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It Takes Time, Patience For Jelly To Jell

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By Mary A. Keith

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 9, 2008

Updated: 12/12/2008 10:54 pm

I tried to make calamondin marmalade. This morning I had the best calamondin syrup on my pancakes, but that's not really what I wanted! Is there a way to add pectin and make it stiffer? The directions I had did not use pectin.

If you are in a real rush, you could try reworking it. But calamondins usually have plenty of their own pectin. I would first suggest that you simply stick the jars under the bed and forget about them for a month or so. Then take a look and see whether they haven't stiffened by then. Sometimes it just takes longer for them to set. If you decide to try another batch, grind the fruit, add the water and then leave it sit overnight before you add the sugar. The extra soaking time helps to extract more pectin so it will set faster.

How can I tell what is a good winter squash? I'd like to try some of the different ones I see in the stores, but I never know what I should look for in a good one. And how do I cook them?

Do try them, they're great! Each one has a slightly different flavor and texture, but most can be interchanged in recipes. The most important things to look for are weight and firmness. It should feel heavy and full for its size. A winter squash should have a firm to hard outer rind so you can't squeeze it, but that also means there should be no soft spots. Although the color will vary on each squash, there should not be any watery-looking spots. Check around the stem end to be sure there's no mold. The easiest way to cook one is to cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, put it in a pan cut-side down and bake or microwave until it's soft enough to stick a fork through. Then season, fill or mash it as you want. Or you can cut squash into chunks, peel off the skin and boil or cook in a soup or stew.

Do the "lite" pancake syrups have artificial sweeteners? How can I tell?

When I checked labels I found that some do and some don't. If you read the list of ingredients and find sucralose, that's Splenda. Others sweeteners such as acesulfame K or aspartame might be used. I did find one that was corn syrup, water, gum, and flavoring. That one has simply diluted syrup with water, then thickened it with gum and added a little bit of maple flavoring. It won't be as sweet as the others. You just need to read the ingredient list.

How much red coloring goes into a red velvet cake? This recipe just says "1 bottle," but not the size of the bottle.

I found red velvet cake recipes that called for anywhere from 1 to 3 ounces. Most of the little bottles of coloring are 1 ounce bottles, so if you buy little bottles, that's one to three bottles. If you get the big bottle, then you'll need to measure it by the spoonful. There are 2 tablespoons per ounce, so use 2 to 6 tablespoons, depending on how red you want it to be.

I have a bottle of vanilla that says it is Haitian vanilla packed in the United States. Can that be true? Is it safe?

A lot of foods are like that, grown one place and packed in another. It's more economical to ship tanks of vanilla extract to the United States and put that in the little bottles here than it is to pay to ship all the little bottles. There are no dangers I am aware of with Haitian vanilla.

How do I substitute organic whole wheat flour for regular whole wheat flour in cookie and cake recipes?

Just use it. Whether flour is organic or not won't have an effect on the baking qualities.

I got a live turkey for this Thanksgiving, and don't think I want to do that again. The flavor was great, but it took forever to pull all those feathers. Is there an easier way to do that?

If you dip the bird in boiling water, or wrap it in wet burlap then pour boiling water over the cloth, enough that it gets wet down to the skin, the feathers should slide out very easily. Dip it quickly; you just want to get the skin wet, not cook it in the water.

Mary A. Keith, a nutrition and health agent at Hillsborough County Extension, can be reached at (813) 744-5519 or mkeith@ufl.edu.

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