When jam goes bad.....

[bikething]

...or just thick!

Had a go at making some hawthorn and crab apple jelly (jam) today, following the guidlines in the river cottage cook book (2:1 ratio of haws to apples by weight, then 750gms of sugar per liter of fruit juice)

After adding the sugar and simmering for a bit, the recipe says cook until the setting point is reached (105 degrees on a jam themometer).

I got the temperature up to about 100 degrees, at which point the jelly was starting to thicken (dollop-on-plate test).

I poured the jelly into warmed, sterilised jars and alowed it to set... and boy did it set !! :yikes: - i bent a spoon trying to get some out of the jar an hour later.

I have 2 questions :

1, where did i go wrong? cooked for too long? not enough fluid?

2, can it be rescued? - I can get it out of the jars with a stout knife, but it's about the same consistency as those blocks of jelly you can buy in the shops. I'm thinking chop it up, put it back in the pan with some more water and reheat until the chunks dissolve, with the aid of a hand blender if necessary!! then heating until it just starts to thicken before putting it into clean jars.

Any other suggestions before i sally forth to do battle with "the blob" ??? :swordfigh

thanks in advance

Steve

 

[McShug]

I have 2 questions :

1, where did i go wrong? cooked for too long? not enough fluid?

2, can it be rescued? - I can get it out of the jars with a stout knife, but it's about the same consistency as those blocks of jelly you can buy in the shops. I'm thinking chop it up, put it back in the pan with some more water and reheat until the chunks dissolve, with the aid of a hand blender if necessary!! then heating until it just starts to thicken before putting it into clean jars.

Any other suggestions before i sally forth to do battle with "the blob" ??? :swordfigh

thanks in advance

Steve

1. - Asked the wife she says - Too much pectin will make the jam too hard, too much sugar will make it too sticky.

2. - I will ask the wife again and get back to you, apples contain a lot of natural pectin,
maybe too much at the mo.

McShug

 

[McShug]

Spoken to the wife - she would like to know the quantity of the fruits, sugar etc you used

thanks
McShug

 

[bikething]

1. - Asked the wife she says - Too much pectin will make the jam too hard, too much sugar will make it too sticky.

so too many crab apples then? (and i did leave the skin on and pips in) - is there a way of telling how much pectin you've got before you get too far into the cooking? or do you have to stop cooking when it's set enough? - The set jelly was definately too hard, rather than sticky..

2. - I will ask the wife again and get back to you, apples contain a lot of natural pectin,
maybe too much at the mo.

McShug

I've read about adding lemon juice or crab apples to jam that isn't setting... is there a trick for dealing with jam that's setting too much??

thanks for the reply mate (and say thanks to your wife too!)

 

[bikething]

Spoken to the wife - she would like to know the quantity of the fruits, sugar etc you used

thanks
McShug

Hmmm, was a bit rough-measured..

800g haws (took about 3 hours sorting out the maggoty ones for that lot)
350g crab apples (all i had so just chopped roughly, skins and all)
this gave me a little over half a pint of juice, so i added about half a pound of normal granulated sugar.

 

[spamel]

Sell it as an eco friendly cement. By this time next year, you'll be a millionaire!

 

[bikething]

Sell it as an eco friendly cement. By this time next year, you'll be a millionaire!

considering the time it took to gather the haws, sort through and de-stalk them, and make the jam, i reckon it's taken me about seven hours of work to come up with about a tea-cup full of jelly

next year i think i'll buy some ready made.

 

[Toddy]

It's the hawthorn berries, they don't even need to be heated to start to set. I doubt you'll soften the jam up much unless you dilute it down with an awful lot more apple juice.
You could just call it fruit cheese ....it's quite nice on oatcakes or crackers but it'll not spread on your toast

cheers,
Toddy

 

[bikething]

It's the hawthorn berries, they don't even need to be heated to start to set. I doubt you'll soften the jam up much unless you dilute it down with an awful lot more apple juice.
You could just call it fruit cheese ....it's quite nice on oatcakes or crackers but it'll not spread on your toast

cheers,
Toddy

Do the haws have pectin in too??
How do i avoid this in the future - less apples? less hawes? pad out witth normal apples? use more water when i boil off the fruit - the HFW book said just enough water to almost cover the fruit....

cheers
Steve

 

[McShug]

The wife says she had the same problem making plum jam when she first started.

