Pectin vs sugar in jams and jellies?
- Thread starter SKR8PN
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patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
No no no, not at all in any way.
The pectin is what makes the stuff jell; it only works if it has the right amount of sugar to go along with it and the right acidity.
Thus you cannot futz around with the amounts of sugar, or the acidity of fruits, in recipes... unless you are prepared to also spend a lot of time futzing around with trying to get to the jelling point (which means having to test a lot, which is annoying, and the longer you keep the stuff cooking, the more 'cooked tasting' the fruit will get).
Some fruits can be jellied/jammed quite adequately without adding any commercial pectin, if you get the amount of sugar right; but that is because they are reasonably acid and have a goodly amount of pectin naturally present already in the fruit itself. For many of these fruits, it helps to include about a quarter of the fruit as being somewhat unripe, as that will have a greater pectin content that helps the whole batch set better.
Anything that lacks sufficient naturally-occurring pectin, the best you will ever do is to boil it down to a sort of a syrup, unless you add pectin from some other source (a high-pectin fruit, or commercial pectin) in correct proportion to the sugar and acidity present.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
The pectin is what makes the stuff jell; it only works if it has the right amount of sugar to go along with it and the right acidity.
Thus you cannot futz around with the amounts of sugar, or the acidity of fruits, in recipes... unless you are prepared to also spend a lot of time futzing around with trying to get to the jelling point (which means having to test a lot, which is annoying, and the longer you keep the stuff cooking, the more 'cooked tasting' the fruit will get).
Some fruits can be jellied/jammed quite adequately without adding any commercial pectin, if you get the amount of sugar right; but that is because they are reasonably acid and have a goodly amount of pectin naturally present already in the fruit itself. For many of these fruits, it helps to include about a quarter of the fruit as being somewhat unripe, as that will have a greater pectin content that helps the whole batch set better.
Anything that lacks sufficient naturally-occurring pectin, the best you will ever do is to boil it down to a sort of a syrup, unless you add pectin from some other source (a high-pectin fruit, or commercial pectin) in correct proportion to the sugar and acidity present.
Good luck, have fun,
Pat
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