How to Make Quick Jellies Using Pectin
Making jams and jellies at home is much easier when you add pectin to your preserves. Pectin is a thickening agent derived from apples or other natural sources--it helps to gel your homemade fruit preserves. While fruits like apples, plums and pears already have high amounts of pectin, cooks use liquid or powdered pectin in many fruit jellies. Using pectin cuts preparation time and generally yields more product. Learn how to make quick jellies using pectin as a gelling agent, and you'll be whipping up jams and jellies at home that will keep for months or years. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- Fresh fruit of your choice
- Canning jars with lids
- Pot of boiling water
- Another pot
- Pectin
- Sugar
- Lemon juice
- Glass of ice water
- Metal spoon
Instructions
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Purchase fresh pectin the week you plan to make jellies. Even if you have some pectin left over from your last canning or jelly-making experiments, you should purchase fresh pectin because, like yeast, it can lose its effectiveness over time. Pectin comes in both powdered and liquid forms.
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Run your jars and lids through the dishwasher to make them as sterile as possible before filling them. This reduces the risk of spoilage.
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Wash your fruit of choice, removing any skins, hulls or pits.
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Crush the fruit using a food mill or a potato masher.
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Determine how much sugar to use. This will depend on how much jam or jelly you want to make, as well as what kind of fruit you are using. Each package of pectin contains a tip sheet that outlines the correct sugar-to-pectin ratio for various fruits, so refer to that when in doubt.
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Place your two pots on the stove. Fill one with water and bring to a boil. In the other, combine the crushed fruit, pectin and part of the sugar (about one-fourth of a cup). Cook over medium high heat until it reaches a full boil, then cook another five or 10 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
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Add the rest of the sugar and keep stirring for another minute. Some foaming at this stage is normal. Skim it off the surface.
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Test the "gel" of the jelly. Insert a metal spoon that has been sitting in a glass of ice water into the jelly, scoop out one spoonful, and allow to cool to room temperature. If the consistency doesn't please you, add more pectin and then test it again until you are satisfied. Adding lemon juice can also help to set the jelly.
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Fill the jars with jelly, seal them and place them in the pot of boiling water for five minutes.
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Remove the jars from the water bath and let them cool. Label and store them. Jams usually keep for 12 months or longer, but most people prefer them within six to eight months of being jarred.
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Tips & Warnings
If mold develops in your jams, discard the entire affected jar.
