How to thicken jam at home. How to make quick jam How to boil jam

Jam is not just a traditional delicacy, but also an excellent opportunity to replenish yourself with vitamins all year round. However, only properly cooked jam will retain all the beneficial properties of berries and fruits. Here are the basic subtleties of preparing a healthy dessert.

Choosing dishes to make jam correctly

For our purposes, a large and deep container made of copper, stainless steel or aluminum is suitable. The traditional vessel for making jam is a large copper basin. Pay attention to the inner surface of such kitchen utensils: there should be no plaque on it - a product of metal oxidation, which in no case should get into food. You should not take enamel dishes: a culinary masterpiece in it is likely to burn. Do not choose containers that are too large - large dishes will require longer cooking times, which will not have the best effect on the result. The optimal option is a volume of two to six liters.

How to make jam correctly - choosing fruits and berries

The main component of the jam must be absolutely fresh and free from any flaws, be it stains or bruises. Ideally, these are fruits straight from the garden, but store goods should, if possible, be of local origin. If berries and fruits are unripe or overripe, they are not suitable for jam. Also pay attention to the smell of the fruit: it will determine the aroma of the finished product.

How to make jam correctly - preparing fruits and berries

We sort the berries, removing unsuitable ones, wash and clean them. Wash currants, raspberries and strawberries again after peeling. To wash the berries, use cold water, keeping the product under the tap for about 2 minutes. or by washing it in a colander. Leave the berries to dry in a sieve for 15 or 20 minutes.

We prepare packaging containers for making jam

We take jars from 0.5 to two liters and wash them thoroughly. Preferably with a good detergent, for example, soda ash. Rinse the jars with boiling water and turn them upside down to drain the water. Place the container in the oven to dry completely. By the time of packaging, the jars must not only be dried, but also warmed up.

Preparing syrup for making jam

Pour sugar into a cooking vessel and fill it with water in the ratio of 1 kilogram of sugar - half a glass of liquid. Cook the mixture over medium heat, stirring the sugar until it dissolves. When the mixture boils, cook it for one or two minutes. The jam base is ready if it is thick enough. Only with this syrup consistency the berries are not deformed while they are boiling.

Combine syrup and berries

Carefully pour the berries into the liquid set over medium heat. The water should completely cover the berries. Stir them into the syrup, shaking the bowl in a circle. Keep it stirred for three to four hours so that the berries absorb the syrup, otherwise they may shrink and boil.

Cook all the ingredients

We periodically remove foam from the surface - the reason for the souring of the future product. We monitor the fire - it should be uniform. To prevent the jam from burning, carefully turn the dish and mix the berries. Before the end of cooking, the boiling becomes slower, the foam collects towards the center, and the berries do not tend to float to the surface. A drop of finished jam has a thick consistency and does not spread. As soon as we detect these signs, we immediately turn off the heat to avoid overcooking.

Cook the jam in two or three stages for 10-15 minutes, cooling for two to three hours. The total cooking time should not be more than half an hour. If the syrup is well absorbed into the fruit or berries, you can reduce the cooking to one stage lasting 40 minutes.

Making jam is one of the most common ways to process and prepare fruits and berries at home. Jam is considered good and properly cooked if the shape of the berries has not changed, only their color has become darker and the aroma of fresh fruit has been preserved.

To preserve the jam for a long time, it is necessary to observe the established sugar consumption rate when cooking it. If you add less sugar to fruits and berries than required according to the recipe, or do not finish cooking, such jam may become unstable during storage: it will ferment and become completely unusable.

Spoilage of jam, despite a sufficient amount of sugar, can also occur due to packaging in damp, poorly washed and undried containers and subsequent storage in a damp, unventilated area.

There are many ways to make jam, based on the characteristics of various fruits and berries. At the same time, there are general techniques and requirements for making jam from any raw material.

To make jam, it is recommended to use basins with a capacity of 2 to 6 kg, made of stainless steel or brass. It is not recommended to use larger containers, since when cooking, delicate berries, such as raspberries and strawberries, can be crushed in them, and the jam will turn out soft. In addition, when cooking a large volume of berries, their cooking time lengthens quite significantly, which also negatively affects the quality of the jam.

The best containers for packaging and storing finished jam are glass jars with a capacity of 0.5; 1; 2 l. Before packaging, the jars should be washed in hot water, preferably with soda ash or other detergent, until completely clean, then rinsed with clean boiling water and turned upside down to drain the water. After this, the jars are dried on the stove until the moisture is completely removed. Immediately before packaging, jars must be completely dry and hot.

