pressure the juice out

[Valerie]

OK, I know this is weird, but I seem to recall that a while back, like maybe a year or two, someone said something about putting fruit in a pressure canner to cook the juice out.

Ms Norma brought me a big bowl of wild plums, about the size of small grapes, to make jelly of. I would like to put them in my pressure canner to get the juice going and then drip them in a jelly bag, but I don't remember exactly what to do.

Anybody know?

[Granny Smith]

Is this it, Valerie?

Kim sez~

Val, the easiest way to juice your grapes or any fruit, is to use your pressure canner. Put the trivet in the bottom, put some water in, set a stainless steel pot or bowl in to collect the juice then put the fruit in a steamer basket of some sort so it will be above the juice. Put the lid on and process at 10# for about 10-15 min.

Read more: www.grandmaw.proboards.com/thread/709/whatcha-doin-today?page=498#ixzz34MenLJCH

[Valerie]

Yes, that was it! Now I just have to find something that will fit down in there to hold the plums! My steamer is one of those little crappy kind that folds out like a fan. They used to make them pretty tough but not anymore. It only sits about an inch from the bottom, so I don't think that will work too good. My colander is plastic; do you think it would survive? I have some other cheap plastic ones that I can cut down to size if you think it would stand the heat/pressure.

[Granny Smith]

I don't think I'd trust plastic. Do you have one of those baskets for deep fat frying?

[Granny Smith]

Alton Brown hammered nails through the bottom of a metal pie pan to make a steamer. A cake pan would work, too.

[Valerie]

I wish I did have a fry basket. The kind with the removable handle would be perfect. I don't have any cake pans I'm willing to sacrifice, either, and all my pie plates are glass. When the kids moved out I gave them everything I didn't use on a regular basis, so there went all my old pans. I'll keep looking and see what I can come up with.

[Granny Smith]

Could you make something out of foil?

[Valerie]

I just went ahead and put the plums in the freezer for now. Tomorrow when I go into town, I'll stop at Dollar Tree and see what they have that I can poke holes in. If nothing else, a pack of foil pans should be available.

[Valerie]

I wound up saying what the heck and using the cheapo plastic colander anyway. It worked great! Boy did those little plums squish up to nothing! They were the size of fat grapes and took up a huge mixing bowl. They now look like raisins with large seeds. I'm about to take what's left out to the compost and let the chickens work it over. I got about 2/3 of a KA mixer bowl full of juice. It should make at least one batch of jelly, which is only 4 cups of juice.

[Granny Smith]

That's the kind of plums I have. I never get to do anything with them because, every year, just as they start to ripen, something, or someone, gets every one of them overnight (off about 6-8 trees!)

Glad the colander worked out. I'm surprised it didn't melt. Maybe I could leave mine in the dishwasher through the dry cycle, instead of taking it out and drying it by hand everytime.

[Valerie]

LOL! I've never had one melt in the dishwasher! The only plastic I've had mess up in the dw is that clear hard plastic like they use to make the boxes for produce.

[Granny Smith]

I've melted a couple of those little bottles juice comes in. I think they're made out of the same stuff as milk jugs.

[Valerie]

Our old dishwasher had an element in the bottom. One time a wooden spoon flew out of the rack and got wedged under it. When it came on during the dry cycle, that spoon started burning. It didn't flame up but it scorched and I could smell it.

[Granny Smith]

I've done that and I've also melted a plastic spatula that escaped from the silverware cage.