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Why jam doesn’t work: typical mistakes of housewives
It turns out to be liquid, does not thicken, moldy and sugar – which only happens to him. To make a treat of fruits and berries like a work of art, you need to know some tricks. We asked experienced hostesses to share their secrets and summarize the most important points.
Jam is never made in a hurry, between cases. To prepare it, you need to allocate time and observe a certain culinary “ceremonial”. Now the technology has greatly simplified, but in the old days there was a harvest calendar for jam and the process was so complicated that it took more than one day. For example, the nanny Arina Rodionovna cooked the favorite jam of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin “bersenevoy” (from gooseberries) for about three days: the berries were simmered with vodka in the oven, then cooled, then dried, then boiled with syrup, etc.
How to make jam so that it thickens
There are several types of natural dessert made from berries and fruits: traditional, it is thick and transparent, liquid “five minutes” (it is believed that more vitamins are stored in it), jam or jam, fresh berries, grated with sugar, etc. In each recipe – its own nuances. But there are general rules for making jam. Why does the jam get runny, cloudy, or too thick? What does it take to make the perfect treat?
1. Suitable cookware
The first thing to do before making the jam at home is to prepare a suitable dish. This should be a wide container with a volume of at least 5 liters (for 2 kg of ready-made jam) – a basin or a saucepan. It is very important what material the container is made of. Better if it is a brass or copper basin. Our grandmothers also used such utensils – these metals have high thermal conductivity and the jam does not burn, you can easily adjust the degree of syrup thickness to your liking. But now copper and brass dishes have fallen out of favor with housewives due to the fact that the metal reacts with acids contained in berries and fruits, and vitamins are not preserved. You can also cook the jam in thick-walled stainless steel pots.
2. Fruit and berry preparation
If you want to cook a jam that looks like honey – with a clear viscous syrup and berries or pieces of fruit floating in it, then you must first sort out the harvest. You need whole fresh berries, not overripe – soft, damaged ones are suitable for jam, jelly, liquid jam.
3. Proportions
The ideal ratio for thick jam is one serving of fruit for one serving of sugar. The amount of sweetness is a matter of taste and recipe. For example, when freezing the grated mass, sugar can not be added, and with a “five-minute” sugar they take less and dilute with water, make a syrup. But it must be remembered that sugar acts in this case as a preservative, if there is not enough of it, the jam will quickly turn sour, if, on the contrary, a lot, it will thicken.
4. Cooking technology
Juicy berries or fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, peaches, apricots, melons, apples, pears) should be evenly covered with sugar. It is better to do this by dividing the workpiece into parts, then gently shake the dishes so that all the berries are under a dense layer of sugar, and leave for several hours in a cool place to extract juice. Do not forget to cover the dishes with a lid. If the fruits are dense, for example, some varieties of apples, figs or plums, then they should not be left with sugar, they may deteriorate, ferment. Hard fruits are boiled by pouring syrup (sugar dissolved in water).
5. Interval cooking
Now attention: the most important part in making clear, thick jam. When the berries release their juice, you can begin to cook the jam. The sugar will not completely dissolve, so your task is to stir the sweet mass with cautious movements, without crushing the berries, and put the basin on a very low heat. As it boils, foam will appear on the surface, it must be removed. We make sure that all the sugar is dissolved. Leave the jam to boil over low heat for five minutes and remove the basin from the stove. It should now cool down at room temperature. When the sweet mass has completely cooled down, put the basin on a slow fire again and make sure that the boil does not exceed 10 minutes in time. Thus, we repeat several times until the jam is boiled down to readiness.
How to know how much to cook jam: you need to drop it on a clean, dry plate – if the drop does not spread, the jam is ready.
If everything is done correctly, the fruits will remain intact, and the syrup will remain transparent and viscous, like honey.
For quick preparation of thick jam, you can use gelatin, pectin or agar-agar. These recipes are suitable for dietary nutrition due to the low sugar content, but in this case it is important to adhere to the proportions, because it is easy to make a mistake: the result is influenced by the acidity of the fruit, the amount of juice, etc. If you put gelatin in excess of the norm, you get jelly and add bitterness in the taste.
The most common mistakes when making jam
Why is the jam liquid and the berries boiled? There can be several explanations: the proportions were not observed, the fruits were overripe, or the boiling took place over high heat. If you add sugar, the syrup becomes sweeter and thicker. Can be boiled down harder and used as a filling for baking.
Why did the jam darken? Means, too boiled, caramelized. When it cools down, it will turn into a very thick, stone mass. Therefore, when cooking jam, it is important not to miss the right moment and remove the sweet mass from the fire in time.
Why jam fermented? This happened because there was not enough sugar in the juice, the fruit quickly deteriorates in the heat.
Why doesn’t the jam freeze in the freezer? At sub-zero temperatures, grated berries without sugar and with sugar turn into ice cream. Thick, highly boiled jam from apple, quince, currant or cherry slices does not freeze in the freezer.