Oh sure, sure...... I was thinking

   
When I was kid.......jelly tasted like jelled fresh fruit juice.....and jam tasted like homemade pie fillings. Not today's products. Overly sweet from gobs of sugar and the use of tasteless unripened fruit is the final product. In fact...do they even use real sugar?

The thought of making our own jellies and jams......no. I have seen this stuff made as a kid.

 One needs lots of years of experience in the ol kitchen making the stuff. Just like Madeline Moore.....a family friend that could capture the true flavor of the fruits she was using. At the age of 80....she still maintained her two acre farmstead in the middle of Watts, Ca. .........and was still making magic with her fruits jellies and jams.

My taste buds are demanding change. The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that I love to death..... is demanding change. No more tasteless substance. Time to make my own!

........and what a failure that was!

Only a handful of batches were successful....but too many other batches ended up as "The goop". It was runny.....or it was tasteless from the demands of sugar that had to be added so that the various brands of store bought pectin would work. I even made my own pectin from apples that we grow here at the farm. Great for jam......but it takes too much of my time to make.......and time I haven't any to spare.

http://thenatomasfarm.blogspot.com/2013/08/how-to-make-pectinthe-natural-way.html

Then I bumped into a blogger's site......she was talking about making the perfect.....hassle free.....jelly. Oh sure, sure...... I was thinking. Her secret was using Pomona's Universal Pectin..... enables you to make jams and jellies with little or no sugar.

This farm is all about testing new stuff before getting cemented into a  commitment. The Pomona's Universal Pectin website made a lot of far fetched statements such as "you cant fail a batch"...."you can use far less sugar"......and they basically were saying that the jams and jellies will not taste like a sweet sugary goop"

Oh sure, sure...... I was thinking.

First batch of jelly I made from prickly pear fruit and this Pomona's Universal Pectin stuff ........was a awaking experience!  Too good to be true.....I got damn lucky with making a great batch...so I was thinking. The second batch was perfect too! The third. The forth. I used all sorts of combinations to sabotage the jelly's outcome to fail. Doubled the lemon juice. 20% less powered pectin. Hardly any sugar.  This stuff was beating me to a win at every round. Anyone can make jellies and jams with this stuff. Anyone!

Farmer Deno rarely gives out great opinions of a product (or theater movies)....because there isn't much to jump up and down about..... out there these days. If you are going to make jellies or jams......first, buy your fruits from The Natomas Farm.......secondly, buy Pomona's Universal Pectin and no other brand! 

Now.....go be like Madeline Moore and make magic with your fruits jellies and jams.