From: hawley@adobe.com (Steve Hawley)
Newsgroups: rec.food.cooking
Subject: Re: Homemade Jams and Jellies
Date: 15 Dec 92 21:12:22 GMT
Followup-To: rec.food.cooking
Organization: Adobe Systems Inc.

In article <1992Dec14.151056.16616@chpc.utexas.edu>, jbyrd@chpc.utexas.edu
(Jan Byrd) wrote:
> Well, there's warnings all over the Sure-Jell box about using just EXACTLY 
> the prescribed amount of sugar and pectin or the result will be runny fruit.  
> It just so happened that for the amount of fruit I had, the prescribed amount 
> of sugar was 7 cups - way more than I ever would have put in it, and guess 
> what I got?  really-really sweet runny fruit.
> 
> Does anyone have any idea why my preserves were runny, and has anyone had 
> any success in using Sure-Jell and LESS sugar than it calls for?


Yes!

Step 1: avoid using powdered pectin.  Powdered pectin is a convenience for
the manufacturers.  They use dextrose (corn sugar) to bind the pectin. 
When
you make jam following their guide, you are using more than 7 cups of
sugar.
It's just plain gross.


Step 2: buy liquid pectin.  I use Certo which comes in boxes that contain
2 3oz. packets.  I find that 1/2 packet it sufficient for a back of jam.
Take the instruction booklet and have a good laugh about the amount of
sugar they think you need.

General recipe (this works for raspberries, strawberries, black berries,
cherries, peaches, plums, apricots, kiwifruit, blueberries and so on):

4 C fruit (for non-berries, chop the fruit into smaller bits).  Slightly
    underripe is a help.
3 C sugar (I have no trouble with this.)
1/2 packet pectin
1 or 2 T lemon juice depending on the tartness of the fruit

Start your jars sterilizing.  By the time the fruit is done, the jars and
lids
and rings will be ready.

Prepare the fruit (ie, wash, pick over, pit, peel, chop as the fruit
dictates).
Dump into a stainless steel or enameled or annodized aluminum pan.  Dump in
the sugar.  Set to medium heat.  The heat and sugar will draw out the
juice.
If you get impatient, crush some of the fruit.  Bring to a boil and reduce
to a simmer.  Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occaisionally.

Transfer some of the solids and syrup into a blender or food processor.
Blend until smooth and return to the pan.  This will give you a better
texture and less of the "fruit floating in jelly" syndrome.  Simmer for
10-15 more minutes.
Get your jars ready.  Stir in the pectin and lemon juice and bring to
a rapid, rolling boil for one or two minutes.  Remove from heat, skim
the foam and put in jars amd seal.

This produces a nicely colored loosely-set jam.  If your mixture seems
a little runny after it has cooled, don't panic.  Wait a couple weeks
and it should set up.  If it doesn't you just made some of the most
fantastic pancake or waffle topping you'll ever have.  You can also
try reprocessing with more pectin and lemon juice.

If you are really pedantic about sterility and safety, process in a water
bath.

DO NOT DOUBLE THE RECIPE. IT WILL NOT WORK.

Some references say to use a pat of butter when you boil the jam to control
foaming.  This is nonsense.  Don't bother.

For jelly:

This is trickier and far less predictable than jam, but here's what I do:

Prepare fruit juice.  To do this, take your favorite fruit(s), chop them
and
dump them in a pan with a little bit of water if the fruit isn't very juicy
(like apples or quinces).  Bring up the heat to medium and simmer for about
20-25 minutes, stirring occaisionally.  Going at them with a potato masher
really helps things along.

Strain the fruit pulp though a sieve to get the juice.  Try to avoid
pushing
the fruit because you WILL force pulp through as well as wedging seeds in
the mesh.  To help things along, knock the rim of the sieve with a wooden
spoon or the handle of a crummy table knife that you don't care about.

Dump the pulp.  For extra credit you can run the juice through a coffee
filter to get it even clearer, or several lares of cheesecloth.  Or, if
you can find one, don't use the sieve, but use a jelly bag instead.

Now comes the fun part.  Fill a small glass with rubbing alcohol and pour
in a teaspoon or so of juice.  It should clot up into a funny looking
mass on the bottom on the glass that you can pick up with a fork.  If not,
add some pectin to the juice and repeat the experiment until it does.

Do NOT drink the experiment.  It is poisonous.

Okay, measure your fruit/pectin mixture.  Put no more than 4 cups into a
large pan (as described above).  For every cup of juice, add 3/4 cup sugar.
Add about 1 t of lemon juice per cup of fruit juice.  Bring to a boil and
when a candy thermometer registers 220F, remove from the heat, can,
process (this is needed for long term storage of jelly since the cooking
time is so short) and pray.  If you're lucky, it will congeal into a nice
jiggly mass.  If not, open it up and try again with more pectin and lemon
juice.

Supposedly the jelling point is 8 degrees higher than the boiling point of
water in your area.  Some cookbooks say you should scoop some juice up in
a metal spoon and when the jelly slides off the spoon in one mass
(sheeting)
it is done.  I haven't reproduced this.  The candy thermometer seems to
work best.

Steve Hawley
hawley@adobe.com
--
"Did you know that a cow was *MURDERED* to make that jacket?"
"Yes.    I didn't think there were any witnesses, so I guess I'll have to
kill
 you too." -Jake Johansen