? for jam makers please: I picked a lot of black raspberries to make jam. I put them

B

barbara-in-va

Well-known member
thru the squeezo to remove the seeds and ended up with a gigantic bowl of liquid black gold. I put this bowl in the fridge and 2 days later got it out to make the jam. Well, almost the entire bowl full was one solid mass, not frozen but jelled!

I have been very unsuccessful in making jam without the use of pectin. But I was thinking that I should try that since this juice seemed to have a lot of natural pectin? I surfed and checked out cookbooks and every one wanted equal parts berries to sugar. That is just too sweet for me. I use the less sugar pectin now and like it so much better.

I decided to go with the pectin because that is what I was familiar with. I made 15 jars. It is VERY tasty but it is quite firm. More firm than I would like but still spreadable.

Finally, the question! Could I have made the jam without pectin and use less sugar than a 1:1 ratio?

 
There's a lot of chemistry to gelling of jellies, but yes, you can

make your jelly without added pectin. I have made many a jar of wild blackberry jelly. The gelling mechanism requires a cetain ratio between the juice's viscosity and the sugar. You can try making it with less sugar, and eventually the jelly will reach the gelling state. BUT it may be at the same ratio as the 1:1 ratio of juice to sugar.
If you really want a less sweet product you may have to use the low sugar pectin.
Maybe Steve will know better. ;o)

 
Actually, I DON'T know much better but will point out that if you intend to seal your jars using the

water bath method, it might throw everything to hell because of the 10 minute boiling. You may just have refrigerator jelly which is also terrific but has a much shorter storage life. Trial and error . . . only way to go. Good luck.

 
Try that recipe by David Lebowitz that I posted in the "Food Preservation tips and methods" . . .

forum on this site. just try subbing in your black berries.

YOu could also try making another batch of jam from your jelled juice, but add 1/2 to 1 more cup of jelled juice to it. If your previous effort was *very* firm, try 1 cup, but if your jam was just a little too firm, try 1/2 cup.

Blueberry jam almost always comes out too firm for me when I use packaged pectin. If the blue berries are especially dry looking (not real wet juicyu), I add sometimes up to a full cup and then I get the jam texture I like--I prefer that over the firm gelatin texture.

 
Mistral, that is a fabulous article! Wish I had read it before I cooked up 15 jars of jam, LOL!!!

Thank you so much for posting it. I will give it a try with blue berries or black berries, which ever I get to next.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top