The key to perfectly set jam is understanding how pectin works.
Get the RecipeIt can seem like witchcraft: you start with a pile of fresh fruit, wave a wand over a bubbling, boiling cauldron and then everything comes together into a glistening, jewel-toned, spreadable jam.
As fruit ripens, enzymes in the fruit start to break pectin down into pectic acid, which is why very ripe fruit is both softer and more difficult to jam without adding extra pectin . Incidentally, sugar is an essential part of what makes preserves, well, preserved. All of the microorganisms that cause spoilage need water to survive and proliferate. When the water molecules are all bound up with the sugar, though, the nasties can't survive.So once the water and sugar have gone off to neck in a corner, the pectin is left by itself, twiddling its fibrous thumbs. Sure, it can see another sad, lonely, dejected pectin across the room, but it's just notinterested.
When a jam mixture is cooked, water is escorted out through evaporation. And when enough water has evaporated , the jam has finally arrived at its gel point. That means the pectin molecules are fully able to stick to each other and form a 3-dimensional web in which the remaining sugary juices are all held like water in a sponge.
If the jam is still too runny, just keep cooking it and performing the frozen-spoon test every 5 minutes until you achieve the consistency you want . I generally add one ounce of fresh-squeezed lemon juice for every two pounds of fruit when jamming higher-acid fruit , and about two ounces for lower-acid fruit . So for my six pounds of apricots, since they're on the more tart side, I'd probably end up adding around three ounces of lemon juice. Remember: We can always add more acid but we can't take it away, so it's good to hold back a little and then add more as needed.
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