Jelly making experts?!
Jelly making experts?
My blackberry jelly is stiff this year. Should I back off on the pectin or just let it be stiff.
Additional Details18 hours ago
Cooked jelly.
Answers: 18 hours ago
Cooked jelly. I know what you mean when you describe the jelly as being stiff. I've had it so stiff that I think you could run them as car tire substitutes - I call it "radial" jelly.
Reducing the pectin from a packaged pectin recipe is an iffy venture at best. Pectin is a collodial carbohydrate. Its major roll in making jams/jellies is to hold the non-soluble material in suspension - it also helps set the jams/jellies. Much, if not most, of the "set" in jams/jellies comes from acid in the berry and the added sugar. This is why lemon juice is called for in the recipe for some fruits/berries (Use only bottled lemon juice since it has a known pH). When acid, sugar and water, in the proper ratios, are cooked to the proper temperature it will set/jel. This is how candies are made.
I'm assuming you are using one of the recipes, w/ added pectin, from Ball, MCP, Certo, Sure-Jel, etc. which uses a "timed" cooking method. If so, you can do one of two things: reduce the cooking time or substitute 1/4 C to 1 C of the granulated table sugar w/ fructose.
When using the reduced cooking time method you check how the cooking jelly "sheets" off the spoon. It is difficult to describe. There is a good picture in the Ball Bluebook of Canning and Freezing. As soon as the jelly comes to a boil, lift the spoon and hold it edgewise and horizontally over the pot. You'll see that the jelly sorta' pours off the spoon (Flat wooden spoons are best for this test and for jelly making in general). As the cooking continues the cooking jelly will begin to sheet slower and the drops will, momentarily, hang at the edge of the spoon before falling into the pot. At this point, if you let one of the drops fall into a glass of water it forms a soft ball like when you're making chocolate fudge candy. This is the point to take the jelly off the heat and ladle or pour it into the prepared jars. This is more an art than a science. My favored pectin is MCP and the prescribed cooking time is 2 minutes. Blackberry jelly often reaches the point just described after 1 minute. In the other pectins the cooking time is about 4 minutes so this sheeting point will occur after about 2-3 minutes cooking time. If the jelly fails to set you can reprocess it - just pour all the jelly back into the pot, add another package of pectin and re-cook as before. I use this method if I don't have fructose.
When substituting fructose for some of the table sugar, cooking time remains as per directions in the pectin package. Fructose will cause the jelly to have a softer set. I use it when making blackberry or apple jelly. I use about 1/4 C in apple and about 2/3 C in blackberry. But the "set" will vary depending on acid/sugar/pectin ratios in the fruit/berry. And mother nauture has a habit of "adjusting" those ratios from year-to-year and local-to-local.
Fructose is available in some supermarkets and in most health food stores.
Blackberries make jelly easily with no added pectin. If you are using a no-added-pectin recipe and your jelly is too stiff, you're cooking it too long. See above about testing for doneness.
All of the above is also assuming you are using a fully ripe but still reasonably firm berry. As I'm sure you're aware, under ripe and over ripe fruits and berries are poor candidates for jams and jellies.
Remember - an unset jelly is an "intentional" syrup making project. LOL Source(s):
I teach jam/jelly making classes for the local Extension Service. Try using a bit less pectin. Are you cooking it or using what I call "the cold storage" (not cooking). If you are, try less time....
good luck! If you can spread it,let it be.Hey got a jar to spare.I never got my pan full when I picked berries,one for me,one for the pan.It sounds fine to me...