Regardless of the heat source used, the jam should be cooked for no more than 30-40 minutes, excluding the resting time. In the first 5-10 minutes from the moment of boiling, the jam should be cooked over low heat, since during this period the greatest foaming is observed and the contents of the basin may boil away. As the intensity of foam formation decreases and as the syrup thickens, the heat must be increased, making sure, however, that the jam cooks evenly and does not overflow over the edge of the basin.

The syrup containing fruits or berries must be transparent and colored in a color that is characteristic of these fruits or berries. It should not have any brownish or brownish tint. The latter indicates that the jam was overheated or cooked over high heat.

The syrup should be thick enough that it does not flow quickly from the surface of the spoon. The jam should contain equal amounts of berries and syrup. Excess or insufficient amount of syrup indicates a violation of the rules for making jam.

Fruits and berries that are intended for making jam are collected on the day of their cooking in sunny and dry weather and after they have dried from dew. It is not recommended to pick berries in rainy weather. It is important that the berries and fruits are of the same degree of ripeness. Unripe and overripe fruits and berries are unsuitable for making jam. Raspberries and strawberries should be collected in sieves or wicker baskets with a capacity of no more than 2-3 kg.

Raspberries and strawberries collected from a personal plot and not having any contamination do not need to be washed. In all other cases, they are washed like other types of fruits and berries. Washing must be done after sorting, and some berries after cleaning (for example, after removing sepals from strawberries, stalks from raspberries and calyxes from currants) in cold, clean running water.

Tender berries should be rinsed for 1-2 minutes under running water or by repeated immersion in water in a container with a wired bottom (basket, colander). After washing, the berries and fruits need to be kept in a sieve for 15-20 minutes so that the water drains from them and they dry a little.

The most common is boiling fruits and berries in sugar syrup. To prepare the latter, a pre-measured amount of granulated sugar is poured into a clean brass or other basin, an enamel pan and filled with cold or hot water, after which the dishes are placed on medium heat and stirred with a spoon or slotted spoon until the sugar is completely dissolved. Then the syrup must be brought to a boil. After 1-2 minutes of boiling, the dishes are removed from the heat, and the syrup is considered ready for use.

Both the quality of the cooked jam and its ability for long-term storage depend on the correctly chosen ratio of parts of sugar and berries or fruits. In the absence of scales, you can determine the weight of sugar by volume: one glass contains 200 g of sugar, a liter jar contains 800 g, and a half-liter jar contains 400 g.

Before starting cooking, you should prepare the necessary utensils: a deep plate for foam, a tablespoon or a slotted spoon. After everything is prepared, place the basin with the syrup on moderate heat, carefully pour a measured amount of berries into it and mix them well with the syrup. To do this, you can take the basin with both hands and shake it in a circular motion. The syrup must cover the fruits or berries. Berries drenched in hot syrup are left for 3-4 hours. If you start cooking the jam right away, and even over high heat, the syrup will not have time to be absorbed into the berries, and the latter will shrivel and boil too much.

Berries and fruits with hard skin (gooseberries, ranet, plums) are pierced with a sharp wooden stick so that the syrup is better absorbed. Black currants must first be blanched, that is, placed in boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then cooled. If this is not done, the berries in cold jam will turn out too dry.

It is necessary to carefully monitor the cooking process and ensure that the jam does not boil over. The fire must be maintained uniformly all the time, not very strong, but not very weak, adjusting it depending on the formation of foam. At the beginning of cooking, after 3-5 minutes have passed from the moment the jam boils, the basin should be removed from the heat, shake lightly with both hands, remove foam from the surface and put back on the fire. Cooking continues until foam appears again, which is removed again.

Continue in this manner until excessive foaming stops. After this happens and the mass begins to boil more slowly at the same heat, this means that the cooking of the jam is approaching the end. You need to watch this moment very carefully, otherwise the jam will be overcooked.

To avoid burning during cooking, the basin should be turned frequently and the berries or fruits should be stirred very carefully with a slotted spoon or spoon.

Delicate berries - raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, small plums, cherries with pits, currants - are boiled in several stages, with breaks of 8-10 hours. The first time, the syrup with berries is just brought to a boil and left to stand. The second time, the jam is boiled for 10-15 minutes and left to stand again. Only the third time can it be brought to readiness over high heat. Strawberries, cherries, sweet cherries and pitted plums can be cooked in one step - first over low heat, then over high heat.

Easily boiled berries can be cooked in the following way. After cooking lightly in the syrup, carefully remove the berries with a slotted spoon or strainer, and continue to cook the syrup. Not long before the end of cooking, the berries are dipped into syrup again, brought to a boil again and then sealed.

