Well, even if your jam doesn't set, you should have a good dipping sauce...

II've made jam and jelly for at least 40 years, using Certo, using SureJell, using the cheap store brand, using Pomona's Pectin. Pomona's is my least favorite, it leaves a chalky texture and is a pain to deal with, but requires no sugar to jell. SureJell and Certo jell at least 90% of the time for me, but require more sugar than I like to use. Don't try to cut the sugar if you're using commercial pectin and you'll be all right most of the time, don't be afraid.

Jam away, be sure to follow your recipes pretty closely until you get to the point where you know what it's supposed to "look like", then play with it.

As for that unset jam, it's also good on pancakes, on ice cream, as a glaze for fruit tarts, stirred into yogurt, lots of things.

Jam away!!!

Annie

People who are having troubles with their jam "setting" are trying to make low sugar jams relying on the natural pectin that is in the fruit. That varies considerably within a fruit type (unripe having more pectin than ripe) and between fruit types (apples have a lot of pectin, strawberries do not have a lot of pectin). And lots of other conditions. Using a product like SURE-Jell does just that, assure uniform conditions for everyone who uses it to get a jell. So follow the directions inside the package exactly to get the results they guaruntee. The downside to making jam this way is it is very very sweet. Most people are used to that kind of jam taste, but I don't like a lot of sweet stuff so I prefer the lower sugar jams.

But you don't have to worry about your jam setting up and it does keep better once the jar is opened too. It's a good way to get started and then you can branch out if you so desire. I started with Sure-jell, it's a no-brainer. Try the freezer jam if you want to use less sugar. Once you get the basics down, then you can find a lot of lower sugar recipes in the Ball Blue Book of Canning, available in most places where they sell canning supplies--grocery stores and hardware stores, for example. Good luck and have fun!!

Remember Annie said 90% of the time. One of the great misconceptions about commercial pectin (barring Pomona's which would jell water) is that it always works. It doesn't.

Sure-Jell isn't 100% "sure" but it does improve the odds.

If you make jam and it doesn't jell, first wait a good six weeks. Even with commercial pectin, some jams require time sitting on the shelf before they set.

If it hasn't set by then and you really want "jam" the Sure-Jell site has instructions for re-doing the jam. I wouldn't do it because the odds increase of ending up with a more cooked or caramelized taste and I'd rather have syrup than over-cooked jam.

As with bread-baking, we have to accept there's a certain element of chance with preserves. It's part of the fun.

Carol

I just made apricot/raspberry this week with Certo and had no problems with it setting.

I make "old Fashioned jams". Sugar and fruit, that's it, sometimes lemon juice. The only tricky part is making sure you get it to the jell stage temp wise. I use a candy thermometer with the "back of spoon test" and the "chill on a saucer" trick as reassurance.

Go fo it! If you undercook it and it doesn't set, it's a great sauce. Overcooking is much worse....no getting over concrete!

Jam is easy and fun..and well..like everyone says..if it doesn't gel...it's not the end of the world! But some jams also don't gel right away...so no worries...

I do jam with pectin or without..and the only way strawberries are processed into jam in my kitchen is freezer method..which requires pectin. We don't like cooked strawberry jam.

I made jelly one time and the only advise I have is once you put it on the stove don't walk away. When it boils it boils fast and out of the pot if you aren't watching it.
James

I make jams and jelly like chase does....like my mother and grandmother did...fruit, sugar and cook enough to evaporate enough water so it jells.
I do use pectin fors tuff likes trawberries and ripe peaches....but even they would jell with the addition of some lemon.
Linda ?C

Like Chase and LindaC I make my jams the old fashioned and long cooked way, because I've found I can cut the sugar into nearly half and still get a jell.

However, the original poster said she already had Sure Jell, so I figured she already had something in mind and I wouldn't confuse the issue with jell points and frozen plates and lemon for pectin, LOL.

I did just make 9 pints of entirely sugarfree strawberry butter with fresh local strawberries and every single jar set up nicely. Dad will say it isn't sweet enough, I can guarantee it.

I'm going to try to get some more strawberries tomorrow and make traditional preserves but I won't tell Dad I have them!

