Making jam with or without pectin?

[Lazar]

quick question to the jam makers out there. Made strawberry jam with pectin (a brand other than Certo), however, my mother who is a jam junkie, told me to make the jam without the pectin. Her reason is that jam made with this pectin product typically is not good for more than 1 year or so, where as jam made with just fruit, sugar and lemon juice last much longer.

Any thoughts on this? The only difference that I can see is that the jam my mother makes is more like a compote than an actual jam (a little runnier depending on the fruit).

[Nyleve]

Humbug. I've been making jam for over 30 years. I use pectin - usually Certo, because it's the brand most widely available here. The advantage to using pectin, in my opinion, is that you can make jam with a much shorter cooking time, which produces a product that tastes fresher. It also gives you a higher yield for the amount of fruit because you're not boiling all the liquid away until it reaches the gelling point. The results are also predictible and generally foolproof. It WILL gel most of the time.

On the other hand, there is some charm to the long-cooked traditional jam flavour that a pectin-based jam doesn't have. I think that the fruit almost caramelizes and there's a rich undertone to a jam made that way. However, some fruits just don't have sufficient natural pectin to gel properly - and so you either have to boil the heck out of it or be satisfied with a compote-y textured jam. Plus, if I knew that a batch of jam could take me all day to make, I'd never bother to do it.

As for keeping qualities - make the jam according to the pectin package directions and process the jars properly and it will keep for years. So your mother the jam junkie is wrong there. I have - and still use - jars of jam that I made 2 or 3 years ago that are absolutely totally fine.

[OCEllen]

I make several types of jams and conserves each summer and NEVER use pectin. I find the textures just fine, a little runny, so what? Have recently been using honey as a sweetener rather than sugar and the tastes have been amazing!

[The Tattooed Lady]

Jam spreads, it does not pour.

[Antonio2800]

Honey! Brilliant. What's your ratio for using honey? How much honey to substitute sugar?

[OCEllen]

I've never measured. I go by look and taste. Texture comes as a 'result'.
(But maybe cup for cup as a sweetener ratio?)

[clamscasino]

I made some delicious strawberry jam last weekend WITHOUT commercial pectin. As your mama recommends - just sugar, lemon and fruit. (Plus some water.) In my experience, the keys are including some under-ripe fruit in the mix, as well as sticking to small quantities. The amount of sugar used is also important.

After laboriously picking 4 1/2 cups of teeny tiny wild strawberries on Sunday and then just as laboriously hulling them, I had three cups of berries. I added some water and 1 & 1/2 cups sugar, juice from one half of a lemon and half an apple (for added pectin, just in case.) It cooked up in about 15 minutes. Gelled perfectly. Not at all like a "compote."

[The Tattooed Lady]

Pishtosh! The addition of pectin does not affect the shelf life of the product.

[oakjoan]

ROTFL. My ex used an expression that his mother used every time she was dismissing something (often)...."pish posh tish tosh!" Your post brought back memories.

[MsMaryMc]

My mother swore by MCP Pectin, but I'm a convert to Pomona's Universal Pectin. It's a different formula--all-natural, but doesn't depend on sugar to gel--so you can use far less sugar, or other sweeteners. This definitely does affect the shelf life--you want to keep your jam in the fridge, or the freezer for longer-term storage--but the way the fruit flavor comes through, it's worth it!

Pomona's is a little harder to find, but you can get it at Whole Foods, or many health food stores and natural markets, or online.

http://www.pomonapectin.com/

[cinnamon girl]

I've been making jam w/o store-bought pectin for the past 4 or 5 yrs and haven't noticed that it's runnier. In fact, last year's batch of strawberry got away from me and became a little too thick for my taste. I read somewhere (forget, but maybe Alice Water's Fruit book?), that you actually need MORE!? sugar when using pectin. This seems counterintuitive to me.

[clamscasino]

Some tips from the Woman's Home Companion Cookbook:

"Tough Jelly: too little sugar for the amount of pectin; also overcooking."

"Sirupy Jelly: Too much sugar for the amount of pectin; juice too low in pectin or acid content or both."

The book also states that you can test for the amount of pectin in the fruit by gently stirring together 1 tablesppon of the juice with 1 tablespoon of alcohol. If a large mass of jelly is formed, the juice is rich in pectin. If several less firm pieces of jelly are formed the juice is moderately rich in pectin. And if only small flakes form...it is poor in pectin.

[cinnamon girl]

Thank you CC: the alcohol tip (both for the jam and the cook), is invaluable. Indeed, I overcooked that jam last summer, no question.

I suppose adding too much lemon would also jack up the pectin level, contributing to "too-tough" jam/jelly. But since the lemon is generally added at the end, there would be time to do the alcohol test; after a couple of summers one could get a pretty idea of how to adjust the amount lemon for the desired consistency.

