My jam set too hard! What can I do?

[feefox]

I made Marmalade jam, and probably boiled it too long, and I even added a packet of pectin. Now it has set as hard as anything, you have to force a knife into it. I'm not sure if I should just heat it up with some water, or a sugar solution, any ideas?

 

[Wyogal]

How much did you make? You could try and heat it up, melt it, add more water; see what happens.

 

[bert bakering]

Heat up and add some water, fruit juice or lemon juice,

 

[Claire]

This is a funny one; seriously, I've heard of jams not setting, but not setting too hard. If you have a lot of it, put it in the back of your cupboard and melt a block of it into the marinade whenever you use one instead of the sugar (in the past I've been given tons of marmalade that didn't set and used it for this purpose)

 

[feefox]

Thanks for that message. What happenned originally was, I made the jam boiled it for ages, and added some pectin, but it didn't set. So the next day my mother boiled it all up again, for some time, and then put it in the jars again, and this time it set real hard. It's a bit like soft fudge in consistency, a real knife bender and toast ripper!

I have tried warming it up and adding a bit of the runny marmalade that didnt get grabbed for the second go, and it has reset perfectly. Just right. Trouble is I have about 10 big jars of the tough stuff. But I will try what you suggested and let you know how it goes.!

 

[feefox]

I like that idea, I like lemon juice, it should give it some real bite !

 

[feefox]

I made about 10 large jars! So I guess I may never need to make it again !

 

[Janet H]

Heat up the jar and slide out the 'tube' of jam. Slice off a disk of the hard jam and plate it with a scoop of frozen yogurt, a twist of candied ginger and 2 mint leaves. Give it a really fancy name and tell your guests it's the latest trend in 'harvest cuisine'.

 

[feefox]

Thanks, you know I think that might work!

 

[bamaj1]

You CAN rescue jam that turned into rubber but still tastes fine. I made a batch of strawberry jam without pectin (just sugar and fruit) but in my zeal to help it set up I let it heat too far toward soft ball stage. You could barely stick a knife in the stuff. So I put the whole batch back in the pot, added somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup water, and let it dissolve over low heat. Once the consistency was back to where I wanted it, I then brought it to a boil for only a few minutes and put it back in sterilized jars with new lids. Everything sealed and it's perfect. Don't give up!

 

[robinbalzer]

Thank you...

 

[zipadeedoodah]

I had the same problem with dried apricot jam I made. I took your tip and added orange juice and reheated which cured the problem and also softened the apricot pieces which had also gone hard. Thanks for posting the question and for all your replies.