It is important to be able to determine the degree of readiness of the jam. The following methods for determining the readiness of jam by external signs are quite common.
1. Take a little syrup from the basin with a spoon, and if it flows from the spoon in a thick, rather than liquid and thin thread, it means that the jam is ready.
2. The cooled sample is carefully poured from a teaspoon onto a plate. If the syrup has not spread, the jam can be considered ready.
3. Jam can also be considered ready if, after the boiling stops, its surface in the basin is quickly covered with a thin, wrinkled film.

If the jam remains liquid for a long time during cooking, which often happens, for example, with cherry jam, you can add a little lemon juice or apple jelly to it. After this, the jam will quickly thicken.

After finishing cooking, the jam is immediately poured into clean, pre-prepared dishes - aluminum and enamel bowls or pans without cracks. Under no circumstances should you use cast iron or iron utensils to preserve jam. Since in such dishes the color of the jam deteriorates.

Before packaging, the jam is usually cooled for 8-10 hours. Some types of jam, in which the fruits are quickly soaked in sugar (black currants, strawberries, cranberries, etc.), can also be packaged hot without prior standing.

For long-term storage, it is best to package the jam in glass or proven clay containers of small capacity - 0.5; 1 and 2 l. After the jam has cooled completely, seal the container tightly.

The kernels of apricots, cherries, plums and peaches contain a substance that in the body, through decomposition, turns into a strong poison - hydrocyanic acid.

When storing jam from fruits with seeds for a long time, its quantity increases, so it is not recommended to store such jam for more than a year. If the jam has been stored longer than this period, the syrup is drained, the seeds are removed from the fruit, the pulp is mixed with the syrup and boiled for 30-40 minutes, after which the danger of poisoning is removed.

The jam must be stored at a temperature of 10-15°C.

If water gets into the finished jam or it is undercooked, or if there is not enough sugar in it, the jam may ferment. In this case, it must be digested by adding a little sugar.

If the jam becomes moldy, it means that it is either poorly packaged or stored in a too damp room. You need to remove the mold, boil the jam and put it in another, drier place.

There are many recipes for making jam, based on the characteristics of various fruits and berries. At the same time, there are general techniques and requirements for making jam from any raw material.

The ideal vessels for making jam are basins with a capacity of 2 to 6 liters, made of stainless steel or brass. It is not recommended to use larger containers, since delicate berries, such as raspberries and strawberries, can be crushed in them, and the jam will turn out soft. In addition, when using a large volume of berries, their cooking time is greatly extended, which also negatively affects the quality of the jam. Therefore, it is recommended to use basins with low sides for cooking jam.

Jam packaging

The best containers for packaging and storing finished jam are glass jars with a capacity of 0.5; 1; 2 l. The jars must first be washed in hot water, preferably with soda ash or another detergent, until completely clean, then rinsed with clean boiling water and turned upside down to drain the water. After this, the jars are dried in the oven until the moisture is completely removed. Immediately before packaging the finished jam, the jars must be completely dry and hot.

Regardless of the heat source used, the jam should be cooked for no more than 30-40 minutes, excluding the resting time. In the first 5-10 minutes from the moment of boiling, the jam should be cooked over low heat, since during this period the greatest foaming is observed and the contents of the basin may boil away. As the intensity of foam formation decreases and as the syrup thickens, the heat must be increased, making sure that the jam boils evenly and does not overflow over the edge of the basin.

Syrup for jam, which contains fruits or berries, must be transparent and colored in a color that is characteristic of these fruits or berries. It should not have any brownish or brownish tint. The latter indicates that the jam was overheated or cooked over too much heat.

It should be thick enough that it does not flow quickly from the surface of the spoon. The jam should contain equal amounts of berries and syrup. Excess or insufficient amount of syrup indicates a violation of the rules for making jam.

Fruits and berries that are intended for jam are collected on the day of cooking in sunny and dry weather, after they have dried from dew. It is not recommended to pick berries in rainy weather. It is important that the berries and fruits are of the same degree of ripeness. Unripe and overripe fruits and berries are unsuitable for making jam. Raspberries and strawberries should be collected in sieves or wicker baskets with a capacity of no more than 2-3 kg.

If the berries collected from your garden plot do not have any contamination, you do not need to wash them. In all other cases, fruits and berries are washed. Washing must be done after sorting, and some berries after cleaning (for example, after removing sepals from strawberries, stalks from raspberries and calyxes from currants) in cold, clean running water.