[clamscasino]

Cinnamon G: Not sure that lemon "jacks up" the pectin level. Your comment though piqued my curiosity, so back to the Woman's Home Companion Cookbook, (copyright 1942 and has an excellent chapter on preserving). There it says "To make jelly the fruit juice must contain the proper proportions of pectin, the jellying substance, and acid, which gives the jelly its firmness and tenderness." Hmmm firm and tender? Now there's a concept to muddle over...

The last batch of preserves I made (sour cherry) I augmented the pectin with the peel from an apple, as suggested on another thread. And I added lemon juice, which I probably didn't need for the acid with sour cherries. But it all came together wonderfully.

[cinnamon girl]

Thanks CC: Yes that sounds right - why would it generate pectin. As your Women's HOme Companion Cookbook points out the lemon affects the gel. So I'm obviously confusing gel with pectin. What a great book!
I was having trouble posting so hope this isn't in twice

[clamscasino]

Yes it IS a great book! It went through several editions throughout the 1940's, (at least) and mine is the 1945 one. and according to the introduction was meant to be "a handy kitchen encyclopedia." The recipes are clear and concise and several variations are suggested for many. It's my favorite book for making things like pancakes, dumplings for stew and many other old-fashioned traditional favorites. Since it was a "war-time" cookbook it also has an emphasis on economy and health. The wartime postscript states: "A healthy nation is the best contribution our homes can make to the war effort."

In the preserving section it has numerous tables for processing times by different methods for a myriad of vegetables, proper proportions of sugars to juice for 19 types of fruits, including elderberries and gooseberries, etc., etc. Also, as hinted at above, it has great tips on pectin levels naturally occuring in fruits. A great find among my grandmother's belongings. If you can find it (and copies do come up on the internet) it is well worth buying.

[ChristinaMason]

That edition of the cookbook sells for quite a lot now: http://cgi.ebay.com/Womans-Home-Compa...

Shame, I was hoping to buy one :)

[geminigirl]

I overcooked a batch of blueberry as well last year - I still have some, did you come up with any good uses for it? I didn't like it as jam but it was good mixed into muffin batter...

[cinnamon girl]

The strawberry jam still tasted fine . . . still tasted of strawberries rather than overcooked sugar. I just prefer it a little looser. Your muffin batter idea is inspired! What abt making blueberry and nectarine pie/crumble/cobbler and using a dollop of it as part of your sweetener? Might it reinforce the blueberry flavour? Of course it wouldn't have to be w/ nectarines but I love the blueberry-nectarine pie filling from Baking with Julia and use it for something every summer.

[jammaker]

Thanks so much for the link. I was looking for a way to use less sugar. Will try this product and ordered another box for my friend.

[morwen]

I use Ball Low/No Sugar Pectin. I can control the amount of sugar, no need to cook the fruit to death and when waterbathed, holds very well on the shelf. Just opened a 2 yr old jar of jelly while inspecting and rotating the pantry and the taste/consistency was just fine.

[Gio]

I'm not a jam maker, but my mother was. She didn't use pectin. She made Concord jam every year till she was 80 and simply cooked the grapes in their skins, along with sugar and a little lemon juice, then strained it at the end. Best tasting jam with natural flavor on earth.

[BernalKC]

Different fruits have very different pectin content, and strawberries generally have less pectin. I helped my mom with her preserves and she generally tried to avoid pectin, but I recall that she used it for strawberries. You can include some underripe fruit to raise pectin content, but with strawberries, the underripe fruit can impact the texture, so I would avoid that. You could also add some green apple, but why? There is nothing wrong with using pectin, IMO. It is, as others have noted, better than having to overcook your jam.

In contrast to strawberries, we made a lot of concord grape jelly and she never had to use pectin for that -- just a few green grapes would do.

I'm less clear about when to use lemon juice and how that affects the jam chemistry. I do see it called for with low-pectin fruit jams, but my hunch is that it has less to do with the pectin and more to do with the soft fruit flesh and combining the sugars + ascorbic acid + ?? to contribute to the gel.

[checkitout]

The reason the recipe is calling for the addition of lemon juice is that it helps to keep the fruit firm. This is the reason that it is added in fruit pie recioes as well. Hope this helps :)

[bananafishes]

The purpose of the lemon juice is to provide an acid for the pectin's magic to work. Any acid will do, but lemon juice usually contributes a pleasant, and not overwhelming flavor. If you look at the structure of a pectin molecule, it has branches. These branches need to become ionized in order for the pectin's colloidal properties to work. The acid allows the ionization to happen. Once that happens, the pectin chain can start attaching to other pectin chains, which creates pockets that hold onto liquids and other stuff, which in turn creates the gel that we recognize as jam. Someone with a lot of jam-making experience can intuit how to adjust the ratios of sugar, acid, and pectin to optimize the gelling properties.

