Preserving a spot on the winner’s list

JoAnn Craig started winning awards at the Sonoma County Harvest Fair with her very first entry three years ago has never failed to have one of her jams or preserves take a prize yet. Her latest coup came this year, when her Ginger-Pear-Pineapple Jam won Best of Show, Best of Section and First Prize.
A lot more goes into Craig’s canned goods than fresh fruit and pectin. If there is a secret to her success, she says, it’s “that the fruits come from loving friends who bring me a bag or box of their freshly-picked fruit at the peak of their ripeness – from their organic, Sonoma Valley backyard tree, or old field, or kitchen garden. The fruits are in the jam pot the same or the next day!”
Craig freely admits she usually starts with recipes off the Internet, then tweaks them by seeking out the freshest fruit and best-performing pectins, always adhering to the Slow Food ethic.
An anthropologist who developed and taught courses in global careers at San Francisco State, Craig was diagnosed with cancer in 2001. She decided to retire to a healthier place, and after a few months in Glen Ellen, was re-tested and found to have no trace of the disease. Two years later, she adopted an abandoned dog in such bad shape that the vets thought he was much older than he was. Now fully healed, Ceres is “beautiful, inside and out,” said Craig. Together, master and dog have been certified as an animal-assisted therapy team who are frequent visitors to the school at the Valley of the Moon Children’s Home.
In addition to the Best of Show recipe, Craig shares one she created for friends of hers who are diabetic. “It is very quick and easy and everyone loves it,” she said.

Ginger-Pear-
Pineapple Jam

Makes about 6 cups

3 medium pears
1 cup crushed pineapple
4 cups sugar
2 oz crystallized ginger, chopped finely
3 teaspoons Sure-Jell regular pectin
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon butter

Peel and core apples.
Chop them in small food chopper.
Mix pectin with 1 cup sugar and add to pears, pineapple and ginger.
Bring to a boil, add remaining sugar
Optional: add 1/2 teaspoon butter to reduce foaming.
Bring back to a boil and boil exactly one minute.
Pour into clean, sterilized jars.
Process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes.

Very Berry Jam

Makes 8 cups

3 pints strawberries (3 cups crushed strawberries)
1 1/2 pints raspberries (1 1/2 cups crushed raspberries)
1 pint blackberries (1 1/2 cups crushed blackberries)
4 1/2 cups sugar
1 box Sure-Jell low-sugar pectin (pink box)
1/2 teaspoon butter

Mix 1/4 cup sugar from measured amount into 1 box Sure-Jell low-sugar pectin in small bowl.
Stir pectin-sugar mixture into fruit in pot.
Add 1/2 teaspoon butter to reduce foaming.
Bring mixture to full rolling boil, stirring constantly.
Stir in remaining sugar quickly, return to full rolling boil and boil exactly one minute.
Remove from heat.
Pour into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops.
Cover with two-piece lids.
Place jars in canner and process for 10 minutes.