Both the quality of the jam and its ability for long-term storage depend on the correctly chosen ratio of parts of sugar and berries or fruits. In the absence of scales, you can determine the weight of sugar by volume: one glass contains 200 g of sugar, a liter jar contains 800 g, and a half-liter jar contains 400 g.

Cooking jam involves some operations for which you need to prepare. Before you start cooking jam You should prepare the necessary utensils: a deep plate for foam, a tablespoon or a slotted spoon. After everything is prepared, place the basin with the syrup on moderate heat, carefully pour a measured amount of berries into it and mix them well with the syrup. To do this, you can take the basin with both hands and shake it in a circular motion. The syrup must cover the fruits or berries. The berries drenched in hot syrup are left for 3-4 hours. If you start cooking the jam immediately, and even over high heat, the syrup will not will have time to be absorbed into the berries, and the latter will shrivel and become very boiled.

They do this until the abundant pricing stops. After this happens and the mass begins to boil more slowly at the same heat, this means that the cooking of the jam is approaching the end. You need to watch this moment very carefully, otherwise the jam will be overcooked. To avoid burning, the basin should be turned frequently and the berries or fruits should be stirred very carefully with a slotted spoon or spoon.

Berry jam

Delicate berries - raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, cherries, small plums, cherries with pits, currants - are boiled in several stages, with breaks of 8-10 hours. The first time, the syrup with berries is only brought to a boil, and then left to stand. The second time, the jam is boiled for 10-15 minutes and left to stand again. Only the third time can it be brought to readiness over high heat. Strawberries, cherries, sweet cherries and pitted plums can be cooked in one step - first over low heat, then over high heat.

With easily boiled berries you can do the following. After cooking lightly in the syrup, carefully remove the berries with a slotted spoon or strainer, and continue to boil the syrup. Shortly before the end of cooking, the berries are dipped into syrup again, brought to a boil again, and then the finished jam is sealed.

When the jam is ready

It is important to be able to determine the degree of readiness of the jam. The following methods are quite common:

1. Take a little syrup from the basin with a spoon, and if it flows from the spoon in a thick mass, and not in a liquid and thin thread, this means that the jam is not ready yet.

2. The cooled sample is carefully poured from a teaspoon onto a plate. If the syrup has not spread, the jam can be considered ready.

After cooking, the jam is immediately poured into clean, pre-prepared containers - aluminum and enamel bowls or pans without cracks. In no case should you use cast iron or iron utensils for curing jam, as they will deteriorate the color of the jam.

For long-term storage, it is best to package the jam in glass or proven clay containers of small capacity - 0.5, 1 and 2 liters. After the jam has cooled completely, seal the container tightly.

The kernels of apricots, cherries, plums and peaches contain a substance that in the body, through decomposition, turns into a strong poison - hydrocyanic acid. When storing jam from fruits with seeds for a long time, its quantity increases, so it is not recommended to store such jam for more than a year. If the jam has been stored longer than this period, the syrup is drained, the seeds are removed from the fruit, the pulp is mixed with the syrup and boiled for 30-40 minutes, after which the danger of poisoning is removed.

The jam must be stored at a temperature of 10-15 °C.

If water gets into the finished jam or it is undercooked, if there is not enough sugar in it, the jam may ferment. In this case, it must be digested by adding a little sugar.

If the jam becomes moldy, it means that it is either poorly packaged or stored in a too damp room. You need to remove the mold, boil the jam and put it in another, drier place.

Jam recipes

There are many recipes for making jam from fruits and berries. Let's look at some of them.

Plum jam

Remove the stems from the plums, chop the fruits and put them in hot water at a temperature of 85 ° C for 10 minutes, then cool. Pour hot syrup over the prepared plums and leave for 3-4 hours, and then cook until tender. It is recommended to cook whole plum fruits in four batches. The standing time for the jam between cooking is 8 hours. Cool the finished plum jam, transfer it to the prepared container and close tightly.

Recipe. To prepare plum jam, you need to take 2 kg of sugar and 400 ml of water per 1 kg of plums.

Sea buckthorn jam

Pasteurized sea buckthorn jam is more stable during storage; there is no observed sugaring, molding, or fermentation. Sea buckthorn jam should be boiled at a temperature of 105 °C, then packaged in hot sterilized glass jars and pasteurized in boiling water: half-liter jars - 15 minutes, liter jars - 20 minutes. After pasteurization, jars should be sealed immediately.

Recipe. To prepare sea buckthorn jam for 1 kg of peeled sea buckthorn fruits you need 1.5 kg of sugar and 1.2 liters of water.