[BernalKC]

Thanks for the explanation. As a geek I like to have some grounding in the physical processes involved in my cooking, and this is exactly the kind of info that helps me intuit correctly!

[Junie D]

I have no issues with pectin, but dixieday's strawberry jam is the best I've ever had, without pectin.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/2784...

[oakjoan]

I am about to make some plum jam - my favorite besides marmalade - without pectin today. This thread made me feel okay about doing so.

[Junie D]

I'm working on a batch of apricot and a batch of blackberry today, but plum is my favorite too. I love the sweet, tart, bitter balance in plum jam.

[geminigirl]

do either of you have a plum jam recipie you could share....I just picked some yellow plums today but stayed away from the red as they were a little soft for me, they would be perfect for jam though...

The peaches need to ripen some more and then peach butter....

[Junie D]

Here's my recipe for jam using the small (1 to 1.5 inch diameter) red plums from the backyard tree. When I have used larger plums, I've had to add pectin.

Plum Jam

5 pounds small plums
1 cup water
3.5 pounds sugar

Simmer the plums and water, covered, until plums are soft. Strain through a sieve to remove pits and skins.
Return puree to pot, add sugar, and simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Skim and pack into jars.

Makes about 9 cups

[Jen76]

I just made a batch of plum jam as well. It's a staple in Romania (where my husband is from), so I used his mom's recipe. It's in metric though. I used "prune" plums, which are oblong with dark purple skin and yellow flesh. It is so good. Here's her method (we halved the recipe and it made about a quart of jam):

4 kg plums
2 kg sugar

Slice plums into quarters (remove pits) into large bowl. Pour sugar over plums and mix together well to coat all the fruit. Set in fridge for 24 hours to let a syrup develop. After 24 hours, pour into large pot and simmer for about 2 hours stirring often to keep from burning. The plums should eventually begin to break down just by stirring and the jam should be thick and deep purple colored. You can then can in jars if you wish. We eat it fairly quickly so it all just goes into a large quart jar straight into the fridge after it cools.

[pammyfour]

I just finished making a wonderful organic damson plum jam. I kept things very simple and it came out great: used 7beautiful blue/black damson organic plums - pitted and coarsely chopped; added a scant cup of organic dried cane juice (turbinado sugar); a scant 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice. stirred it up in the pot over medium high heat and made sure the sugar dissolved, and kept stirring occasionally until it got thick enough when I put it on a plate I'd chilled in the freezer, and waited about a minute...... put it in a jar, and voila!.......

[legourmettv]

Every year we end up making some strawberry with and some without pectin. Depends on the day...
Very little difference, very little.

G.

[wekick]

This is not a true jam but very good on toast. My grandmother always made this.

mash together slightly
2 cups strawberries
2 cups sugar
Cook for 15 min and spread on a cookie sheet

I've also used cherries.

Here is a book I just bought-a little complicated but looks interesting. No pectin.

http://www.amazon.com/Mes-Confitures-...

[Pantry Party]

I have also jumped on the jam-making train and am curious about why some people are against pectin. In my relatively limited experience (I've made about 10 batches of jam so far), pectin seems like a great tool since you cut down on cooking time thereby preserving the full flavor of the fruit, and so you haven't reduced the fruit-sugar mixture to a very sweet, concentrated spread. But I suppose that is exactly what some people want in a jam? Which I can totally understand. I guess we all have a taste memory or idea of what a jam 'should' taste like, or of the way we like our jam to taste.

As for myself, I am searching for a lighter-tasting, lower-sugar (not for health reasons, just taste!), fully fruity jam where the taste of the fruit at its very peak has been captured as faithfully as possible, with as little boiling/simmering as possible and I guess in my mind, no-pectin, longer cooking jams go in another direction, intensifying the sweetness and almost caramelizing the fruit.

Then again, I have yet to delve into Mes Confitures by reigning French jam queen Christine Ferber, which has recipes for no-pectin jams that seem to have pretty short cooking times (but always a night or two of maceration). Excited to try them out.

I get the sense that some people (certain posters here and perhaps Lazar's 'jam junkie' mother) think using pectin is almost like cheating??

Here's another thread with an interesting debate the different kinds of pectins that are out there: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/634228

Also: these plum jams all sound amazing!

