I make strawberry jam without pectin from a recipe kayskats sent me (the Ball Complete Book and many other sources have similar - check Small Batch Preserving and Joy of Jams). The key is to let it set overnight in a shallow baking pan so the fruit absorbs more of the sugar. It still may end up more like "preserves" than "jam" depending on how stiff you like your jam. Here it is - you can make it more of a jam by mashing the berries and cooking it a little longer so it's thicker: Strawberry Preserves Source: Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Georgia. The berries remain whole and plump .. do not expect the syrup to set... it's a syrup. Makes about 4 half pints 1 1/2 quarts strawberries stems removed 5 cups sugar 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice Chose firm red, ripe berries. Do not use berries with hollow cores. Combine strawberries and sugar. Let stand 3 to 4 hours. Bring strawberry mixture slowly to a boil, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Add lemon juice. Cook rapidly until berries are clear and syrup thick, about 10 to 12 minutes. Pour into a shallow pan. Let stand uncovered 12 to 24 hours in a cool place. Shake pan occasionally to distribute berries through syrup. Heat mixture and pour hot preserves into hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4" head space. Wipe jar rims and adjust lids. Process 5 minutes From Small Batch Preserving: Favorite Strawberry Jam 4 C halved firm strawberries 2C sugar 1/4 C lemon juice 1. Mix berries and sugar, let stand for 8 hrs, stirring occasionally. 2. Place mixture in medium SS saucepan, Bring to boil over medium heat. Add lemon juice, return to boil and boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, Cover, and let stand for 24 hrs. 3. Bring mixture again to full boil over high heat and boil rapidly 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, ladle into hot jars and process 10 minutes in BWB. Makes 2.5 cups (1 pint and 1 4 oz gift jar,2 half pints and 1 gift jar, or 5 tiny jars) - Gotta double this recipe!

It isn't always the case that it's simply undissolved or recrystallized sugar. If you taste one of the grains.. If it's really sweet, it's sugar. If it isn't and can even be very bitter, it's undissolved pectin that has gelled to itself like a grain of chia. There are instanced of pectin that require calcium not dissolving in the presence of too much sugar, too quickly in the recipe. Lower sugar pectins suffer from this problem. I discovered and looked into it a lot when a regular sugar jelly we make had a grainy and liquidy, despite being the exact same recipe. Reboiling (in this instance) at a very high heat for a few minutes helped a lot, but didn't really fix it entirely. The solution is to dissolve the pectin into any other low sugar liquids along with the fruit, before adding the sugar. Just another one of many things it can be I guess. :)

Hahaha! Thanks for the ideas, and the laugh! Bruce, I make a cranberry mandarin conserve during the holidays, and last year I started adding peppers (Thai, arbol) for my fire-eating friends. It's actually very mild. I also made plum jelly with arbol and thai added...great for a peanut butter sandwich. My sister makes a nice platter of "Twice Deviled Eggs" using Bill's superhot powders. And the sweet potatoes..... well, we added Chipotle and adobo sauce for a kick, and they turned out pretty picante. Bloody Bhut Mary's....now there's an idea ;-) Josh

Re FOAS's comment about headspace, there is an alternative point-of-view. I think agencies like the NCHFP don't bring this up because learning about food preservation is complicated enough for a lot of people, without adding to it. A simple rule-of-thumb re headspace (as cited by Grainlady) is sufficient. But if you're interested in something with a bit more precision, here it is: I don't have time to type out the entire passage, but Beverly Alfeld, who has devoted a lot of time to researching canning issues and safe canning practices, has a different take on the issue of headspace. At the very least, she provides food for thought: In order to safely seal a canning jar, an adequate vacuum needs to exist in the air-space between contents and the lid. That air-space needs to be about 6 percent and never less than 5 percent of the entire jar's volume. The contents or food product in the jar will then take up about 94% of the jar's space. Some books speak in terms of inches . . . but this measure is not always an accurate measure, because the shape of the jar, the circumference of the rim, and the height of the jar will all impact the headspace. A tall, slender, 8-ounce canning jar filled to 94-percent capacity would not have the same fill requirements in inches (from product top to jar top) as a short, squatty, 8-ounce canning jar filled to 94-percent capacity. So, the percentage of fill in a jar is a better indicator of how far to fill a canning jar than the number of inches, or fractional inches, from the top of the canning jar to the prepared product fill line. If consistently using one type of canning jar, determine the correct level of the fill line, and fill all identical jars in the same way each time you use them. . . .A regular-mouthed, upright quart might have a headspace of 3/4 inch to 1 inch, depending on the style of jar you have and if the contents are chunky and more likely to float up. A jardiniere that is likely to expand might be filled with a slightly larger headspace than, say, applesauce. Be careful not to overpack a jar of jardiniere. It is better to under pack than to overpack. Excerpted from a canning and recipe development manual, Pickles to Relish by Beverly Ellen Schoonmaker Alfeld. Having said that, consider the practical implications of too-little or too-much headspace. If the headspace is too great then with a product like jam there is a greater likelihood of oxidation. With a full-sugar jam, the likelihood of spoilage is slim, even if the jam weren't processed, so the main "risk" is an aesthetic one. (Perhaps mold, depending upon conditions.) With a product which expands, like pie filling, too little headspace results in siphoning and a greater likelihood of seal failures. Carol