Red rowan jam

Removed after the first frost, when it no longer has a bitter taste, keep it in the oven at low temperature for 1-2 hours, then blanch it in very hot water for 5 minutes. Boil the syrup, dip the berries in it and leave for 6-8 hours. Then put it on fire. As soon as the jam boils, remove it from the heat for 10-15 minutes, repeating the procedure 4-5 times. Since rowan absorbs sugar very slowly, leave the jam for another 12 hours after the last cooking, then drain the syrup and boil to the desired thickness without berries. Place the berries in jars and pour hot syrup over them.

Recipe. To prepare red rowan jam, take 1.5 kg of sugar and 3 glasses of water per 1 kg of berries.

Cherry jam

Wash the cherries for jam, dry, chop or immerse in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then pour in hot syrup prepared using half the required amount of sugar. After pouring the syrup over the fruits, leave them for 4-6 hours, then separate the syrup from the fruits, add half the remaining sugar to it and boil for 10 minutes. Transfer the cherries to the boiling syrup and leave again for 5-6 hours. After standing, drain the syrup again. Add the rest of the sugar to it and simmer for 10-12 minutes. At the end of cooking, the cherry fruits are transferred to the syrup, left for 4-5 hours, after which the jam is cooked until ready. To prevent sugaring, add citric acid at the end of cooking. To improve the aroma, it is recommended to add a little vanillin.

Recipe. To prepare cherry jam for 1 kg of cherries you need 1-1.2 kg of sugar, 1 glass of water or seed decoction, 1-2 g of citric acid.

Raspberry jam

Raspberry jam is made from ripe fresh raspberries, collected in dry weather. Sort the raspberries, rinse with water, remove the stalks, sepals and fruit. If the raspberries are clean, they do not need to be washed. To remove raspberry beetle larvae, immerse the berries in a solution of table salt for several minutes, and remove the surfaced larvae with a spoon. Rinse the berries treated with a salt solution with water, pour hot syrup and leave for 4-5 hours, then separate them from the syrup. Boil the syrup to a boiling point of 107.5 °C, then cool slightly, put raspberries in it and cook over low heat. Place the cooled raspberry jam into jars.

Recipe for making raspberry jam: 1 kg of raspberries - 1.2-1.5 kg of sugar, 1 glass of water.

Redcurrant jam

Separate red currant berries from the clusters, rinse in cold water, place in a basin, pour in sugar syrup and leave for 6-8 hours, after which separate the fruits from the syrup. Boil the syrup, then cool slightly, add red currants to it and cook over low heat.

Recipe for red currant jam. For 1 kg of berries you need 1.5-1.8 kg of sugar, 1 liter of water.

Cherry plum jam

Thoroughly washed cherry plum fruits are pricked in several places with a thin wooden pin and placed in a basin. Boil the syrup, pour the hot syrup over the prepared cherry plum and leave it like that for a day. On the second day, drain the syrup, boil and pour the cherry plum again. On the third day, cook the jam until ready. It is very important to correctly determine the moment when cherry plum jam is ready and not to overcook it. The cherry plum should be transparent and evenly distributed in the syrup. Allow the finished jam to cool and transfer to clean, dry jars.

Recipe for cherry plum jam. For 1 kg of cherry plum take 1.4 kg of sugar, 1.5 glasses of water.

Gooseberry jam

Gooseberry jam It is brewed from unripe fruits, collected several days before the onset of consumer ripeness. Divide the sugar intended for jam into two halves. Use one of them to prepare syrup, divide the second into three equal parts, which will be added to the jam during cooking. Remove the stems from the gooseberries, wash and chop the berries. If the gooseberries are large, you can remove the seeds from them with a pin, carefully cutting the top of each berry. Pour hot syrup over the berries, in which they should remain for 4-6 hours.
After soaking in the syrup, separate the berries in a colander, add ½ of the remaining amount of sugar to the syrup, bring the syrup to a boil and simmer for 7-8 minutes over low heat, then pour the berries again for 5-6 hours. Repeat this operation two more times , each time adding granulated sugar to the syrup. Finally, cook the gooseberry jam during the fourth cooking, at the end of which it is recommended to add a little vanillin. To preserve the natural color of the fruit, the finished jam should be quickly cooled by placing the basin in cold water or in a cold room. gooseberry jam recipe.

A jar of homemade jam, made with your own hands, will help you remember summer in winter and provide you with vitamins.

So, let’s make jam and everything will work out!

Advice. If you cover the jam with a regular lid, without pasteurization and seaming, place a circle of filter paper soaked in alcohol or vodka under the lid. This will protect your jam from mold during long-term storage.

