Posted: 5/21/2011 5:41:44 PM EDT
|
My wife and I made a batch of strawberry jam today, using a recipe from the Ball book. It was a no-pectin one calling for 2 quarts of strawberries and 6 cups of sugar. The jam is delicious, but turned out very sticky, for lack of a better word. It doesn't spread very well, it just seems to ball up and follow your knife around the toast. Did we cook too long before processing? I know it is difficult to measure an irregular fruit in quarts, so maybe the ratio of fruit to sugar is off? Any ideas? Thanks in advance.
|
| we use pectin and we let them sit a while after they are done before we consume them, the Fiance makes a ton of jam a year and we normally sell it for 5 bucks a jar (plus a dollar jar deposit) people think it is really hard to do but she makes a batch while we are waiting for dinner, or after dinner before bed a night when fruit is in season.... |
| Thanks for the replies, I did some more reading in the troubleshooting section of the book, it looks like there was either too much natural pectin from the fruit, too much sugar, or cooked too long. Or heck, could have been all 3... It is still delicious, but we know what to adjust for the next batch! |
|
I made the no-pectin strawberry/apple jam from the Ball book yesterday. It sounds like you cooked it just a bit too long. Also, fruits that aren't quite ripe have more pectin than those that are really ripe. Our local strawberries are just coming to harvest, so they aren't fully ripe yet.
I also made the strawberry wine jelly from that book - delicious, very pretty color (think gifts) and incredibly easy! It does require pectin though. I can't wait for my raspberry harvest in a few months so I can make some raspberry wine jelly as well. |
|
Quoted:
My wife and I made a batch of strawberry jam today, using a recipe from the Ball book. It was a no-pectin one calling for 2 quarts of strawberries and 6 cups of sugar. The jam is delicious, but turned out very sticky, for lack of a better word. It doesn't spread very well, it just seems to ball up and follow your knife around the toast. Did we cook too long before processing? I know it is difficult to measure an irregular fruit in quarts, so maybe the ratio of fruit to sugar is off? Any ideas? Thanks in advance. I made jam for the first time today: rhubarb-strawberry. I used powdered pectin. The un-canned mixture was like heaven in my mouth, but I would not be surprised if my consistency is off. Will be interesting to open one tomorrow and check how it set. I studied a bunch of recipes, but developed my own to suit my desires. If it does not set to my liking, I will tweak until it does. What remained in my “sauce” pot after filling the last jar started jelling quite quickly. Hopefully that is a good sign. |
|
we had that happen on a fairly large batch....
a trick.... After opening.....cut it with about 1/4 OJ....it thins it well...my house it never lasts very long no matter how thick it is.....we've had syrup too.....still tasty....  .....and yes....truly awesome on home made vanilla ice cream.
|