We've been in a confessional mood lately, offering up photos of our inedible cooking disasters... Here's another misstep, although the problem this time isn't with the taste. This jam is absolutely delicious — just not quite right in its consistency. What did we do wrong?
We had some almost-overripe fruit to use up — peaches and yellow plums, specifically — and decided to cook it down with some sugar and minced ginger to make refrigerator jam.
Being jam novices, we read a lot of websites and blog entries on how to do it. Many of them mentioned the trick of putting a plate in the freezer when you begin the process, then testing a drop of jam on it to see if the jam is firm enough. David Lebovitz lauds the tip in his tutorial on making cherry jam. Drip some jam onto the plate, nudge it, and if it wrinkles, it's ready. Faith used the same technique in her Plum Cinnamon Jam.
Sounds easy, right?
Maybe we didn't let the jam cool long enough before we nudged it, but ours never felt gooey or sticky — just runny. So we kept cooking. When we finally took it off the heat (because the sugar was close to burning on the bottom of the pan) and cooled it, it was the consistency of (really cold) cream cheese.
We've been eating it anyway, mostly because it tastes fantastic. The teaspoon of ginger we added is lovely with the peaches and plums, and, perhaps because of the long cooking time, it has a deep, almost caramelized flavor. But it requires a five-minute rest on the counter top before it's really spreadable. We do think it would be great melted into a sauce for meat, though.
Next time, we're using a candy thermometer instead of a frozen plate. But we wanted to ask for your opinion, jam makers. Do you use the plate trick? Any other signs you rely on to tell when your jam is ready?
Related: On Small and Unmarked Jars of Jam
(Image: Elizabeth Passarella)
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I use the times given on the package of pectin but I never make refrigerator jam. It sounds like you overdid it a bit, maybe try the cold spoon trick next time? Dip a spoon in the jam and use your finger to draw a line on the back of it. If the line stays, the jam is ready.
It sounds like you caramelized the sugar like candy. You could cut it into bars, toss it with powdered sugar and call it turkish delight!
I have the opposite problem...I made Rhubarb Orange Marmalade, and strawberry jam so far this year, and both of them turned out too runny. Even though I followed the instructions on the package of pectin.
Similar to spossberg, the seville orange marmalade I made last fall was too runny. I blame the recipe, which didn't call for pectin. I actually re-cooked it (and re-jarred it) recently, adding a package of pectin, and now it's great. No more marmalade dribbling out of sandwiches!
I have made jam probably 5-7 times and I still can't get the consistency right. The plate and spoon thing don't seem to work for me at ALL, so I use a thermometer. Even still I have some trouble, I think because it's tough to get an accurate temp in a pan with shallow liquid. It helps quite a bit though, and of the 2 batches of jam I made this weekend, one was perfect and one was only slightly runny. I recommend a good thermometer!
I have totally done this. The "wrinkling" effect, I learned, is really just a thin surface film on the top of rather runny gel, usually.
It depends on your fruit, its pectin quotient, and whether you're also using additional pectin, but often the frozen-plate test will give you runny jam with just a slight wrinkle or hardening of the surface.
Also, if you doubled or tripled a recipe it's easier to have this happen, for some reason. I totally overdid my strawberry jam a couple summers ago, trying to make tons of it at once!
Have to agree with the pectin comment, I tried to make jam from some plums without adding commercial pectin---I added a few apples to compensate but in the end I got a syrup that solidified to a candy-like consistency in the fridge, tasty but not jam. As far as I can tell there simply was no jelling point as there was not enough pectin. On the other hand--my mom and grandma have never ever had a problem when they add pectin and neither one was too precise about the whole operation.
I read that ginger can change the texture so maybe that was the problem?
The Ginger sounds fantastic! So far I've made Strawberry Jam, Triple Berry Jam and Blueberry. I don't know how congealed you like it, but what i do is cook it on the stovetop with the pectin and sugar until it comes to a boil, and you cannot stir the boil down, which usually takes about 15-20 minutes. Then I just put them in the jars and into the hot water bath. So far the jam has come out to a consistancy that I like!! I love strawberry jam in greek yogurt!! :D
I've never gotten the freezer plate test to work for me. I use a spoon, take a shallow scoop of jam and hold it above the pot, tip the spoon and let it slide off. When it stops falling in plops and begins to sheet, then it's ready. It's worked for apple jelly and berry jam, both with no added pectin ((though better with the apple, since it wasn't full of stuff)). I'll be doing my first pectin jam tomorrow ((wild blueberry)) and I'm afraid I'm going to over gel it.
Spossberg, when that happens, you bring the jars out as extra special waffle toppings for Sunday brunch.
I always just follow the directions on the package of pectin and it works really well (but I've only done it a couple of times). I am afraid to do a no-added-pectin jam - all the variables make me nervous, and I think I would screw it up. In general, though, for all kinds of cooking, a reliable thermometer is the way to go.
Down with subjective measurements!
When I do the plate test, all I look for is when the jam does not run all over the plate. It may spread a teeny bit, but that's it. But then, I like my jams softer than commercial ones, and I never use commercial pectin, either, because I think it makes for a gummy jam. I make my own from green apples to use if I feel I need it.
When I first started making jam, I would cook it too long because I was looking for the wrong thing to happen, I was looking for "jam" at 212F! Even when you plop that stuff right onto a frozen plate, it's still going to run a bit. If you're concerned it hasn't been long enough, remove the jam from the heat, wait a few minutes for the test to do its thing, then return the pan to heat if you're not satisfied.
I couldn't find any pectin for sale to save my life so when I made a simply absurd amount of jam and jarred fruit this June I just looked for recipes that didn't use any. (35 lbs of fruit, and yes of course the jarred fruit doesn't use any anyways...). Anywho, I haven't had a chance to try all the varieties I made, but so far no complaints from any of the gift recipients. Some of the flavors were a little thinner than the jam you would buy at the store, but not so thin that they dripped out of sandwiches or off toast.
Instead of pectin most of the recipes I used called for lemon juice, a natural source of pectin. If the recipe didn't seem to be gelling I added a little more. I don't know if it really helped it gel better, but it made it taste better I think because it took the edge off of the sweetness of the sugar and fruit. I also used ginger in some of my flavors (ginger-cherry, yum!) and it didn't seem to affect the consistency. That was actually one of my better batches.
Oh! And here is a link to the Nat. Center for Home Food Preservations possible causes and effects for pretty much everything that could go wrong with your jam or jelly.
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_07/jellyproblems.html
*cause and possible solution
Note to SJBREEZE, water boils at 212 degrees. If you want 'jam' you've got to get it up to the jelling point of jam, which is 8-10 degrees above boiling water. Meaning to get a jam set, you need 220-222 degrees. When I reach that, I boil for 1 minute and it's perfect.
Hey I am new to this so Hello all!
I have a disaster that led me to this site and I hope someone can help.
I made my first round of jam and I made it in three small batches. The first two are slightly too sweet but so tasty and set perfectly. The third... well it set beautifully but when tasted has crunchy crystallized sugar throughout???
What did I do to the third batch??? I was not doing it alone and I know at one point my partner was mixing the hot pot of jam right in front of a spitty boiling pot. Perhaps some water got in and changed the make up of the jam??? I have no clue.
Can I fix it????
Thanks in advance!
Charity
I could be wrong but my guess with the "crunchy crystallized sugar" is that your partner may not been constantly stirring the jam and the sugar may have overcooked a bit.