Aren't they gorgeous? And $1.10 at the u-pick place. Dad has 50 strawberry plants at the farm but he eats them just as fast as they can turn red.

Annie

I've never had a jam or jelly failure using Certo, or my store-brand equivalent. While the old-fashioned recipes use less sugar as an ingredient, you boil them so long that much of the moisture evaporates and you are left with a product with a similar resultant sugar content.

BTW, does everyone process their jams/jellies in a boiling water bath? My mom always thought I was nuts to do this, as she always just poured a paraffin layer on top and she never had any problems. I heard a home economist on the radio once state that this wasn't a foolproof way to seal jams, as micro-cracks can develop and bacteria can enter. Plus, due to modern standards of home heating/cooling, few homes today have real cold-storage rooms like our granny's houses might have had, which would inhibit the formation of nasty organisms. The home ec lady also mentioned that many folks (especially the very young and the very old) in previous eras got sick and died from mysterious unexplained illnesses that were probably caused by food-born microbes. I never told Mom this (she passed away last autumn), but she lost two of her siblings as toddlers (pre-1920) to such mysterious illnesses that were only identified as "summer sickness" at the time. I guess my point is, when it comes to home canning of any kind, it is important to follow modern safety recommendations regarding processing and storage. Lots of things have changed in the past 50+ years that could effect the safety of home canned products.

Help! Another strawberry jam question. I'm making a small batch recipe from Nigella Lawson that calls for 2 T lemon juice and 1 t balsamic to 675 grams strawberries and 700 grams sugar. My question is, can I sub lime juice for the lemon juice? I'm thinking of partly using the cooking technique from another recipe which includes cooking the berries and the sugar just to the point where the sugar is dissolved and then spreading out in a shallow pan, loosely covered (paper towel?)for a few hours or overnight to evaporate some of the water. A lot would evaporate in our dry air. Then the jam is cooked until jelled.

Annie, Chase, Linda you can laugh at the fact that this recipe makes just a very small quantity but I view it as cutting the possible losses!

So what do you all you jammers think? Is lime juice OK and is there any point to cooking a little and then air drying? If I used a thermometer, what temperature would I be looking for? And is it different at 5600'?

Thanks,

Lee

aiyiyi!..
If you are dealing with mile high altitude, water boils cooler...so it would take longer to cook...
BUT even though it boils cooler it's still boiling and losing moisture as fast...
Lime juice tastes different than lemon...but it's good.
Spreading the berries out would make them lose moisture...but how much?
Theremometer? How hot?
Lady! You are asking hard questions!!
Try it....see if it works then we'll all know! LOL!
Linda C

LOL Linda

Water boils at 202° at my elevation but a sugar mixture will still reach a higher temp so for those who use a thermometer, at what temp should it jell.

I know lime tastes different from lemon but my question was meant to ask if the same amount of lime juice, 2 T in this recipe, has a similar enough acid content to lemon juice to work the same way in the recipe.

I tried to make the peach preserves with rum, or was it brandy, last year. After about two hours of gentle boiling it was still a sauce - good but a sauce. I don't think my altitude was the only factor in it's failure to jell. I'm trying to avoid that by doing a small batch this time and having some science behind it. I don't want to stand and stir strawberries for two hours.

Aiyiyi! I know you have made jams/jellies/preserves enough that you could do it with your eyes closed and not get burned. But I need HELP!

Anyway, thanks for the late night laugh.

Lee

OK, take a deep breath . . .

The jell point for preserves is 8 degrees above boiling, so at sea level that's 220 degrees (220 degrees from sea level up to 1,000 feet; 216 degrees at 2,000 feet; 214 degrees at 3,000 feet; 212 degrees at 4,000 feet; 211 degrees at 5,000 feet; 209 degrees at 6,000 feet; 207 degrees at 7,000 feet; 205 degrees at 8,000 feet).

You have a little leeway. For a stiffer jam go up 1 degree, for a softer set go down 1 degree.

Lime juice is fine.

If you're making a preserve like the peach jam with rum 1) make sure 1/4 of the fruit is underripe; underripe fruit has more pectin 2) be careful not to add the alcohol too early; alcohol can interfere with the set.

