New to canning; jam did not set

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Larkspeed

Assistant Cook
Joined
Jun 19, 2008
Messages
11
Location
Emmen, Netherlands
I'm a little confused here as to what I could have done wrong.

I made strawberry jam following the instructions I found here:

National Center for Home Food Preservation | How Do I? Jam and Jelly

I followed those instructions to the letter and the jam did not set.

I then followed the instructions given here: How to Fix (or Remake) Jam or Jelly That Turns Out Too Soft or Runny in an attempt to rescue the unset jam.

This also did not help as the Jam still has not set.

I am a total canning novice, this was my first attempt at doing anything like this.

I have tried searching the net for answers and just find myself even more confused.

What could I have done wrong to cause this jam not to set?

Does anyone have a link to a proper step by step tutorial on making jam for a total beginner? All the videos and things I have found so far all either assume you have done it before or just take huge leaps and don't give enough information.
 
I don't like the way that your recipe lists the amount of pectin. Things may have changed since the original recipe was published in 1982/2005. You can't tell if the original recipe called for a 3 ounce pouch of pectin or a 6 ounce pouch of pectin.

I would look for a recipe that gives the ingredients in ounces, cups, etc... or use a recipe from the pectin manufacturers website.

In the meantime it sounds like you have a great ice cream topping, pancake topping or milkshake syrup! :yum:

Good luck!!!
 
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Do you get Surejell/ Certo pectin products? The boxes contain a nice comprehensive insert for making jams and jellies. Also, there are several different types of pectin, as the insert states, they are not interchangeable.
 
And I would also suggest that you take a look at Ball Blue Book site on canning.

Recipes

It has all the recipes for canning any food that can be canned. And it will answer any questions you may have. But it does sound like you have a pectin problem. We have a lot of folks here that can every year. They are really good at giving you the right answer and information.

The Ball Blue Book on Canning is the Bible of canning. Any other site you may have found on line, you can safely bet, they got their information from the Ball Blue Book. :angel:
 
I made freezer jam for the first time and I thought it wasn't setting, but did after I let it rest. When I take it out of the freezer it's hard as a rock! Put it in the fridge overnight and it's defrosted but a bit runny. Still delicious, but not how I remember it from the 70's when my neighbor use to make it.
 
Thank for the replies

I have certo and bernardin liquid pectin.

Surejell is not sold here and is very expensive to import.

I did look at the ball site but again all the recipes they have there specify Ball powdered pectin which we can't buy here and costs way too much to import.

There are recipes in the pectin packets so i'll try one of those and see how it goes.
 
I've found better results with powdered pectin. Also, check the expiration date on the pectin package. I rolled the dice and used a 2 year expired packet of liquid Certo in my rhubarb jam, it was tasty but also a bit runny.

It also never hurts to throw in a bit of minced apple with peel, which has pectin and may help with setting.

Good luck! Homemade jam is so good!
 
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I've found better results with powdered pectin. Also, check the expiration date on the pectin package. I rolled the dice and used a 2 year expired packet of liquid Certo in my rhubarb jam, it was tasty but also a bit runny.

It also never hurts to throw in a bit of minced apple with peel, which has pectin and may help with setting.

Good luck! Homemade jam is so good!

Cooking apples are not common here and as such very hard to find.

Pectin itself is very difficult to find here and on ebay it's mainly sold by Americans that for some unknown reason insist on screwing Europeans on postage. I know for a fact it does not cost as much as they charge to send things over here, nowhere near.
 
Two things. First cooking time seems extremely short to me.
Second strawberries could be very juicy which is a good thing if you eat them, but very bad if you make jam. I have not been able to make strawberry jam for years now, because of that problem. And then the first problem becomes even worse if that's the case, because you really need to cook to the point where all juice/liquid is evaporated.
 
Cooking apples are not common here and as such very hard to find.

Pectin itself is very difficult to find here and on ebay it's mainly sold by Americans that for some unknown reason insist on screwing Europeans on postage. I know for a fact it does not cost as much as they charge to send things over here, nowhere near.

Oh dear! I can't imagine not being able to bake an apple pie. A favorite of my family.

Amazon has a flat minimum rate for shipping. But I don't know about overseas. I know they have facilities in other countries that help keep the fees lower.

But I am glad you found DC. Stick around and have some fun. :angel:
 
I only used pectin once and didn't like the jam. It was too sweet. I just put 2 parts fruit and one part sugar. It's not that important to be exact, so it can be by weight or volume. The downside is that it usually takes over an hour to gel. I test if it is properly gelled by putting a small amount on a plate. I then hold the plate vertically and let it drip. I then turn the plate 90 degrees and if it doesn't drip in that direction, it's ready.
 
I only used pectin once and didn't like the jam. It was too sweet. I just put 2 parts fruit and one part sugar. It's not that important to be exact, so it can be by weight or volume. The downside is that it usually takes over an hour to gel. I test if it is properly gelled by putting a small amount on a plate. I then hold the plate vertically and let it drip. I then turn the plate 90 degrees and if it doesn't drip in that direction, it's ready.

Exactly + 1
 
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