Hi everyone - I hope someone out there is logged in and can help me. I was asked if I would make pineapple jam for my neighbours children who love it. I have followed a recipe from a very good source - a lady on the Delia forums who makes a lot of jam. She did say she had a bit of trouble getting a set and had to reboil her jam and I am having the ame problem.
I have about a litre of runny jam in my maslin pan (this is end reult of flesh from 2 pineapples) and have already added quite a bit of lemon juice and carried out 2 cold saucer tests. It tastes very nice (if you like pineapple) bit too sickly for my taste but I can see why the children love it.
Now....should I try some Certo? I bought a bottle yesterday but have never used it before so I'm clueless as to how much to use. The instructions are not much help as they only say to use 125ml to 1kg fruit but it does say to stir it in at end of cooking when off the heat.
I reckon I have had jam on a rolling boil for about 20 minutes in total.
Any thoughts?
Thanks for any help.
Maura
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
The only thing I can recommend Maura, is to take it off the heat if you think it is 'cooked enough', and leave it for 10 minutes or so, and if a skin forms, then perhaps add the Certo and leave till cold.
If it isn't set after that, perhaps it may be necessary to boil again. Not ideal, but without seeing it, difficult to know for sure.
Oh Lord, don't apologise, I really appreciate your help and know how difficult it is because making jams and chutneys - as I have discovered is all about look, and taste and texture.
I have taken it off heat and added 1 1/2 tablespoons of the dreaded Certo. There is a bit of skin forming on the jam so I am going to try another saucer test and if still too runny then I'll boil again. I do hate potting it all up and then having to empty it out to reboil and would rather phaff around a bit this way first.
I'm not really sure what pineapple jam should look like myself but I'm fairly sure they would not thank me if it was too runny (young kids and runny jam do not mix).
Thanks anyway Val - nice to have someone to winge to. I'm still trying to find time to have a go at my lemon marmalade
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Thanks everyone.
I think on this occasion I'll just have to resort to the Certo. I even used half jam sugar and half granulated - maybe next time (if there is a next time) I'll use all jam sugar.
It is just about the stickiest jam I have ever made
I just hope the little ankle biters like it
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Yes I did add water as per this recipe.
After mincing the flesh of the fruit measure it and add 500ml of water for every 500mls of fruit. I had 600 mls of fruit but still only added 500mls of water because I was a bit worried it might be too liquidy. However, I did add juice of 1 1/2 lemons as well.
Do you think it might have been too much water?
I have potted it up and have 4 jars of jam (just checked them and it has set fine!!) They were outside and the temperature has really dropped in last hour so hope it was ok to put them out there to cool.
I used 1 large pineapple and one medium size.
Hopefully, I wont have to do this too often as it was really messy.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Maura, I have seen one recipe that uses no water, it has the juice of 1 lemon or 2 limes and uses 75% of the weight of the fruit in sugar + cinnamon & nutmeg, it didn't specify was whether it was jam sugar or not.
You add the sugar and the lemon juice to the peeled/cored/segmented pineapple in the saucepan and with a potato masher lightly crush it and leave for a while, maybe 2 hours or so for the sugar and the juices to soak in, then turn the heat on low so that the whole thing sort of simmers until the pineapple has softened 'to your taste' then simply turn off the heat and jar up. Because there was no water it is pretty thick anyway and I guess setting is guaranteed. I am going to have a go at this next week and throw in some alcohol with it (definately not for the children) am thinking maybe Kirsch or even Sambuca and see how it turns out.
If anything I will lower the sugar and maybe increase the lemon/lime because if I have a criticism of Pineapple it is the sweetness of it and I found doing something similar with strawberry jam earlier this year really helped.
I have reached an age where my train of thought often leaves the station without me...
That sounds really interesting - would love to know how it turns out. I think you are on to a winner if you can find a liquer that takes away some of the sweetness. I added a bit more lemon juice - as I do with most of my jams that are for our own use because I dont like them over sweet.
The children next door consume quite a lot of jam and their parents like my jam because they know it doesn't have any nasties in it - which is why I was concerned about the Certo. I will tell them I had to add a little bit to the mix but I dont think they will mind. It will still be a lot better than the commercially produced stuff they have to rely on. I put the fruit in a blender because they prefer it smooth to chunky and that was only recipe I knew about. I will make a note of yours though - just in case I get tempted again.
The pineapples were £1 each, so quite good value. I think they often have them cheaper in Lidl's or Aldi but I had no time to pop there to look so got mine from local Waitrose.
Good Luck with your recipe, it does sound yummy.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Ahhh.. pineapple jam. made that a couple of years ago. Well, when I say "made jam" it just turned out to be kind of a pineapple not so set sauce thing. Was very very nice mind you spooned over ice cream and spooned into the mouth
Pinapple jam is the only thing so far I've made that has made me go LOL!!
Ha ha ...Mel, if thats the only one that made you go then I am very envious indeed. Making jams and chutneys and jellies has been a real adventure for me. I am totally hooked but have had so many days of
and
and
and finally
that sometimes I think I must be truly useless.
I never realised how little confidence I had in my own skills until I started making jams etc. I am a little bit OCD and hate muddling through so everything has to go right and according to recipes or I get all flustered and panic.
Well I am learning fast that you have to have a bit of instinct and faith in yourself and now I have a pantry with shelves laden with my efforts and the fact that 'most ' of them turned out as they should have is really satisfying (we wont talk about the nightmare that was meant to be beetroot jelly ).
My pineapple jam efforts worked out well in the end although I'm waiting to hear from the harshest critics of all (the children next door who it was made for). At least it did set in the end so that was something of a triumph. I'm just trying to lure them away from it onto something easier and more enjoyable to make now.
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Hi Martin " thanks for info, that's really interesting.
I suffer with a very poor digestion and even a glass of water can make me burp (sorry, not sure if there is a nicer way to put that). Funny thing is, my mother did as well and we all used to giggle when she burped but now I realise just how annoying and often embarrassing it can be. I wonder if eating pineapple could aid digestion?
Edited to say: Chris...yoohoo, how did your pineapple jam turnout?
Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.
Most Users Ever Online: 767
Currently Online:
28 Guest(s)
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
brightspark: 10535
danast: 10232
Aly: 9516
Sooliz: 8084
Hattie: 6920
Ambersparkle: 6699
JoannaS: 4800
Terrier: 4518
eileen54: 4424
Hannah: 4231
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 11
Members: 16225
Moderators: 3
Admins: 1
Forum Stats:
Groups: 6
Forums: 25
Topics: 2273
Posts: 123063
Newest Members:
Veronanat, tonyajomoorp, expip, maximllPl, RobertasseK, EdwardDumModerators: Toffeeapple: 16337, AdminTA: 10, Fiona Nevile: 0
Administrators: Danny: 5517
Copyright © 2006-2023 Cottage Smallholder Our Privacy Policy Advertise on Cottage Smallholder