There's a point to partially cooking and letting the fruit sit out in a shallow dish regardless of how much or how little it evaporates. Letting the berries sit in the syrup overnight plumps them up and equalizes the weight of the fruit with the syrup so the berries are less likely to float to the top of the jar. They should be evenly suspended and the soaking assists in that.

For more control the next morning strain out the berries, cook the syrup down to the jell point, add the berries back in and bring back to the jell point again. The jam will have more texture and the berries will retain their integrity.

Nobody dies from jam, regardless of whether they invert the jars, use paraffin or boiling water bath. It's a high-acid high-sugar product; it's not susceptible to the kinds of bacteria you have to worry about with low-acid vegetables like green beans or something like canned meat.

It's true neither inversion nor paraffin is recommended any longer, but it's not really a safety issue. It's a waste issue. BWB extends shelf life and reduces the likelihood of mold.

Mold isn't directly fatal, but if a jam does develop mold, it should be discarded. The mold filaments extend far beyond the visible level and a correlation between mold and cancer has been identified.

However, I don't see that as anything to stay awake nights worrying about; mold is detectable through sight and smell. You just dump that jar of jam.

Carol

Thank you Carol. My strawberries have had their initial short cooking with the sugar and are reposing under a fine mesh cover for the night. I added the lime juice just after taking it off the stove as per the recipe.

I think your suggestion to take the berries out of the syrup and cook the syrup to the jell point and then add the berries back and bring up to temp is brilliant. When I did the peach preserves last summer, the peaches were firm and stood up to the long cooking without getting mushy. I don't think that would be true of strawberries.

I'll be back in the morning with a report and a few pictures of the process.

Lee

So I made the jam and everything went pretty smoothly. I chopped up a bunch of peaches then when i realized I didnt have enough I threw in a bunch of strawberries. I actually had a lot of fun with my family making it. Its a great project for when you have family or friends over. I followed the directions that came with the Sure Jell pectin. Although i noticed there are two types of recipes i used the one without the need for cheesecloth. which is the most common method of the two?

perceptor, if you use cheesecloth you'll make jelly, it's the juice with all the pieces of fruit and pulp strained out. Jam is made with the whole fruit and doesn't need cheesecloth. Preserves are pieces of fruit floating in a thick syrup and conserves are usually a mixture of fruits and nuts. And that's more than you ever wanted to know.

As for the lemon/lime substitution, you can usually always sub lime for lemon, it's a bit higher in acidity, I understand, and so is a good sub in recipes that require a certain acidity level.

I agree with Readinglady, no one dies from jam. Green beans, meat, corn, even vegetable pickles can be suspect, but not high sugar fruit jam. If it's moldy, throw it away.

And, as Readinglady and I discussed last year (or the year before?) I like that recipe that requires the fruit macerate overnight in sugar. I have a bunch of strawberries doing that right now, they'll be preserves sometime this evening! It also works wonderfully for my favorite preserve, pear. The pears are fragile enough that they cook to mush, but if I cook them a bit, then dip out the pieces and bring the syrup to jell point, I manage to retain bits of the fruit. It's so yummy....

So, thanks again, Carol!

Annie

Yum, your peach-strawberry blend sounds delicious Perceptor.

I made strawberry preserves, letting the berries that were just cooked enough to dissolve the sugar stay, covered with mesh, overnight on the counter. In the morning they looked like this.

About half an inch of liquid evaporated overnight. Then they went into a clean pot and were cooked to 212° which is about ten degrees over the boiling point at my altitude.

I got seven small jars. The cute little Italian canning jars in the front turned out to be a PITA because my standard funnel for filling canning jars was bigger than the opening in the jars. I improvised by making a foil funnel with a smaller opening and putting it inside the canning funnel so it would go down into the jar. The tops look almost the same size as the other jars due to the angle of the photo, but they are only about an inch and a half at the opening.

I processed in a BWB for ten minutes.

I added the lime juice after the first cooking and the balsamic vinegar in the morning. The taste is lovely. I went to two stores trying to get some underripe berries to mix in but could not find any so I don't know how firmly this will set. But the flavor is fantastic and I'll do it again.

