Spent a lot of today making jam with a friend. Was a lot of fun, we ate a lot of jam off giant wooden spoons and ended up with 5 batches of jam.The first and second batches were made with certo pectin. The recipe called for 7 cups sugar to approx. 4 cups crushed berries. These batches turned out great but were sooooo sweet.
For the next batches we switched to Pomona's natural pectin. We used 2 cups sugar with the first batch and only 1 cup of sugar with the next two batches. They taste amazing.
But then I called my mum who told me that there likely isn't enough sugar in those batches to stop them from going mouldy.
:-(
Jam anyone?
3 comments:
Hi Green Grrl;
I have been making low-sugar jams for years and have never had any problems with them going mouldy. Provided you have sterilized your jars properly and sealed them properly, you should be fine. It's harder to get a good gel with lower amounts of sugar, and you may need to boil the jam longer before it gels, but it is really the acidity that preserves the jam, not the sugar - even though sugar does act as a preservative. However, you may can fruit with no sugar at all if you so desire. You would just have a hard time getting it to be jam.
Thanks for letting me know you have tried making my jam - I appreciate the feedback!
I WANT SOME JAM!!!!
ferdzy,
Thanks for the encouragement. :) I'm going to keep experimenting with low sugar canning. I def. want to can fruit this summer - any recommendations on what cans best? Peaches?
I can't get enough of your jam. Have been mixing a spoonful in with my yogurt each morning. Yum. Am making some more this weekend. :)
Chris,
I don't blame you! Who doesn't want jam?!
Now that I know my jam won't go mouldy I'm not giving any away though. :)
But I totally recommend trying to make your own. I was surprised at how easy it was.
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