In some families, preservation recipes are passed on from generation to generation. Surely everyone has pleasant childhood memories associated with fragrant grandmother's jam or jam, thick and viscous, sparkling like a gem. But many housewives complain that they can’t reproduce such a delicacy with their own hands - the density is not the same.
Our article will tell you what to do if the jam turned out to be liquid, and what measures should be taken during cooking to avoid a similar situation.
Old recipes
The name "jam" hints at a long boiling process. Previously, it was customary to cook it for a long time, warming the container with berries or fruits sprinkled with sugar before boiling several times. The jam was allowed to cool completely, and then heated again and allowed to boil.
Some housewives boiled a container with a brew over low heat for a long time. This method has its advantages: the jam turns out to be thick and well stored, because with prolonged exposure to high temperatures, all bacteria that can cause the fermentation process die. However, with this method, the beneficial substances contained in berries and fruits also suffered. In addition, the structure was destroyed.
What did you do if the jam turned out liquid in the old days? There were several ways. You could drain the excess syrup, boil a longer brew, or just add sugar. We can use all these recommendations today.
Excess syrup
Drain fruit juice mixed with sugar is easy. But this method is not suitable for all types of jam. Let's look at an example.
Berries of blackcurrant, strawberries, cherries, as well as fruits such as plum, pear and apple, produce an abundant amount of juice when reacted with sugar and heated. In this case, the structure of the fetus itself is not destroyed. The syrup is homogeneous. Therefore, from jam from the listed ingredients, it can simply be drained through a colander or scoop the right amount with a ladle into a separate container.
You can recall this method, for example, when the jam from the plums turned out to be liquid. What to do in this case, you already know - just drain the syrup.
But for rapidly decaying fruits, it is not suitable. For example, saving apricot jam this way will not succeed. Yes, and some varieties of cherry plum and strive to fall into pieces at the first heating, turning the mass into a kind of jam.
By the way, syrup collected from jam can also be boiled and rolled into jars. In winter, it is useful for impregnation of biscuit cakes, cooking kissels and compotes. You can serve it with lazy dumplings or cottage cheese, casseroles and puddings, or just add a little to tea.
We save liquid jam by boiling
This method is not recommended for raspberries, because the longer the jam is cooked, the more vitamins it loses. And this berry is very rich in them, due to which the blanks from it are considered not only a winter delicacy reminiscent of summer, but also an excellent therapeutic and prophylactic. In addition, raspberries contain a huge amount of organic acids, which perfectly cope with the role of preservatives.
Do not boil strawberries for a long time. The berries fall apart, acquire an unaesthetic brown hue, and sometimes an unpleasant smell.
But apples and pears, prolonged cooking will only benefit. Slices of fruit, saturated with sugar, become like marmalade.
If during the cooking process you notice that the jam turned out to be excessively liquid, increase the time. Even fruits from the same tree, collected in different years, may differ in juiciness. The more liquid in the fruit, the more it will stand out in the jam.
If the liquid turned out to be pear jam, what should I do? Cook it longer until it reaches the desired consistency.
There is another little trick. It is necessary to drain the syrup and boil only it, and then pour the hot liquid into a container with fruits or berries. Similarly, gooseberry jam, halves of large apricots, black currants, whole pears and other components can be thickened. This method will only benefit berries and fruits: the jam will be thick, preserve the natural color, structure and vitamins.
Adding sugar
Like juiciness, the sweetness of fruits of different crops may vary. Even if you have repeatedly prepared jam from the fruits of the same tree, it may happen that the usual amount of sugar is not enough. The jam will not thicken, as expected, and will more resemble baby puree.
In this case, the answer to the question of what to do if the jam turned out to be liquid is slightly different. Try adding sugar and heating the container. To begin, pour a quarter of the original volume, and after two brews, evaluate the density. Sometimes you need to increase the amount of sugar in 1.2-1.5 times.
Modern Ingredients for Density
Today there are many products that can make life easier for housewives. These include:
- pectin;
- hardfix;
- gelling sugar ;
- agar agar.
Some manufacturers offer ready-made solutions, which are called - "Sugar for making jam." The composition includes natural syrup thickeners, and the package contains detailed instructions.
Another advantage of such products is a significant reduction in cooking time. If ordinary jam is cooked in stages for 3-4 days, then cooked on such a thickener will be ready in a quarter of an hour. You just need to add the mixture to the berries, mix and heat to a boil.
The taste of pectin affects only positively. Syrup becomes confiture. And agar-agar is also very useful, it is even used in the Vedic cuisine for the preparation of sweets.
Many housewives who have discovered such ingredients for themselves, completely switch to a new recipe. They do not have to bother for a long time in the kitchen and torment themselves in search of an answer to the question of what to do if the jam from the plums turned out to be liquid.
Berry berry
To taste, this medium-sized berry resembles blueberries or cherries. Irgi juice is an excellent thickener. If the cooking result does not please you, you can safely use this ingredient.
For example, a shrimp will help if the plum jam turned out to be liquid. What to do in this case? Squeeze the juice of the berry and pour into the syrup before boiling again. Jam will begin to thicken before our eyes.
Preventive measures
No wonder they say that prevention is easier than correcting. In order not to wonder what to do if the jam turned out to be liquid, you can use a simple but reliable way.
Prepare berries or fruits, pour in the container in which you plan to cook jam. Add sugar at the rate of 100 g per kilo of fruit, mix and leave overnight. In the morning, drain the juice that has stood out, pour in the sugar again (as much as indicated in the recipe) and cook the jam in the usual way. Condensed syrup can also be used! For example, pour them ice cream.
How much sugar do you need?
If you are using a specific recipe, observe the indicated proportions. But there are general recommendations. To make jam from sweet fruits, sugar is added in a ratio of 1: 1. If you cook sour berries or fruits (cherries, currants, cherry plum), you need to take one and a half times more sugar than fruits. You can add sugar during the cooking process, for example, when the cherry jam turned out to be liquid.
What to do to thicken one or another fruit and berry treats, you already know. It remains to choose the most suitable method.