Thanks for all the help here.

Lee

Thanks for the information. I never realized how great jelly or jam can be given as a gift. I gave a jar to my aunt and uncle and they were so happy and excited about it. So i would imagine taking a jar or two to a birthday, dinner party or housewarming party may not be such a bad idea. Does anyone here ever give their jelly or jam away as gifts? What kind of reactions do you get?

I get everything from "What is this?" from non-foodies and folks who are not familiar with homeade anything, to folks who ply me with produce in the hopes of scoring some preserves!! Most people rave. That's why I always like to make something a little unusual that you don't find in stores--mixed berry jams or ones using spices, liqueurs, maple syrup, etc. and weird pickles like asparagus, green beans, caraway beets, green tomato "olives" etc. One of my most popular (and dead easy) products is mixed pickled peppers, which is just a vinegar brine and spices but I mix the pepper colors and put it up in small, snack size jars so it is very easy to use.

I make mexican gift baskets with my salsa and peppers, and pasta salad baskets with my jardinaire and pepper roasted pepper bruschetta, and tea and scone baskets with my jam, for special friends.

That's why I love canning, I'm never at a loss for a housewarming/thank you/hostess gift.

That is a beautiful preserve. Even if it doesn't set up fully, the flavor is going to be extraordinary. You just can't duplicate such things with commercial products.

One of the Harvest members canned a variety of preserves in the tiny 4-oz. jars and handed them out as wedding favors. The guests loved it.

Carol

I often give my homecanned products as gifts, and have people request them.

Since Elery's stepmom is diabetic, she's ecstatic with my all-fruit spreads and fruit butters, and my boss asks for cranberry salsa for Christmas every year.

Since fewer people can or preserve anymore, the homemade stuff is at a premium, in my experience.

Annie

Part of why i can is to have gifts. I gave Sebastian's teacher a basket with a good loaf of bread (I wanted to make my won but was to busy the day before school ended) a jar of raspberry violet jam, Annie's salsa and green tomato salsa. I lvoe shopping for gifts in my cupboard.

Lee, Those jars may be a pita but they really are nice looking. I bet they taste wonderful. What recipe did you use?

-Robin

Those are lovely...
I love to make jam, everyone in my family loves jam, jelly etc.
Linda

After making hthe jam from the recipe from inside the Sure Jell box i went to the website www.surejell.com and boy was I surprised to see how many things you can do with pectin. They have a recipe there for everything from relish and jelly candy to smoothies. Does anybody here use pectin for some thing other than jelly and jam?

Perceptor, I'm sure your aunt and uncle were thrilled with your jam as anyone getting it as a gift would be.

Robin, I did a Google search for small batch strawberry jam just to use berries that I had purchased. I found the video of the Nigella Lawson recipe and kept pausing on the shot of her recipe in the book so I could read it. Then I got help here and decided to do it as a two step process with a rest overnight and I was amazed at how much liquid evaporated out. I used the lime because I had it and I would use it again because I liked the taste so much in the final product. The teaspoon of balsamic did turn the preserve from a bright red to a more burgundy plum color, but still a lovely color and the balsamic also added depth to the flavor. You could use white balsamic but the flavor is different.

Here are the ingredients: 675 grams strawberries, 700 grams sugar, 2 T lemon juice and 1 t balsamic vinegar. They are just combined and boiled together. I knew the balsamic would change the color so I added it when I did the second cooking after the overnight rest.

I've linked the recipe video below. It's really cute to watch and just three minutes. The woman in the video used "Jam Sugar" which has pectin in it. I researched a little more and found a statement on Nigella's website (although the recipe is not there) that she uses "preserving sugar" which is just a different size crystal for easier dissolving - no pectin in it. I used regular cane sugar; that's the great thing about recipes that use weight instead of volume - makes it easier to do little substitutions.

Lee

Here is a link that might be useful: Strawberry Jam Video

Lee, last time I coarsely chopped the strawberries and left the bowl out overnight before cooking. They dry out that way too. I tried a low/no sugar pectin and about half the sugar. It gelled nicely. I didn't have luck without the pectin with strawberries - but it made a delicious sauce!

