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Faustina Trafton

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Aug 3, 2024, 4:52:21 PM8/3/24

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For years I researched the art and craft of preserving summer fruit, but I could never bring myself to go ahead and try it myself. What if I did something wrong? What if my jars exploded in the heat? What if I hurt myself or someone I cared about?

Welcome to my vicious cycle. I have, however, broken through my preserving paranoia so that I can enjoy peaches, nectarines and strawberries all year long. I found a baby step on the road to heat-processed canning: freezer jam.

The first summer I made freezer jam, I enjoyed it so much that I preserved everything I could get my hands on. Peaches, plums, nectarines, blueberries, raspberries, you name it. I lined my freezer with row after row of colorful jars, many of which made their way home with friends after dinner parties and high-tea afternoons. Well into February I had fresh, homemade jam every morning to spread on my toast and mix into my homemade yogurt.

Besides mollifying your canning phobia, there's another benefit to not boiling your jam. Uncooked fruit stays much fresher than cooked preserves, so when you crack open your treasure in mid-January, it will taste more like the fresh summer fruit you picked up from the farmers market. Some brands of pectin require that you use boiling water in the initial mix, but this short stint on the stove won't affect the flavor or texture of your fruit.

Most freezer jam recipes contain only three or four ingredients and require half an hour or less for preparation. It's a simple process: peel, chop, mix and freeze. The safety and simplicity of freezer jam makes it a perfect kitchen project for children, who love the idea that they made the tastiest part of their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Stephanie Stiavetti is a food writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. A self-proclaimed literary gastronaut, she spends most of her time thinking about, reading about or writing about food. She can usually be found perusing the cookbook section of used bookstores and posting on her food blog, Wasabimon, or on Twitter under the username "sstiavetti."

If you have children in the house, you might also notice yourself spending less on lunch fixings because decent store-bought jam demands a pretty penny these days. When I make freezer jam, the cost comes out to around 50 cents per 8-ounce container, and I have to say that the taste of homemade jam blows grocery store brands out of the water.

Pectin is the fruit-derived gel that holds jam together and creates a thick consistency. It's important to buy a brand of pectin that is compatible with no-cook freezer jam. Read the instructions carefully, as recipes can (and will) vary from brand to brand. Different kinds of pectin call for different amounts of sugar, so read the directions or your jam won't set correctly. Freezer jams always run a touch thinner than heat-processed preserves, but they should still set to a nice, spreadable consistency. If you prefer a thicker jam, you can heat your fruit to a boil for two minutes before freezing.

When making the recipes below, I used Ball No-Cook Freezer Jam Pectin, with which I've always had good experiences. You can also use any number of other brands, and these days many kinds of pectin allow you to use alternative sweeteners such as honey or Splenda, which is good news for those avoiding refined sugar.

If you do decide to use granulated sugar, it's a good idea to use a superfine variety so that it will dissolve more easily into your fruit. Instead of spending extra money on a specialized product, make it yourself by pulsing regular sugar in a food processor five or six times. Be sure to measure your sugar before grinding it, as it will yield a greater amount once the granules are broken down, and adding extra sweetener may cause your jam to be too sweet.

While you can purchase special plastic containers made for storing jam in the freezer, it's not necessary. You can use whatever sealable plastic containers you have hiding in your cupboards, or you can use good, old-fashioned Mason jars. I usually go with the jars because the whole point of this exercise (for me, anyway) was to act as a precursor to heat canning, and nothing invokes the memory of my grandmother's summer jam more than cute, 8-ounce glass jars with a ribbon tied around the top.

If you decide to use Mason jars, a word of caution: Do not use glassware with "shoulders," or a curvature in the jar just beneath the lid. Instead, use straight-sided jars with a wide mouth. When you freeze liquids, they expand inside the container and push against any curves or shape differences. In the case of glass jars, this can cause breakage and a sticky, razor-sharp mess in your freezer.

After a summer of making freezer jam, I was finally comfortable enough with the process to attempt heat canning. My first batch of preserves, an elderberry-peach recipe that I made up on the fly, came out perfectly and completely free of mishap. While these days I'm much more comfortable with heat-processed canning, I still make freezer jam so that I can preserve the freshness of certain fruits that taste better uncooked. It is still a staple in my house.

My printer has been running non-stop for about 3 weeks now and every now and again I cannot get a print off to save my life. I finally thought why not put in in the freezer and when I took it out they came right off. It works every time for stuck prints so far. I have tried putting them in boiling water and that worked a little but the freezer was genius. if I do say so myself.

another quick way is to set the pei sheet on the edge of the heat bed so it is only overlapping the top 50 mm (1-2") or so and pour just a little rubbing alcohol around the edge of the print. as it evaporates it cools so the prints just pop right off,

I have not had a problem with PETG sticking since I discovered this. I think it makes the plastic stiffer when it freezes so when you flex it they pop off easier. I PETG is another issue with me. One print is prints great. Next print is prints terrible. I also tried the alcohol thing and it works also but when that fails I do the freezer trick and so far it is working.

That is a great tip. I nearly only uses PETG and windows leaner between prints - this works almost every time, but I have had larger print that still wants to stick (even with alcohol)... I will try the freezer trick next time ?

I just tried this method with a print and it worked well. I was printing using PLA but the print was 30 x 70 and only 3.5mm thick so it didn't want to come off my bed by the normal flexing method (I was extra cautious because it was my forth attempt at the print). I placed it in my freezer for 30 minutes and when I took it out and flexed the plate, the ends popped off allowing me to remove it without damage. Thank you for the suggestion. I had never thought of doing this until I read this post.

Before I move on to the story and tutorial, download the free guide to get the most-est from my freezer paper piecing tutorial. Keep it nearby for reference as you experiment with the techniques. Click here and enter your information below to get your free guide now.

My freezer paper piecing tutorial is similar to paper foundation piecing in several ways. First, the general technique is similar. Second, I focus on placement, trimming and pressing. All good, however, the life-changing difference is that you reuse the templates without ripping them to shreds. And they are super easy to remove.

Have you made thousands of copies of templates? If so, you can stop right now, quilters of the world!

I trace a few copies on freezer paper and then reuse them many times. Or you can use printable freezer paper that is sized to fit an inkjet printer. There are other options, too, like regular freezer paper off of the roll.

Cut out the traced template with the paper scissors. Next, fold or score the seam lines. This makes it easier to fold along the lines in subsequent steps. Try using an index card to make crisp lines by lining it up with dashed line and folding over it.

Instead of pinning or glue basting the first fabric piece to the template like you would in paper piecing, you will iron the freezer paper to Fabric 1 (my Fabric 1 is white). Make sure the paper side of the freezer paper is facing up and the wrong side of the fabric is facing the shiny part of the freezer paper. The shiny side becomes the sticky side when pressed with the iron.

Next, line up Fabric 1 to the template and iron the freezer paper template to the fabric.