1. Royal gooseberry jam

Products:

1. Large green unripe gooseberries - 5 cups

2. Sugar - 1 kg.

3. Cherry leaf - 2 cups

4. Water - 3 glasses

5. Peeled walnuts - 2 cups

How to make royal gooseberry jam:

Free the gooseberries from the stalks and “flowers”, carefully cut them and remove the pulp with seeds from the berries, trying to maintain the integrity of the berries.

Pour 1 cup of cherry leaf with water, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for 3-5 minutes, making sure the water remains green.

Strain, pour over the berries, and place in a cool place for 24 hours. Prepare the second glass of cherry leaves as follows - remove the rough parts, divide each leaf into 4 parts.

Drain the cherry broth from the berries and put a piece of cherry leaf and a piece of walnut into each berry, sprinkle the berries with vodka.

Add sugar to the strained broth and cook the syrup over low heat for about 15 minutes (be careful not to turn pink!).

Pour the berries into the prepared syrup and cook for 15 minutes. IMPORTANT! - Cool very quickly! - to maintain green color.

2. Mint jam

Mint jam is not only unusual and very pleasant to taste, but also good for health: it helps with colds and stomach diseases.

Products:

1. Mint - 300 gr.

2. Water - 500 ml.

3. Lemon - 2 pcs.

4. Sugar - 1 kg.

How to make mint jam:

So... collected mint leaves along with twigs and stems (and me with flowers), cut lemons along with the “skin”, add water and cook for 10 minutes.

Let this witchcraft brew brew for one day. After a day, squeeze out the mixture and strain the infusion. Add sugar and cook until tender.

The word readiness scared me, but... I cooked it for two hours on low heat, skimming off the foam.

Then later... after about three hours I boiled it some more and poured it into jars.

It is better to put parchment in the lid to prevent mold from appearing due to condensation after a while.

That's all... In winter, God forbid you catch a cold, will you have medicine or just a sweet “summer”

3. “Live jam” from raspberries and currants

From raspberries:

Products:

1. Raspberries - 1 kg.

2. Sugar - 1.5 kg.

How to make “live jam” from raspberries:

Sort the raspberries and place them in a cup. Add sugar and leave for 2 hours.

Then stir with a wooden spatula in one direction.

Stir the jam overnight until the sugar is completely dissolved.

If you want to store the jam for a short time, then you can reduce the amount of sugar by 500 grams.

From currants:

Products:

1. Currants - 1 kg.

2. Sugar - 1.5 kg.

How to make “live jam” of currants:

Sort the currants, remove the stems so that there are only berries, wash and place in a sieve to drain off excess liquid.

Transfer the currants into a cup. Add sugar and leave for 2 hours. Mix. Using an immersion blender, beat until smooth.

Pour the jam into sterile and dry jars, close with plastic lids and store in the refrigerator for about 4-5 months.

If you want to store the jam for a short time, you can reduce the amount of sugar by 500 grams.

4. Kiwi and lemon jam

Products:

1. Kiwi - 1 kg.

2. Lemon - 1 pc.

3. Lemon juice - 1 pc.

4. Sugar - 900 gr.

How to make kiwi and lemon jam:

Wash the lemon thoroughly with a brush and cut into thin slices.

Place in a saucepan along with 100g sugar and 100ml water. Cook over low heat for 10 minutes.

Peel the kiwi, cut into slices and place in a saucepan with lemon slices.

Add lemon juice and remaining sugar. Bring to a boil.

Pour into a ceramic bowl and leave at room temperature overnight.

The next day, return the jam to the pan, bring to a boil again and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Pour into sterilized jars and let cool. Then close and store in a cool, dark place.

5. Orange peel jam

Products:

1. Orange - 3 pcs.

2. Water - 400 ml.

3. Sugar - 300 gr.

4. Citric acid (half an incomplete teaspoon) - 0.5 teaspoon

5. Ginger root (optional) - 10 gr.

How to make orange peel jam:

Wash the oranges thoroughly, pour boiling water over them (to wash off the wax that is applied so that the orange does not spoil during transportation) and peel in any way convenient for you.

Cut the peel in the center so that you get two hemispheres.

Then we cut each hemisphere in half and each part into three more strips.

If the orange is thin-skinned, you can leave the inner part; if it is thick-skinned, you can remove a little from the inside so that the curls are easier to wrap and they are neater.

Roll each piece of peel into a tight roll and string it on a thread like beads. The thread must be pulled tighter so that the curls do not unravel.

Pour cold water over the orange beads. Change the water two to three times a day. The peels need to be soaked for 3-4 days, until the peels become soft and no longer taste bitter.