And on the subject of plums... here is my recipe for plum-apricot (optional addition of rosemary) using liquid pectin, which I based on a recipe from the book Blue Ribbon Preserves (I also used a 1:1 sugar-fruit ration instead of an almost 2:1 ratio, and I reversed the ratio of plums and apricots used in the book):

Plum-apricot jam (with rosemary, if desired

)

1 1/2 cups apricots, chopped and crushed
2 1/2 cups plums, chopped and crushed
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp unsalted butter
1 pouch liquid pectin
1 branch of rosemary (or two? depends on how partial you are to rosemary)

Combine mushed fruit (I chop mine, then crush gingerly with a potato masher) with lemon juice and sugar in a stainless steel pot, cover and let stand for about 30 mins. Uncover (you can add rosemary now, sprigs tied tightly with kitchen string, or in a herb bag or tied in some cheese cloth), bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Boil for two minutes, stirring gently. Remove pan from heat, skim foam, return pan to heat, boil again for one minute. Remove pan from heat again and skim foam. Stir in the butter, then once again bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Add pectin, return to boil for one minute, stirring continuously, then remove from heat and skim any foam off one last time. Remove rosemary, if used.

Allow to cool for five minutes, then stir to re-distribute fruit bits. Ladle jam into hot jars (this worked out to about six 250-ml jars for me), leaving 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) head space. Wipe jar rims then add hot lids that have been sitting in simmering water, screw on ring bands and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes (at sea level – more time for higher altitudes).

[OCEllen]

I, much earlier in this discussion thread, said I never used pectin; my reasoning simply is why complicate a simple and wonderful thing? If one wants pectin I've read that a few apple skins in a cheesecloth bag work fine. I cook my fruits, sugar or honey, sometimes with lemon or orange juice, quite briefly for a 'preserve', more complex mixtures that could be termed conserves, longer, but all without pectin. They are processed in sterile jars for about ten minutes, always seal fine, and are sent around the world.

[MotorCityMiss]

I know this is an old thread, but.....I just made jam (w/o pectin). There's a good explanation of the drawbacks of pectin in Joy of Cooking. The are pros and cons to both methods (with and without added pectin) of course.

Commercial jam makers, b/c of food safety laws, have to raise the fruits to much higher temps than you do at home. Thereby destroying the natural pectins in the fruit. So they must add it back in. But, then the added pectin requires a lot of added sugar to balance it out. For example (I made grape jam):

With pectin, the recipes called for 4 cups fruit, and 7.5 cups sugar and pectin.

WithOUT pectin, the recipe calls for 4 cups fruit, 3 cups sugar - less than half!

So, if you use pectin, you get a higher yield, and I suppose a 'less cooked' fruit taste. But a LOT more sugar.

If you don't use pectin (or toss in an apple to augment low pectin fruits) you get a much more concentrated fruit flavor by volume. But less jam.

The two ways of making jam taste distinctly different. Therefore, people who choose to make jam without pectin aren't just being 'old-fashioned' for no reason. It's usually because they prefer the taste.

My (no pectin) grape jam turned out sinfully good!

[Nyleve]

When you boil the fruit/sugar until it gels, you realize you're evaporating off the water - leaving you with a higher fruit to sugar ratio than what you began with. I'm not arguing the preference, it's just that you can't compare one to the other so easily without figuring out what the actual sugar content is in the end product.

[MotorCityMiss]

Absolutely true. I didn't measure how much of the water boiled off. I'm still rather sure that you end up with at least a slightly lower sugar ratio with the non-pectin version. It tastes that way to me at least??? And based on the yields of pectin added versus without I would also think that to be true...

Anyway, regardless - my point was that making jam without pectin isn't cuckoo. Both ways have merits / drawbacks. And the results taste different.

[Jen76]

You can also buy pectins that don't require the use of any sugar at all. You can use as much or as little as you prefer. I've made jams with added pectin and 2 or 3 cups of sugar that were very bright tasting since they didn't need to be cooked for so long.

[L987]

you only need to add pectin to fruit that dont have much natural pectin in them.

I dont know how they make pectin but for me it feels like im putting a bunch of chemicals in the jam, (i know its all natural from fruit) but you can make your own pectin by making some kind of apple syrup (sorry dont have the recipe here right now)

[morwen]

How to make green apple pectin
http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/sea...

[bogie]

My main issue with using pectin is the price (I'm cheap, OK?), so I avoid it whenever possible.

I have a couple of tips for you:

1) Adding some diced rhubarb to your jam works well because the fibre helps to thicken it and it adds a bitter taste component that I love.

2) A couple of years ago, I started to think "why not use icing sugar in my jam, after all it contains some cornstarch and that should help thicken my jam?" Well, it worked like a charm and I used much less sugar than you would have to with pectin jams. I use a ratio of 2 cups of diced fruit, 1 cup of icing sugar and 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice for anything I make.

What do you think?