I give away more than I keep, since it's just DH and I and we don't use much.

Jam is for gifts!! I use it for hostess gifts, bridge prizes new neighbor gifts and just as a thank you!
I have been using parrafin on my jams and jellies for as long as I have been making jam and jelly...and that's pretty close to 50 years! I can count the times that I have had jam mold on 3 fingers...maybe 5 fingers if you count the time I ran out of parrafin and just covered the jars and didn't refrigerate them.
Thes ecret to success is CLEAN!!" Boil the jars or glasses for 20 minutes, fill while the jars are hot and the jelly just stopped boiling and pour on a thin layer of wax as soon as you can....then when that first layer has firmes, wipe the inside fo the glass with a wet paper towel and add another layer of parrafin.
I love to do jelly that way because I can use things like Champagne glasses from a thrift store and other interesting containers. I have used glass Christmas mugs for gift jelly.
Linda c

Lee and Annie good looking jam! Preceptor I bet your looked great too! Lee your recipe sounds wonderful.

I give jam and pickles as gifts all the time. Makes great little bread and butter or hostess gifts and they are always very well received. Beats a bottle of wine!

Chase, unless it's homemade wine! LOL!

Love to give canned goodies as gifts! Most people don't know what to make of it, but eventually they come around. I think canning and home preserving is going to make a small comeback. People will want to save as much money as they can on produce, and there's nothing bette than home grown!

Christine Ferber in "Mes Confitures" talks about making green apple jelly and keeping it on hand as "pectin stock" because young green apples have such a high natural level of pectin. Several recipes in her book call for a jar of green apple jelly. Does anyone do this?

Lpinkmountain, thanks for the great gift ideas.

Annie, cranberry salsa sounds great! Would you mind sharing the recipe?

Yeah mine got a great reception by everyone. It was worth the effort. Nothing tastes like homemade jam. I noticed that Kraft makes a special Sure Jell for making less sugar or even no sugar needed jam. Instead of using sugar you can use SPLENDA. its a great alternative especially for those who cannot ingest a lot of sugar. What do you think?

So ive been learning what the differences in using pectin and not using pectin are. I read that using Sure Jell it greatly reduces the cooking time when making jam, give it a fresher fruit taste and also increases the amount of jam you get from the fruit. Though three are those who like to only use the natural pectin in the fruit. What is the more accepted mothod of making jam?

I don't know which might be the "more accepted" method of making jam. The old fashioned and long cooked jam has been a standard for far longer, centuries before anyone ever heard of Sure Jell. I use that method because I can double or even triple a batch and I can greatly reduce the sugar. I don't find that the fruit taste is any fresher after cooking, whether it's for 10 minutes or half an hour, only freezer jam that isn't cooked at all has a more definable "fruit flavor" to me.

As for volume, you do get more jam if you use more sugar, but that's what's in the jar, more sugar. The amount of fruit you use is what you have.

I have used the no sugar Sure Jell and used Splenda for sweetening. It's OK but I'm really working toward an "all fruit" spread. The color is kind of "anemic" with Splenda and the set is softer, much like my longer cooked jams anyway.

I think it all depends on your own personal preference. I like more fruit, less sugar and I don't really care whether the jam has that "jello" thickened consistency. Ashley likes the soft set better, she dunks "toast fingers" into it instead of spreading so she gets jam on every bite. LOL

Now, that cranberry salsa recipe:

Spicy Cranberry Salsa

6 cups chopped red onion
4 finely chopped large Serrano peppers*
1 1/2 cups water
1 1/2 cups cider vinegar (5%)
1 tablespoon canning salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 tablespoons clover honey
12 cups (2 3/4 pounds) rinsed, fresh whole cranberries (actually, I used some bags of frozen berries in my freezer that went on clearance after Thanksgiving last year)

*Caution: Wear plastic or rubber gloves and do not touch your face while handling or cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.

Yield: About 6 pint jars.

Wash and rinse 6 pint canning jars; keep hot until ready to use. Prepare lids according to manufacturer's directions.

Combine all ingredients except cranberries in a large Dutch oven. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat slightly and boil gently for 5 minutes.