You could try this, get as much as you can out of the jar/s.
Sling it in a pan on the stove and add a little water (apple juice sounds nice) (depends on how rubbery your jam is), attack liberally with a wooden spoon/whisk and add a bit of heat to melt the lumps.
Meanwhile wash and sterilise the jar/s.
When the jam and water has boiled up a bit pour back into the jar, and fingers crossed all should be well.

As Toddy says Hawthorns are full of pectin - I like the sound of the fruit cheese mmmm may have to try it maybe with a little brie?


Good Luck Steve

 

[Toddy]

The haws are really pectin heavy. I don't think I'd even attempt 2:1 with haws and any other fruit if I wanted jam, it'd be more like 1:4 for jam. There are lots of different hawthorns though, and like elderberries, every tree is a bit different.
If you want to rescue what you have, try to pulp up the jam with a carton of apple juice, add some more sugar, 450g per litre of apple juice (if unsweetened, less if it is), and bring the whole lot to the boil again. It ought to make apple jelly, which is good
What colour did your jelly turn out?

Failing that, if your jelly is really, really thick and solid, you could cut it into chunks and dip it in melted chocolate and that would make rather nice sweeties Like turkish delight, sort of.

cheers,
Toddy

 

[xylaria]

Failing that, if your jelly is really, really thick and solid, you could cut it into chunks and dip it in melted chocolate and that would make rather nice sweeties Like turkish delight, sort of.

cheers,
Toddy

AAAggghhhh drooll
That sounds mouth watering

I used haws for jams that don't set. I used a table spoon for a 1lb jar. It can make it a little cloudy but it is better at setting than apple.

 

[bikething]

The haws are really pectin heavy. I don't think I'd even attempt 2:1 with haws and any other fruit if I wanted jam, it'd be more like 1:4 for jam. There are lots of different hawthorns though, and like elderberries, every tree is a bit different.

HFW specifically mentioned hawthorn in the description - guess it's part of the learning curve...

If you want to rescue what you have, try to pulp up the jam with a carton of apple juice, add some more sugar, 450g per litre of apple juice (if unsweetened, less if it is), and bring the whole lot to the boil again. It ought to make apple jelly, which is good
What colour did your jelly turn out?

not got any apple juice in the house... got a couple of small cartons of pineapple juice ? - luckily, there's not much jam..

the colour is a deep red.. like strawberry jam. The strange thing is after i filtered the fruit pulp through 2 layers of cheesecloth (dripped, not forced) the resulting juice was cloudy, but the resulting jam is clear

Failing that, if your jelly is really, really thick and solid, you could cut it into chunks and dip it in melted chocolate and that would make rather nice sweeties Like turkish delight, sort of.

now that i like the sound of.. pity i haven't got much jam to play with... I'll try to rescue half using the heat n mash technique and see how it goes.... might end up with hawthorne syrup to go on me pancakes !!!

thanks for your help guys

 

[Toddy]

AAAggghhhh drooll
That sounds mouth watering QUOTE]

'specially if you use Bournville or Maya Gold
Son2 was allergic to azo dye food colourings which seemed to be in *everything* when he was little. I got very good at making sweeties from natural things more so when he and his brother decided to be vegetarian.

HWMBLT still makes the best tablet though

cheers,
Toddy

 

[bikething]

HWMBLT still makes the best tablet though

cheers,
Toddy

Tablet? as in Edinburgh butter tablet???


got a recipe?

 

[Toddy]

This is the recipe I posted on another thread a couple of years ago

Okay, this is the original Gavin recipe.....and he's just made a potful There's a wonderful smell in the house.

Tablet Recipe

Ingredients
1kg bag of sugar
½ can of sweetened condensed milk
125g of butter
1 cup of milk or water
Method
Butter a tray ready for the tablet.
Have a mug of cold water ready for testing
Put all the ingredients in a high sided pan.
Stir continuously on a medium heat until all the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
Turn the heat up a bit.
Boil stirring continuously until when some of the tablet is dropped into cold water and you push it with your finger it forms a soft ball.
The tablet should be light coloured not brown. It is better to take it off the heat too early rather than too late. You can always reheat it if its too soft.
Stir the tablet vigorously until it becomes thick . If you cool the pan in cold water this saves you getting a sore arm.
Pour the tablet into the buttered tray to set.
Enjoy scraping out the pot.
Bribe somebody else to do the washing up.


I think I'll see if he can be persuaded to make another potful in the morning

cheers,
Toddy

 

[bikething]

YAAAAYYYYY!

Thanks for that Toddy, i just happen to have all those ingredients in the house

:You_Rock_