freezer jam

[DammitJanet]

I need someone to tell me if I made it right or if I am just a super klutz who should be banned from ever entering the kitchen again.

We had this huge pail of pairs and today we peeled and mashed up ten cups of them. This was enough for me to make 6 pints of pear jam. I made 3 of them in pear cinnamon and 3 pear with a bit of lemon and orange zest and a bit of ginger.

Now on the directions it said to stir it for 3 minutes and then let it sit out on the counter for 30 minutes until it set. Okay I did that but it didnt seem to get past what I would consider thick applesauce stage. Then it was bedtime so I wasnt leaving it out all night so I put it in the fridge. Is it going to get any thicker or is that the way these jams are...just like thick applesauce?

Do I need to do something else like take it back out and cook it because it didnt set? I am a bit confused. Oh and I did use the no cook freezer pectin.

 

[KTMom91]

Some jams are that consistency, some thicken up more. I haven't made that kind of jam, so I don't know exactly what to tell you.

However, I have made wonderful jam, and most recently, I made what was supposed to be apricot jam, but ended up being more like syrup. I'm going to put it over vanilla ice cream.

 

[DammitJanet]

did the syrupy one happen because you used a liquid pectin? I ask because I read something about that online. I see some places say you can reheat the jam if it doesnt get to a jam consistency but I wonder if you can do that if you never cooked the stuff to start with? LOL. This whole thing is puzzling and makes all those little jars in the store look a bit more enticing! Who is really gonna know if I go buy a bunch of jars and then pour it into my homemade jars???

 

[Hound dog]

LOL Janet.

Well, we just researched how to can pears..........and discovered according to this one site (which is pretty awesome with detailed pics ect) we need about ohhh 17 lbs of them. omg I thing between us we bought maybe 5 lbs. lol

So, this week it looks like our first project will be green beans, picked up a peck of them for a good price at the farmer's market. Well, green beans, banana bread, zucchini bread, and homemade bread.

I didn't think about freezing the fruit, I suppose I could look up how to do that because this is a lot of pears for just me to eat before they go bad.

No clue on the freezer jam.........I thought all jams / jellies had to be cooked. Are you planning to use the plastic ball containers you can freeze for them?

 

[KTMom91]

I did use liquid pectin, first time I had. Never thought of that. I'd gotten some off of Freecycle and figured I'd give it a try.

 

[InsaneCdn]

I've never heard of no-cook pectin... no CANNING pectin, sure.
But I've never seen a jam that didn't need to be cooked.

Can you give us the brand name, actual product name, etc.? I'd like to "read" the directions...

 

[DammitJanet]

Ok, Its Ball Real Fruit Pectin - instant Pectin for no-cook freezer jam.

You use one packet of the pectin per 8 oz freezer container and yes I used the plastic freezer containers, 1 2/3 cup crushed or finely chopped fruit, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 tbsp lemon juice if doing peaches only,

Stir sugar and pectin into a bowl

Add fruit and stir for 3 minutes

Ladle jam into clean jars and let stand for 30 minutes and enjoy. Keep in fridge for 3 weeks, freezer for up to 1 year.

freshpreserving.com

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh...Lisa...5 pounds should make at least 3 jars of jam if not more.

 

[InsaneCdn]

Looks like time for a call to the "consumer help line" for that product...
It definitely looks like you did exactly what they asked for... and I don't have any experience with the product.
(I've done freezer jam, but not "no-cook")

 

[susiestar]

I have NEVER figured out why jam sometimes sets up thick and sometimes doesn't. I remember making it with my mom as a kid and by myself and with my aunt who is an incredible cook/canner/jam maker. some batches just do not set up thick. One year I did five batches of strawberry jam - all the freezer kind because it is a lot less work and still tastes great. every batch was done the exact same way but not all of them set up. I even had two batches where some of the containers set up and some didn't. the ones that didn't? Still tasted great, were awesome on ice cream and didn't bother me at all on toast.

From what I canf igure out - jam just acts this way. My mom and even my aunt had some that were the cooked kind and they didn't always set up either.

If you go and cook the pear jam now it will likely break down the pectin as that type of pectin is NOT designed to be heated. I think Ball has a hotline for questions - I would call them to see what you can do.

 

[DammitJanet]

well after sitting in the fridge all night they seem thicker but Im not sure if its because they are just colder. My fridge tends to freeze things...lol. Someone keeps turning the knob up or down. I went out this morning and my diet cokes were frozen...sigh. I moved the knob down to 1 to make it warmer.