Add cranberries, reduce heat slightly and simmer mixture for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching.

Fill the hot mixture into clean, hot pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Leave saucepot over low heat while filling jars. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel; apply two-piece metal canning lids.

Process in a boiling water canner 10 minutes for pints or half pints (adjust time according to altitude if necessary). Let cool, undisturbed, 12-24 hours and check for seals.

Annie

I think it's a matter of personal preference. I prefer not to use commercial pectin except when absolutely unavoidable, for example with Habanero Gold or other pepper jelly recipes.

It is true that jams using commercial pectin do achieve a higher yield, but as Annie mentioned, that's because commercial pectin recipes require a higher ratio of sugar to fruit. So you get more jars but there's less fruit in the product. I think the result is a more "bland" preserve.

However, it really isn't a matter of right or wrong. We all like different things. Whether you use commercial pectin or not, what counts is you're making something yourself that can be gifted with pride.

Carol

Thanks so much for the recipe, Annie. Already copied and pasted.

For me the commercial pectin jams taste less like fruit because of the high amount of sugar. Part of why I make my own jam is so I can use less sugar. I do love strawberry freezer jam though, because it is completely uncooked. Ball freezer jam pectin uses the same amount of sugar as most no pectin jams.

I have made the green apple jelly to use as pectin, and then barely used it. Turns out most of the recipes I have wanted to make in Mes Confitures don't need it.

-Robin

I found this no sugar neede recipe on the Sure Jell website and it looked really good.

No-Sugar-Needed Strawberry Jam

Prep Time:
45 min
Total Time:
45 min
Makes:
About 3 (1-cup) jars or 48 servings, 1 Tbsp. each
3 cups prepared strawberries (buy about 3 pt. fully ripe strawberries)
3/4 cup water
1 box SURE.JELL For Less or No Sugar Needed Recipes Premium Fruit Pectin
1/2 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granular or 12 SPLENDA® Packets No Calorie Sweetener

BRING boiling-water canner, half full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain jars well before filling.

STEM and crush strawberries thoroughly, one layer at a time. Measure exactly 3 cups prepared fruit into 6- or 8-quart saucepot. Stir in water. Gradually add pectin, stirring until well blended.

BRING mixture to full rolling boil (a boil that doesn't stop bubbling when stirred) on high heat, stirring constantly. Boil exactly 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in SPLENDA® Granular or SPLENDA® Packets. Skim off any foam with metal spoon.

LADLE immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/8 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with 2-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. (Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.) Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 minutes. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middle of lid with finger. (If lid springs back, lid is not sealed and refrigeration is necessary.)

Hello!

I've made freezer jam for quite a few years. I've made raspberry and strawberry and have not had any set failures. Last year I made a small batch of blueberry with some berries that a friend of mine picked. It set as well.

This year I tried blueberry again (bought them at the grocery store) and my blueberry jam will not set. I am using the freezer jam recipe on the yellow Sure-Jell box. I did find a "fix" for no cook freezer jam online. I tried that process and it made no difference....still no set. I have jars of blueberry "syrup" sitting on the counter as I type.

I made a flat of raspberry last night and the entire batch set immediately (before I even got the lids on I could see it starting to set). So I obviously do know how to make freezer jam. My flat of strawberry set as well.

So I was feeling confident this morning and bought 1/2 a flat of Tayberries at the local berry stand. Made the jam the EXACT same way I made the raspberry and darnit if it didn't set. Soupy just like the blueberry.

I did notice when I crushed both the blueberry and the tayberry it seemed a lot more soupier and less dense than the raspberry and strawberry.

The only thing I did differently with the two non sets is I pulled the middle parts out of the tayberry jam (DID NOT like the way they looked!).....and I fished out some of the skins on the blueberry......other than that did all the measuring, mixing. boiling, timing, etc the same.

I've read that overripe fruit can result in set failures. They fruit didn't seem overripe to me...but I'm no expert.

Anybody have a fix for the non set other than using it as topping (which I'm more willing to do).....but still bugs the crap out of me that I don't know WHY it didn't set....don't want to make the same mistake next year.