After this, boil the crusts 3-4 times for 15-20 minutes, changing the water each time. After each boiling, the peel should be rinsed with cold water.

Let's boil it for the first time - I put the beads in a bowl of cold water, poured fresh hot water into the saucepan and put the peel there again. And so on several times. Now you need to weigh the peel.

The proportions for jam are as follows: 1.5 times more sugar, twice as much water. If you don’t have scales, I give other proportions: for 10 oranges - 1 kg of sugar, 1-1.2 liters of water and 1 tsp. citric acid (or juice of half a lemon).

So - the peels of 3 oranges (200 grams), 300 grams of sugar, 400 grams of water, (as a gag - ginger root weighing 10 grams, cut into small pieces) put in a saucepan and cook until slightly thickened - the syrup should be enough liquid, similar to very liquid honey after cooling.

Add citric acid before removing from heat. Remove the threads after the jam has cooled. Pour into a clean, dry jar. The output was a little more than a 0.5 liter jar.

6. Raspberry jam with vanilla

Products:

1. Raspberries - 250 gr.

2. Lemon juice 2 tbsp. spoons

3. Sugar - 500 gr.

4. Vanilla - 1 vanilla pod (vanillin - 1 tbsp. spoon)

How to make raspberry jam with vanilla:

Place raspberries, juice and 2 tablespoons of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Reduce temperature and leave to cook for 5 minutes. Add sugar and stir until completely dissolved.

Scrape out the vanilla bean and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Taste the jam and if it is not ready, leave it to cook for another 5 minutes.

Pour the jam into a jar and serve.

7. Blueberry jam

Products:

1. Blueberries - 1 kg.

2. Sugar - 1 kg.

3. Citric acid - 2 g.

How to make blueberry jam:

Place the prepared blueberries in a cooking vessel, pour in hot 70% sugar syrup (700 g of sugar per 300 ml of water) and leave in the syrup for 3-4 hours.

After this, cook over low heat until fully cooked, skimming off the foam. At the end of cooking, you can add citric acid.

Pack hot blueberry jam into prepared, heated jars.

Pasteurize at 95°C: half-liter jars - 10 minutes, liter jars - 15 minutes.

Bon appetit!

During the ripening season of berries and fruits, many housewives make jam, wanting to preserve the fruits until winter. This delicacy is indeed tasty, aromatic and healthy, but often the finished product turns out to be liquid. To avoid such a mistake, you can use different thickeners for jam. They are added to the jam so that the product acquires a bright color and the desired consistency. Details about them are presented in the article.

Using these products is easy, and you don’t need to increase the amount of sugar to prepare the product. The fruit mass is cooked for about 10 minutes. The finished delicacy retains vitamins, the berries remain intact, and the consistency of the jam will be thick. Jam thickeners are used both in industrial settings and in home cooking. You can find various reviews from housewives regarding the use of these products, but most of them use proven methods of making the product thicker.

Choosing a container and components for jam

Every housewife knows the intricacies of preparing her dishes. This is evidenced by numerous reviews that provide tips on how to obtain delicious and healthy desserts. You can prepare jam in a copper, aluminum or enamel container. It is important that it is wide and the walls are low. Then the product heats up evenly and the liquid evaporates better.

Berries and fruits should be collected in sunny, dry weather. The fruits must be ripe and undamaged. The seeds must be removed before heat treatment of the raw materials. If the berries have a thick skin, you can pierce it with a toothpick. If the fruits have produced a lot of juice, it is recommended to drain the excess. It is better to use white sugar, not cane sugar. Moreover, it is not added immediately, but in parts.

Pectin

It is a popular thickener for jam. The word is translated from Greek as “connecting.” It has the ability to dissolve in water, followed by combination with acids and sugar without distorting their taste, so pectin is suitable for producing any gelatinous products.

This substance is a natural chemical compound found in various fruits and vegetables. The most pectin is in apples and pulp - a processed product. It is also found in citrus fruits, pumpkin, and sunflower. Apple pectin is in demand in cooking. It is created by squeezing and concentrating the apple mass, after which the intermediate product is dried. The result is a natural, plant-based polysaccharide, presented in the form of a white powder that has no odor.

Cooking properties

Preserves the aroma of the product. cook with pectin for 10 minutes. For the standard version, when a thickener is not used, it will be necessary to spend more time on heat treatment, and the final product will not be as aromatic and with a sweeter taste.
Berries and fruits remain intact and do not become overcooked. The jam takes on the color of fresh berries.
With this cooking, you get more of the finished product.
Pectin is recognized as a harmless component, but you should not use it often. Due to an overdose, intestinal obstruction and allergies are possible.

