soupy strawberry jam

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I made my first batch of strawberry jam on Saturday. I used the "certo" fruit pectin and followed their directions. I checked out the jars this morning and its seems to be very soupy. Does it take awhile for it to really settle? I know strawberry jam is something alot of you can do in your sleep but I'm something of a rookie. Just to let you know...so many of you out there really do empower readers like me. With all the information you provide through your own experiences...you make all seem so easy! LOL. Thanks again for all your input.

-- claudia c. (cooleys1995@yahoo.com), June 21, 2001

Answers

I know that using the wrong kind of sugar can keep it from setting. If the sugar does not specify on the bag that it's pure cane sugar, then it's beet sugar. Beet sugar does not work well for jams/jellies/preserves. Make sure you use pure cane sugar. If your jam doesn't set, then I guess it will make good ice cream topping!

-- Cathy<>< (trinityhealth@nativestar.net), June 21, 2001.

Strawberry jam oes take a little longer to set but I don't remember how much!! I usually add a grated apple or too - this is a sure way to have jam and not special pancake syrup!!

-- kelly (kellytree@hotmail.com), June 21, 2001.

look below at my posting for strawberry preserves with honey. there are suggestions there that might be of benefit for you!

-- marcee (thathope@mwt.net), June 21, 2001.

My strawberry jam usually jels up pretty soon after it is cool. At the longest it is overnight. One thing I did just find out is that I can't use my new glass top range to make jam. The burners don't cook it right. So now I have to make my jams at my girlfriends house or else I am thinking of just picking up a little electric one burner thing to plug in on my counter to use it to cook the jam. The result on the glass-topped ranges is that it never jels and the stuff kind of separates so it looks like white foam kind of stuff in the top and regular jam on the bottom. I did two batches before I noticed that it was not jelling and that it was separating. So I just shook the jars every fifteen minutes or so so as it cooled so it became homogonized. It has a little bit of thickness to it so I am using it in refrigrator crescent roll dough and making turnovers with it. It tastes fine it is just not jelled enough for jam. Just wanted to mention this to you in case you are using a glass top range.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), June 21, 2001.

Well, you guys might have something there. I do have a glass top cooking range and when the foam appeared on the top of the jam I just skimmed it off like the recipe says. I also had it on a rolling boil for one minute. I do wonder what kind of sugar I used, it was from Walmart/Great Value "Extra Fine" 5lbs bag, you know it never occured to me to check out what kind it was.

-- claudia c. (cooleys1995@yahoo.com), June 21, 2001.


I will never use Certo again. The instructions said to give the jam an extra 2 weeks to set up and mine never did. You can recook it with sure jell or someother powdered pectin, but I had to do this twice before it finally set. I also added a small amount of lemon juice, which had been left out of the origanl jam makings. Oddly enough, that much recooked jam was just fine, not rubbery at all, and I had people begging me for jars of it after a taste.

-- Mitzi (Egiles2@Prodigy.net), June 24, 2001.

I have to admit that with 40 years of experience, last year I made an accidental batch of "strawberry ice cream topping". It happens to most everyone who does it for any amount of time and I honestly have not a clue why. You could have done everything exactly right and just had a bad batch of pectin. It can happen. Don't give up.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), June 25, 2001.

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