Thinking I may stick to strawberry and raspberry next year....but it's so much fun to try new jam flavors.

So just peeked at my Tayberry jam it looks like it may be trying to set up......seems to be taking a lot longer than the other two berries. Blueberry still complete soup (made it 48 hours ago).....think that's on it's way to the freezer to be used to top ice cream and cheesecake. The thing I can't figure out is I bought 2 packs of blueberries at the same time. Made the jam in two different runs and both turned out identical with no set.

The parts you pulled out contain natural pectins. If I make seedless jams (remove seeds) I can expect a softer set. You're in the same situation.

I think it would be possible to warm (not above 105 degrees) the freezer jam and stir in additional pectin. Depending upon how thick the original freezer jam is, you might add from 1 T. to half a pack. You'll have to judge on that one.

That should work. A little lemon juice wouldn't hurt.

The other option would be to thicken the jam when used with something like instant ClearJel.

Carol

Thank you readinglady. I was wondering if the parts I removed contained pectin, etc.....but.....I didn't remove much of the blueberry skins as you can imagine how difficult that was since I only used my hands in both cases.

I just checked the Tayberry and it did set. The set is softer than the raspberry and strawberry but it did set. From what I understand the freezer jam is a softer set than the cooked method anyway.

I didn't think that I was supposed to heat my fruit in anyway since I am using the freezer jam method. Wasn't sure how it worked, re: spoilage, etc. Also, the blueberry that has been sitting on the counter a few days is still good to eat, yes?

Have never used clearJel. Is that a heating process as well?

Thanks for your help!

Blueberries don't have much natural pectin anyway. If the blueberries were very ripe also and some of the skins were removed, the commercial pectin alone might not have been sufficient for a firmer set.

The older recipes for freezer jams called for gently (gently being the operative word) heating the mixture to 100 or 105 degrees.

The newer freezer jam instructions don't call for that, but I still like to do it because it dissolves the sugar so the jam is less "gritty." (Just my preference.)

I was thinking you could stir additional pectin into the existing mixture then gently heat to incorporate it more fully. During the cooling you should see a firmer set.

However, if you've noticed your jam is setting now, I wouldn't bother.

Heating has no effect on spoilage or food safety and you still have that fresh-fruity flavor of freezer jams. Basically with this method you're just warming. It's not even simmering.

I would get that blueberry jam into the fridge or freezer. There's so much sugar in it that the risk of spoilage is fairly minimal but depending upon the weather, it could mold or it could start separating sitting out too long at room temperature. You might start seeing liquid (syneresis).

ClearJel is a special cornstarch thickener, not a pectin. There are two types. One has to be cooked. The other is instant. The cooked type is used in sauces and canned pie fillings. It doesn't break down under heat. The instant kind is mixed with sugar or other dry ingredients and then is stirred into the liquid. I prefer it for pie fillings.

You could mix a bit of ClearJel (It has LOTS of thickening power.) with a bit of sugar and then stir into your freezer jam. There are also jam recipes that call for ClearJel.

Here's a link to some ClearJel information and ClearJel jam recipes. Some people prefer these because you have the option of canning or freezing with the same recipes.

Using ClearJel

I hope this helps. Happy preserving,

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Strawberry Freezer Jam Heated Method

Lee, I improvise a canning funnel by cutting off the top section of a well-scrubbed plastic milk or juice bottle, and inverting. Voila! Instant funnel! Also has a handy handle :-) You might try this for your fiddly smaller jars (I'm assuming you have plastic milk bottles that hold about two quarts, with a built in handle near the top; if not, this idea won't work :-().

Are there any downsides to using clearjel as opposed to Sure Jell? Is there a chance that it could be too thick once settled?

There's a downside to everything.

The pdf I linked to gives instructions near the end on how to handle too-thick jam but the easiest way is to stir in a tablespoon or two of warm water when you open the jar.

Carol

So what has everybody made with Sure Jell lately? How did it turn out?

sorry, no Sure Jell here but I have made a dozen jars of sweet cherry butter with no sweetener at all, and 4 jars of gooseberry jam with artificial sweetener for Dad.

No sure jell, though, sorry.

Annie