Canning question - making jam

[Buckethead]

I just finished processing my first-ever batch of anything, it was 4 pint jars of strawberry jam. However, I made a goof during the cooking phase and wanted to know if I have anything to be worried about as far as contamination is concerned.

I used the recipe in the Ball Blue Book, which (like all other jam recipes I found) instructs you to combine the fruit, pectin, and lemon juice first, bring them to a boil, then add the sugar and bring it to a boil again for 1 minute before processing. My mistake was that I added the sugar along with the other three things first, and brought them all to a boil together, rather than adding the sugar after the other three had already been brought to a boil together.

Do I have anything to worry about? I processed the jars as if nothing was wrong and they're cooling now, so if something went wrong I could possibly reprocess them, or maybe just freeze them instead of setting them on the shelf.

[greedygirl]

I think you must make jam differently in America! I always test mine for setting before putting into warm, sterilised jars. (You put a dollop of jam onto a saucer that's been in the fridge/freezer and then push it with your finger to see if it wrinkles.) Or maybe it's jelly I'm making??

I am confused.

[janniecooks]

I think if you don't use pectin you need to test for the jell point, but if you use pectin the test is not necessary.

Also a correction to my earlier post. I have recipes from two sources, one source always has the pectin added before the sugar (mentioned by the OP) and the other always has the pectin added after the sugar and fruit. So it would seem to not make any difference.

[greedygirl]

I don't add pectin, apart from what's naturally in the fruit and lemon.

[Buckethead]

OK, thanks. They've been cooling for several hours now and I notice that the fruit has floated to the top, with the liquid on the bottom, perhaps because of the step I did out of order? It looks like 3 of the 4 sealed properly, I refrigerated the fourth one.

[charlesbois]

I'm no canning expert, but it sounds like you may have made something like a fruit syrup by boiling the sugar...among other things, probably will work great as liquid in which to soak cakes

[sarah galvin]

turn the jars over and the fruits should settle the other way.

[janniecooks]

Actually I think the order is boil the fruit and sugar together, then stir in the pectin and boil for one minute. I think the pectin is added last and boiled for only one minute because further boiling will break it down?

Also in the future, to prevent the jam from separating in the jars, allow the jam to cool 5 minutes before filling the jars. Gently stir the jam every minute or so to distribute the fruit. Then ladle the hot jam into jars, seal and process.

[JoanN]

Kelli's Mom is right. As long as you have a good seal, the jam will be fine. You can refrigerate any jars that did not seal properly but you shouldn't reprocess them.

[Kelli2006]

I asked my mother who used to can 4-5 fruits a season and she said that you will be fine. The important aspect is the sealing of the lids, so if you get a good seal, as they cool, you are golden.