Jam

[seelie]

Have recently made two lots of blackberry jam - the first was a success but the second batch went very wrong. I think I boiled it too long as it is very thick - possibly chunky!!. Does anyone know if there is a way to recover it - maybe by putting it back in the pan and adding water? (It can be spread with some effort !! - tastes ok ). Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

[billearly]

Iam not an expert at jam making but perhaps if u warm it very slowly not boil it may be ok I make strawberry jam using silver spoon pectin only boil for 4 minutes after the sugar has been slowly melted into the strawberries the recipe is on the packet good luck.i

[WendyS]

Yes, possibly you did boil it too long and too much of the liquid got boiled off, making it very stiff. Possiby adding a little water will help. Suggest you just try this with one pot of jam at a time and just add around tablespoon of water to the saucepan and heat until the jam has gently liquified and then return it to the jar which you've washed and sterilised again.
I recently made some Damson jam. This has set VERY solidly, possibly because there isn't much juice in damsons but as the flavour is supurb I've decided to leave well along. Did you add the same amount of liquid to your second batch of blackberry jam?. Possibly if the blackberries were less ripe than the first batch they may have yield less juice which could be a possible cause of the thickness. If you're worried about the jam not resetting a second time after melting it, add a good splash of lemon juice which should help incease the setting ability. Good luck !

[seelie]

Thanks for your replies billearly and WendyS. Will try and recover it today. I did put water in and lemon juice when I made it, and seived out all the seeds. I found it difficult to know when it was actually ready. Tried the drop in cold water and spoon coating etc. so boiled it longer to make sure - think I just boiled out too much liquid. Will try again though. Thanks again.

[Kim A]

It's more likely to be the acidity that's made your jam hard. if you put too much lemon juice in and the blackberries were a bit sour and under-ripe, that would have done it. Damson Jam also sets pretty firmly because the damsons are naturally high in pectin. As a general rule of thumb, the sharper the fruit, the higher the pectin, thus the stronger the set. That's why you normally have to add a souring agent (like lemon juice) to strawberries or cooking apples to blackberries to get a good set.