the case of peaches and cherries, I see no risk unless a preserver is really really determined to make peach-cherry slop. Both fruits are naturally low in pectin at the firm-ripe level. At its optimum this will be a loosely set preserve. With dead-ripe fruit it won't set; you could firm it up by cooking it to death, essentially boiling out the water and evaporating into a viscous taffy, but it wouldn't be a gel. So purely hypothetically if you used dead-ripe windfall fruit (i.e. bruised - which also raises pH) you might have a risk, but it would be miniscule. If it disturbs your comfort level, though, you could always add a pinch or two of powdered citric acid, ascorbic acid (which would assist in preservation of the light color), or some of the acid blend wineshops sell. That wouldn't change the liquid ratio and could also be beneficial to cut some of the sweetness. The best resource I know of to explore issues of pH and the properties of preserves of all types is The Jamlady Cookbook. She has a scientific bent and tells you everything the layperson might want to know about the art of jam-making. Carol

No way, not with all that butter (with a couple of tested exceptions no fats/oils allowed) and definitely not with the flour, thickeners aren't allowed either. What is the source of that recipe? There are only a couple of tomato soup recipes approved because of the fats and dairy products and thickeners so many recipes include. One is Katie C's Roasted Tomato and Garlic soup and the recipe for it is in many threads here. Otherwise it is canning tomato sauce and turning it into soup after opening the jar. There is also the one in Ellie Topp's Small Batch Preserving pg. 316. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: tomato soup discussions

I too dislike calcium fortified milk and OJ, and lactaid milk is simply milk that is either calcium fortified or not, but its natural sugar is not lactose sugar, as they use an enzyme to convert the lactose sugar into another type that can be easily digested. Because I am lactose intolerent, I cannot digest regular milks and don't like the chalkiness of the calcium fortified type. Yes, I do feel that you may be a bit too critical when you stated that you don't like the chalkiness of Pomona. I think it may be due to the fact that it is derived from citrus, which are naturally higher in a form of calcium, and not because of the addition of a minute amount of calcium carbonate. Interesting point to note, there is more baking soda or baking powder (also the same calcium carbonate) in a biscuit, or another leavened baked food. You may be detecting the differences of the Pomona pectin's origin from what its made from, and not the added tiny amount of calcium used to get it to set. When kids are brought up in families and the parents had distastes for certain healthy foods, the kids seem to also be against eating these foods. An example was my sister inlaw who didn't like peppers or tomatoes, as well as all fish. She simply has never had these foods to taste, until she married my brother who, in our family had never been swayed by any food choice of any kind. Now, my sister inlaw cant get enough of these previously disliked foods. I'm not saying that you should give Pomona a try again, but to say its chalky, is something I have never encountered here, and have used it for many jams and jellies after having terrible results with Sure Jel, Certo, and most other common brands of pectin. I wouldn't even attempt to make a jelly without some added pectin of some kind, only because all the other types must have some massive amouunt of sugar, except the no/low sugar pectin, which is not one of my favorites either, its almost like adding a package of Jello when it sets up, and it gets quite watery after a very short time unopened or opened and refrigerated.

Lisa, I use the Big Batch Habanero Gold recipe developed by Reading Lady (Carol) who is a frequent poster at the Cooking Forum and Harvest Forum. It is in the thread I've linked below. Any Habanero Gold recipe you pull off the Harvest Forum would work. I believe the original recipe was developed by the Canadian canning supply company, Benardin, and appeared in one of their canning cookbooks years ago. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Prev Thread: Big Batch Hab Gold Recipe