5 Ways to Thicken Homemade Jam (2024)

FAQs

5 Ways to Thicken Homemade Jam? ›

Heat small amounts of jam in the microwave, a few seconds at a time, and then use as you would normally. If it's still too thick, add some water while heating in the microwave, and then use it as an unusual pancake or ice cream syrup.

Heat small amounts of jam in the microwave, a few seconds at a time, and then use as you would normally. If it's still too thick, add some water while heating in the microwave, and then use it as an unusual pancake or ice cream syrup.

Pectin is often used as a thickener in cooking and baking. It is a natural polysaccharide (starch) product extracted from fruits and is commonly used as a natural thickening and setting/gelling agent that shouldn't affect the taste or smell of your recipes.

Adding The Right Amount Of Lemon Juice For The Perfect Jam

In this sense, you may need to adjust how much you add to your jam to trigger the pectin to achieve the perfect set. Generally, it's advised to add one tablespoon of lemon juice per pound of fruit.

If you do encounter a situation where your jam doesn't set up and is too soft or runny, don't despair! A really easy fix is to just boil another package of pectin and add it to the jam! It will still taste great.

Add pectin.

While this trick won't work for jam recipes that already call for pectin, adding pectin to a loose batch of jam while re-cooking it almost guarantees that the jam with set back up nicely. Whisk a tablespoon of powdered pectin (preferably the no-sugar-needed variety) into the pot of cooking jam.

Bring the syrupy “jam” to boil in a pot. Dissolve 1 to 2 teaspoons of cornstarch for every cup of syrup in a small amount of cold water to make a slurry. Reduce heat and drizzle the mixture into the jam pot, stirring constantly. Gently simmer for 30 seconds, remove from heat, bottle and cool.

Pectin is the traditional gelling agent for jams and jellies, but its applications extend to fruit products, dairy products, desserts, soft drinks in addition to pharmaceuticals [39].

Some fruits, like lemons, cranberries, quinces and tart apples, are high in natural pectin. It's also less common in unripe and over-ripe fruit. When making jam with other fruits – berries, for example – thickening will not happen naturally and pectin should be added.

This 'set' is achieved with pectin which occurs naturally in some fruits like quinces, apples and lemons. In many countries you can buy 'jam sugar' which has a commercially produced pectin in the correct proportion to the sugar. In South Africa you buy pectin powder at your pharmacy and add 3g powder to 500ml sugar.

What happens if you don't put lemon juice in jam? ›

It's Not Only About Pectin

There's another reason why lemon juice is added to most jam recipes: for safe canning and to prevent the growth of bacteria. Bringing the pH level down means jars can be sealed in a regular boiling water bath in a reasonable amount of time (sometimes as little as 10 minutes).

By using bottled juice, you ensure that your preserves have a consistent level of acidity, which makes them safe for canning. And when making jams or jellies, the degree of acidity in any citrus juice added affects the natural fruit pectin's ability to gel.

Once the jam is done cooking, it may look a little thin, but just remember that it will thicken in the fridge as it cools. For a thicker version (good for fruits that are low in pectin, like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and peaches), add a tablespoon of pectin powder.

How do you fix pepper jelly that didn't set? You can try pouring it into a pan and boiling it longer. You can try adding more sugar and boiling it longer. You can try adding some pectin to it and boiling it longer.

Once the jam is done cooking, it may look a little thin, but just remember that it will thicken in the fridge as it cools. For a thicker version (good for fruits that are low in pectin, like blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and peaches), add a tablespoon of pectin powder.

So if you use pieces of fruit or whole berries, you are actually using less fruit than if it were mashed, or cooked to a mash and then measured, and you will get a firmer jell. Or you may have used more pectin than the recipe called for. For example, if you used Tablespoons of pectin rather than teaspoons.

If the jam was too runny, then next time you might want to add about 20% more pectin to start with, or make sure you bring to a full hard boil for 1 minute (not less, and not more than a few seconds longer). If it was too thick, add a little less pectin, and/or a bit of fruit juice before you cook it!

You might need to add a little water though if your fruit is very dry. Boiling is key to jam-making because it releases a long fibrous compound known as pectin. Even though pectin only makes up 0.5-1% of the jam, you will have to learn to play it like a snake charmer or you will add your tears to your mixture.