Busting Out My Foley Food Mill!

My Foley Food Mill is older than dirt. I got it at the Goodwill about 4 years ago & I am pretty sure it was salvaged from someone's basement. Even though it may have seen better days it still works like a charm. Today I busted it out to make some fantastic Raspberry & Red Current Jam.

 

The food mill is really simple. It's meant to bridge the gap between a sieve & an electric blender. Newer ones are made from plastic or stainless steel. Mine looks to be tinplate...it's that old.  How does it work? You put your fruit, potato, tomato what have you into the bowl portion of the food mill. Turn the crank & the bent piece of metal crushes the fruit through the holes at the bottom. The bottom of the food mill has a scraper which ejects what you want into the bowl underneath. Big things like seeds or pulpy bits that are too large stay in the food mill. My food mill will remove most large seeds (aka - the currents) & will reduce the number of small seeds from the raspberries. Some come with interchangeable plates. Mine however does not. So while it get's most of the seeds out, I will have some raspberry seeds in my finished product. 

Red Current Raspberry Jam

4 cups raspberries

1 cup red currents

1 cup white sugar (you can use 2 cups if you wish, but I like this jam a little tart)

1 package of low sugar pectin

2 tbsp lemon juice

1. In one bowl mix your sugar & pectin together. Set aside.

2. Pulp your berries in the food mill. After running it through the food mill you should have 4 cups of pureed berry mash leftover.

3. Start boiling your jars while you get your jam prepared. Jars must be sterile!

4. In your non reactive cooking pot place the berry mash in as well as your lemon juice. Bring up to a slow boil. Stir regularly to keep from burning.

5. Add in your sugar & pectin mix & stir regularly to keep from burning.

6. Bring to a rolling boil (roughly 10 minutes) You will know because you will not be able to stir it away.

7. Try to strain off the foam on the surface as best you can.

 

 8. At this point test for jell. (I usually leave a little bowl in the freezer. Put a little dab of the jam on it. Put in the freezer for 1 min. If you take it out & the jam doesn't move you're perfect.)

9. Ladle the jam into your sterilized jars. Wipe the excess from the rims. Screw the lids on fingertip tight & process in your boiler for 10 minutes.

10. When done your jam lids should make a pop noise indicating they have sealed within an hour of processing. If the lid moves up or down or doesn't pop, it hasn't sealed. You can either put it in the fridge to consume right away or you can reprocess with a new lid.

11. Remember, sealing & sterilization is extremely important. Botulism is always a risk if you don't pay attention.