It was fruit flavored chaos.
Ten intrepid students met with me on Tuesday, June 5th to learn to make jelly. Jelly seems easy and straightforward...
Who knew a simple word like ‘pectin’ could be so complex?
Ten intrepid students met with me on Tuesday, June 5th to learn to make jelly. Jelly seems easy and straightforward...
- Heat juice
- Add sugar (and lemon juice if the recipe calls for it)
- Add pectin and boil hard for one minute
Who knew a simple word like ‘pectin’ could be so complex?
The group split into three teams. Each made jelly with a different brand of pectin.
The first group chose Sure-Jell, a regular pectin that requires sugar. They measured and boiled, stirred and ladled the jelly into jars. We tasted it later. The verdict? Sweet. Regular pectin requires a solution of 55% - 60% sugar to jell.
The first group chose Sure-Jell, a regular pectin that requires sugar. They measured and boiled, stirred and ladled the jelly into jars. We tasted it later. The verdict? Sweet. Regular pectin requires a solution of 55% - 60% sugar to jell.
And you thought our grandmothers just really liked sugary jelly, didn’t you? I know I did!
I learned later that the Sure-Jell batch did not actually jell. Why? We’re not sure, but it could have been overcooked, undercooked or had an insufficient amount of sugar. I guess we’ll never know, unless the participants try to cook it again.
“If not, I figured it would be good on ice cream!”, says one resourceful participant.
The second group chose Ball RealFruit Low Sugar pectin. That gave them the option to reduce the sugar and they chose to leave it out altogether. Their finished product jelled nicely before I even finished cleaning up. We tasted it. The verdict? It had a good apple flavor, just like the apple cider it was made from.
The third group took on the complex task of interpreting the instructions for Pomona’s Pectin. Pomona’s assumes you know your pectin science and they don’t add anything to make it easier on the consumer. In fact, they seem to work hard to make the instructions extra complicated. The group read and re-read the directions. They made calcium water and added the pure pectin (with no dextrose to help it dissolve) to the cider. They stirred and whisked and stirred some more. Finally, they strained out the pectin lumps and boiled it up.
Their experience was a testament to the communication skills of the married couple in the group and to the civility of all three. Nary a fight broke out over this stressful recipe.
We never did taste that batch. I suspect the leftovers got placed in the sink with a hearty, “Good riddance!”.
I don’t know if it gelled either. A recipe made with Pomona’s can take up to two weeks to gel after it’s canned.
In summary, we canned twelve jars of apple-bourbon jelly (without drinking any of the bourbon to get us through the experience) and everyone took one home, along with four pages of recipes, canning information and a description of the types of pectin available.
I learned later that the Sure-Jell batch did not actually jell. Why? We’re not sure, but it could have been overcooked, undercooked or had an insufficient amount of sugar. I guess we’ll never know, unless the participants try to cook it again.
“If not, I figured it would be good on ice cream!”, says one resourceful participant.
The second group chose Ball RealFruit Low Sugar pectin. That gave them the option to reduce the sugar and they chose to leave it out altogether. Their finished product jelled nicely before I even finished cleaning up. We tasted it. The verdict? It had a good apple flavor, just like the apple cider it was made from.
The third group took on the complex task of interpreting the instructions for Pomona’s Pectin. Pomona’s assumes you know your pectin science and they don’t add anything to make it easier on the consumer. In fact, they seem to work hard to make the instructions extra complicated. The group read and re-read the directions. They made calcium water and added the pure pectin (with no dextrose to help it dissolve) to the cider. They stirred and whisked and stirred some more. Finally, they strained out the pectin lumps and boiled it up.
Their experience was a testament to the communication skills of the married couple in the group and to the civility of all three. Nary a fight broke out over this stressful recipe.
We never did taste that batch. I suspect the leftovers got placed in the sink with a hearty, “Good riddance!”.
I don’t know if it gelled either. A recipe made with Pomona’s can take up to two weeks to gel after it’s canned.
In summary, we canned twelve jars of apple-bourbon jelly (without drinking any of the bourbon to get us through the experience) and everyone took one home, along with four pages of recipes, canning information and a description of the types of pectin available.
We had a good time; lumpy pectin, chaos and all.