Cooking with pectin

The amount of pectin added depends on the sugar and wateriness of the fruit. For 1 kg of fruit it is enough to use 5-15 g of the substance. If the ratio of sugar to liquid is 1:0.5, then 5 g of pectin will be required. At 1:0.25 - up to 10 g. If there is no sugar at all in the jam, then 15 g of pectin can be added per 1 kg.
How to make jam thick? You need to add pectin to the boiled fruit mass, previously mixed with granulated sugar, this will help avoid the formation of lumps. After this, cooking should last no more than 5 minutes so that the gelling properties do not disappear from the substance.

Quitin

The thickener for jam “Quitin”, due to the presence of pectin in its composition, has a gelling effect, so it also does not require long cooking of the dessert. It will take only 5 minutes to prepare it. The product will make the product tastier and healthier, since the vitamins will be preserved.

1 packet of Quitin jam thickener is enough to cook 2 kg of product. It is used to make jam and marmalade. The result is a delicacy with a thick, viscous consistency.

Starch - can I use it?

It is a white powder that is tasteless and odorless. It is obtained from potatoes, rice, wheat and corn. The substance does not dissolve in cold water, but in hot water it becomes a transparent gelatinous mass - a paste. It is used for cooking jelly, compotes, custards, sweet sauces, and sometimes jam.

Starch reduces the taste of the product, so you need to add more sugar and citric acid. How to make jam thick? If the product is liquid, then a few minutes before readiness you should add a little of this substance, which is first diluted in a small amount of water. After this, cooking continues for no more than 3 minutes. The cooled product will be quite thick.

Gelatin

The human body needs amino acids and minerals. They have a beneficial effect on health, skin, nails, and hair. These components are found in gelatin, which is obtained through heat treatment of bones, tendons, cartilage of animals and fish. The substance eliminates the feeling of hunger, so the product is considered dietary. 100 g of gelatin contains only 355 kcal.

Gelatin is used to produce jellied products, creams, ice cream, and jam. Thanks to it, sugar does not crystallize. How to use jam thickener? To prepare the preparation for the winter, you will need berries (1 kg), sugar (1 kg) and gelatin (40 g). The dry substances are mixed and then the sweet product is prepared following the recipe.

Agar-agar

This jam thickener is made from seaweed, which contains iodine, iron, and calcium. The substance is presented in the form of a white powder, tasteless and odorless, and serves as a vegetable substitute for gelatin. Used in confectionery.

The list of advantages of this substance includes the following features:

It contains no fat, so the product is dietary.
Iodine, which agar-agar is rich in, restores the activity of the thyroid gland.
This thickener is of plant origin, and therefore agar-agar can be used by people who adhere to vegetarianism.
Its composition helps cleanse the body and strengthen the immune system.
The properties of the thickener are not lost with cooking.

Although the substance has beneficial properties, you still need to consume it without exceeding the permissible limit, so as not to lead to intestinal upset. It should be borne in mind that agar-agar cannot be combined with wine and fruit vinegar, sorrel, chocolate, and black tea.

How to make jam with this substance? For 1 glass of liquid you need to add 1 tsp. thickener It is filled with water for half an hour, after which it should swell. Then the liquid must be brought to a boil, while the mass must be constantly stirred so that there are no lumps or sediment in it. The resulting solution is poured into the finished jam, which should be mixed thoroughly. After preparation, the product can be placed in jars. Once cooled, agar-agar turns into a clear gel.

Preparation

The recipe for thick jam is simple. It is enough to complete all the steps:

Fruits or berries must be crushed and left for several hours to form juice.
Juicy fruits can be crushed with a blender or processed through a meat grinder, and then drain the puree into a colander.
Excess juice must be drained, leaving the thick part of the fruit, which will be used for jam. It is important, however, that the juice covers almost all the fruits or berries placed in the cooking container.
At the end you should add chopped lemon. It makes the product jelly-like.
Sugar increases the volume of syrup by about 60%.
To prevent the jam from being liquid, sugar should be added gradually, little by little. This way the finished treat will have the required consistency, and the product will not crystallize.

You can use other thickeners mentioned above, which produce an equally tasty and healthy product. It is important to monitor the amount of added substance so that the treat does not turn out too sticky. If the jam will be used to make pies and cakes, you can add a small amount of breadcrumbs to it before use.

Thus, natural jam thickeners allow you to get a wonderful dessert. Each housewife has her own options for making jam, but sometimes you can use proven thickeners, as they make cooking easier. Thanks to them, you get delicious and healthy desserts that retain all the valuable vitamins.