Amy Bronee

It should be a crime to take beautiful fruit you bought at a farm stand or hand-picked yourself and cook the joy out of it. Cooking any mixture of fruit and sugar long enough will result in a jam that will set up in your canning jars. But longer cooking times can mean over-processed flavor, darkened color and a lower yield. Adding pectin allows you to cook jam for a much shorter time, which may result in the jam of your dreams. Here are five reasons to add it to your next batch. 1.