Well, jams are inherently safe. You have high-acid fruit, sugar and usually an acid like lemon juice. Not much risk in that unless you decide to start adding hot peppers.

If you're talking about a traditional preserve, then equal amounts of fruit and sugar (by weight) is typical. If the fruit is riper, less sugar. If the fruit is greener, more sugar. Greener fruit has more pectin, so typical old-time recipes would be 2/3 ripe fruit 1/3 underripe fruit + sugar equal in weight to the fruit then for say 4 pounds of fruit perhaps the juice of 1/2 a lemon.

If you cut the sugar too far then you risk the product not jelling. You can get it to thicken by evaporating the water out but the end result is likely to be thick, caramelized and tarry. The other "risk" of low sugar is that once the jar is opened the jam won't last as long because the keeping qualities have been reduced.

But really, you can play around with jams and jellies quite safely. The biggest risk is spoilage (mold) easily detectable by sight and smell. Nobody gets botulism from jam.

Carol

Well, you might find this recipe a guide. You can use any fruit you like, really. The apples provide pectin, as does the lemon juice, so you can really reduce the amount of apple to nothing if you're using a fruit high in pectin. Eg you can use all grapes, and no apples at all. You can use other citrus fruits as well as lemon juice. For example, a kiwifruit jam is nice with orange juice.

Fruit Jelly
4 large cooking apples, roughly chopped
2 cups strawberries
1 cup passionfruit pulp
1 cup water
lemons
sugar

Simmer apples, strawberries, passionfruit pulp and water gently for 1 hour. Strain through a jelly bag or thin muslin overnight. Next day measure the juice and for each cup add the juice of 1 lemon and 1 cup sugar. Return to saucepan and heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil briskly for 1 hour or until setting point is reached. Bottle and seal.

Here's another recipe which tells you how much sugar and lemon juice to use:

Guava Jelly
guavas
water
sugar (one cup to one cup of liquid)
lemon juice (juice of 1/2 a lemon to each 2 cups of liquid)

Wash guavas, remove tops, cover with water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain through a colander, then through a jelly bag. Allow 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of liquid, add lemon juice, boil quickly until mixture jells when tested. Bottle and seal. Loquats may be treated in a similar way.

Generally, jams and jellies with no commercial added pectin use roughly the same amount of sugar as fruit pulp. You can get away with less, especially if you use lemon juice.

Here's a Diabetic Jam. You shouldn't keep this one for longer than about a week. You can freeze it, however. The lack of sugar makes sure the shelf-life, even refrigerated, is quite short - hence the small batch. I suppose you could used commercial pectin instead of the gelatine.

Diabetic Jam
250g prepared fruit (strawberries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, blackberries etc)
4 artificial sweetener tablets
1 teaspoon powdered gelatine
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Place fruit in a heavy saucepan over low heat until the juice runs. Boil quickly for 5 minutes. Add sweetener. Dissolve gelatine in the water and lemon juice over low heat. Add to fruit. Turn into a jar and when cold, refrigerate. Will keep for about one week. If using apricots or peaches, try adding chopped blanched almonds for a flavour change.

You could have a go at this one, too. If nothing else, it gives you ideas on what fruits you can combine!

Basic Microwave Jam
2 cups diced or crushed fruit
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon butter or margarine

Prepare fruit and place in a 2 litre glass casserole. Add sugar and butter; stir thoroughly. Cover with wax paper. Microwave on High for about 6 minutes or until mixture comes to the boil. Remove wax paper and stir fruit mixture. Microwave, uncovered, on High until it begins to coat a metal spoon. Test by dripping fruit mixture from side of spoon; droplets should be thick. Or put 1 tablespoon of the mixture in a small cup, place in freezer for 5-7 minutes or in refrigerator for 15 minutes; test consistency. If not thick enough, reheat to boiling, then microwave, uncovered, on High for 2 more minutes, test consistency again. Pour into hot sterilised jars, filling each 2/3 full. Cool, cover with a lid, and refrigerate or freeze.

Try the following: Apple Jam, Apricot Jam, Apricot and Pineapple Jam, Berry Jam, Blueberry Jam, Cherry Jam, Spiced Fig and Orange Jam, Peach or Nectarine Jam, Peach and Plum Jam, Plum Jam, Plum and Orange Jam, Strawberry Jam.

Check out the basic recipes in the boxes of powdered pectin. They list several and most are very similar. The only major concerns would be the amount of sugar and the batch size, if you plan to use a regular pectin. If you were to make larger batches using a lot less sugar, you can look at Pomona pectin instead.

Thanks for the advice everyone. If I find stuff on sale (pectin etc) I figured....why not try to experiment with different flavors and such. I appreciate...again...your help!

Ironically there can be less latitude with a commercial pectin jam (I'm not speaking of Pomona, which is in a different category) because the pectin requires a certain level of sugar to set. Digress too far from what's recommended in the package insert and you may end up with syrup.

Carol

Many people seem to like Pomona. I need to check it out. I am wanting to use the current jelly/ jam binge as a test of my abilities too. I am thinking of doing the State/County Fair thing next year and want to see what I can accomplish. No Blue Ribbon expected but want to try my hand at it.

One thing you can do if you are looking for different flavor combinations is find two recipes for the fruit you would like to combine, say peaches and blueberries, that use commercial pectin. (That might be an ugly color but you get the point.) Then divide the two recipes in half to get the amount of each to get a combined product. Surejell has quite a few recipes on their site.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.kraftfoods.com/surejell/

Yes, sugar is the major concern for most regular pectin types you see sold as Certo or Surejel. These do require sticking to the exact amounts of fruits, juices, and sugar needed. Some people will use just the fruits and cook them to a point where they will gel naturally, but that also depends on the kind of fruit and its natural amount of pectin it contains.

Tucker, good luck, and be sure to tell us if you make any great discoveries! (Or win any ribbons...)

Zabby

Well, not blue ribbon sure but I made some strawberry jelly for the first time yesterday and boy oh boy, I am amazed at how crystal clear I got it. Looks like a ruby! For me it is not worth the effort of homemade but it sure is pretty.

For any experienced people:

How do you get the jars without bubbles (a judging requirement)? I poured it in fast as possible and close to the funnel but there are still a few at the bottom. I noticed them rising up after taking them out of the water bath. One thing I just thought of is getting a bigger ladle as I have to use 1.5 ladles to fill a jar. Any other advice? The top also has some bubbles. Maybe I need to "skim" that off right after pouring before a skin foams.....