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Canning Pie Filling
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Posted by calliope 6 (My Page) on Fri, Jul 3, 09 at 15:54
| I usually just BWB my fruits when they come on with sugar by the quart and make my pie fillings from them before baking, but this year I'd like to go ahead and thicken the fruits, so that I can just empty the filling into the crusts and bake.
I found a good, and cheap source of clear gel locally but no directions. When do you add the clear gel to the fruit and sugar? How much? Any modifications to processing time? |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Canning Pie Filling
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| How much depends on your preference. It thickens a bit faster than corn starch and usually you use a little less of Clear Jel compared to corn strach. Be sure its not the instant type as thats not going to hold up to canning or baking. If your not sure, make your filling with the fruits and sugar to your taste. Mix a few tablspoons of Clear Jel into a glass or cup with some water or fruit juice. Stir to make a slurry, and then pour in some while stirring the sugar fruit mixture and its simmering. It should start to thicken quite fast. Allow about a minute and see if its thick enough for you, if not, add a bit more of the slurry while stirring constantly. If it thickens too much, add a bit of juice or water to thin it a little. Ladle into caning jars. Be sure to have enough acid to be safe for canning. Bottled lemon juice is OK, or citric acid, but I like using an acid blend as mentioned in many other posts here. Sometimes fruits are not tart enough and seem a bit bland once cooked, so I use the acid blend in jams and jellies too. If you do a search on the words 'CLEAR JEL' it will bring up many hundereds of threads and posts about its use. |
RE: Canning Pie Filling
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| I found both types, the instant and the bags not labeled instant. I also found one (danged, I forgot to copy the name) supposedly the same as clear jel, but better. Anyways, this is not the instant kind. It had in parenthensis (waxy corn modified) and has instructions to boil it with the juice for making pie filling. I will check on the directions for adding acid when canning for safety, I normally use bottled lemon juice. Thank you. |
RE: Canning Pie Filling
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| The best thing to do is access the NCHFP for specific pie fillings using ClearJel. This page provides information on ClearJel and its uses. (Instant is not used for canning.) Some filling recipes are also provided along with appropriate processing times. Although it's time-consuming, you may want to do a single trial quart first. Most of us have found that the standard recipes call for too much ClearJel thickener, so it's useful to check out how the recipe works for you. You can always safely reduce the amount of ClearJel. Carol |
Here is a link that might be useful: How to Use ClearJel in Pie Fillings
RE: Canning Pie Filling
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| Kitchen Krafts used to offer a similar product that was a Dutch starch. There is also Freezer Flo, another modified food starch, used for freezing and thawing. It seems to hold up better to high acid foods and for foods that seem to get watery after freezing and thawing. I use the Freezer Flo for meat pies that are frozen. I don't ever use any bottled lemon juice. Its just got an awful taste I dislike. It might be acidic, but I would reather add an acid that has no taste of any kind and is only something that adds a tartness or sour to a food. One time I bought a can of light cherry pie filling and it was bland. They had a lot of sauce in it and it was just bright red and flavorless. I added a bit of acid blend and also some dried sour cherries and it brought the stuff up to a level where I added a bit of Splenda, and it was the best tasting filling I ever made (modified). Without sugar, it didn't boil as much and leak out like pies that have lots of sugar do. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Acid blend
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