attempting to can and make jam/jelly soon..

[me&thegals]

I've taken to making all of my jams with fruit, local honey, and Pomona's Universal Pectin --I pretty much use the recipes in the package, they also have recipes on their website

I don't know if this product is kosher or not, didn't see anything in the FAQs on a quick glance, but I'm sure you can email them.

I've only made berry and one-fruit jams so far, but they've all turned out wonderfully.

how much pectin to you use for per canning event...? and how much oz do you get from that?

One box is enough for 16 cups of mashed fruit plus sweetener, I got a total of 18 half-pint jars of jam from those batches combined--all from one box of pectin, and I only added a cup and a half of honey to each 8 cup batch of fruit

Is that a 1-oz box that you're referring to?

 

[moolie]

Ok, I have two kinds of pectin:
-Certo LIGHT Pectin Crystals 49 grams/1.7 oz which costs me around $3.50/pkg
-Pomona's Universal Pectine 28 grams/1 oz which also costs me around $3.50/pkg

As per the instruction sheet in the Certo LIGHT package as well as my personal experience, the Certo package will gel one batch of jam made from 4 cups of mashed fruit plus 4-7 cups of sugar depending on the fruit used. Some fruits require additional lemon juice for acidity. I used to buy the LIGHT Certo rather than the regular because it called for less sugar than the regular.

As per the instruction sheet in the Pomona's Universal package as well as my personal experience, 1 package of Pomona's pectin will gel 4 batches of jam, each made from 4 cups of mashed fruit made with 3/4 cup to 2 cups of sugar OR 1/2 cup to 1 cup of honey (I've always used the smaller amount and been very happy with my jams). Again, some fruits require additional lemon juice for acidity.

My math tells me that the smaller Pomona package makes 4x the amount of jam that the larger Certo LIGHT package makes, with less than a quarter of the sweetener (sugar or honey). For the same price per package.

Cheaper all around in my book, even if you are paying $6 per package (e.g. $12 for two packages that Maschil was looking at above) and before you even consider the cost of sugar. And I only pay $3.50/pkg.

And the Certo expires (best before date is usually a year out) while Pomona's doesn't--it is shelf stable.

For me personally, I really like not using so much sugar, having the option to use honey, and the lower price

 

[k15n1]

Extra pectin isn't absolutely required, at least for some fruits. I like the old-fashion jams that are a bit softer and generally don't have added pectin. It only needs enough pectin to keep it from running off the edge of your toast! You can also modulate the stiffness by adding a portion of slightly unripe fruit or by using fruit combinations (high-pectin fruit with a low-pectin fruit).

 

[k15n1]

BTW, my first canning was a raspberry jam. It was almost profound to realize how easy it was to preserve food. Since then, I've done lots of canning, everything from fruit and tomatoes to meat and beans. (No bacon yet.) Learning to can other stuff will be really easy once you get the basics down.

My only warning is that you should set aside several hours because the first time takes longer---probably 2 hours of canning, after the jam is made. It'll be less if you have a gas stove or use a propane burner. A large amount of the time is heating water, at least for me.

 

[moolie]

Extra pectin isn't absolutely required, at least for some fruits. I like the old-fashion jams that are a bit softer and generally don't have added pectin. It only needs enough pectin to keep it from running off the edge of your toast! You can also modulate the stiffness by adding a portion of slightly unripe fruit or by using fruit combinations (high-pectin fruit with a low-pectin fruit).

Oh absolutely One of my favourite jams to make is plum jam, and plums don't need extra pectin added for jam. Same with crab apple jelly and citrus marmalade.

But most berries, which are what I make most of my jam out of, are low in pectin so I use it as needed.

 

[Maschil]

ha! amazon has 6 of them for 22 bucks!@ score!!!!!!!!!!!!!! wooh! thanks moolie.....

 

[moolie]

Nice score