Friday 23 September 2022

28 Jars Of Jam Didn't Set! Argh!

I was feeling pretty pleased with myself the other morning, as before 9.30 in the morning I had made 28 jars of damson jam, my favourite jam. 


I was feeling a whole lot less pleased when I came back in later that day and saw that none of it had set! What a disaster! 
Although nothing I couldn't save thankfully. 

 

It was a mammoth batch of jam, made with 6.5kg of fruit that mum had brought over from a Merryweather Damson tree I had planted at theirs 20 years ago. Added with 6.5kg of sugar it was a lot to boil up and get to setting point. I must have rushed and, knowing that damson jam can be like concrete, didn't try to push it to far. 


So that evening I had to admit defeat, empty every jar and boil it up again! It took a while, especially with cleaning every jam jar, but I got there in the end. 


I decided to make a quick little video about it and what I did to solve the problem. 

The children were pleased I did as they layered their toast in it the next day! 

We all make mistakes - I'm not going to say this is the first time I've had to do this!

Anyone else ever get their jam making wrong and have to do this?

18 comments:

  1. My friend has been making jam for 40+ years, her plum jam did not set, but its great on porridge sprinkled with cinnamon. Seemingly this has been her first ever failure. I've had to reboil jam a couple of times.

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    1. I wish I could pretend this was my first failure! At least it is still good to eat. I made fig jam once and it went all mouldy. Not something I was keen to eat!

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  2. Yes, a few times, so use juice from a lemon or a cooking apple to help.

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    1. Yes! Both of those are great. I sometimes cook down apple peels and dry it to make a petin like flake I can use to add in

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  3. It's the cleaning the jars that annoys me whenever this has happened to me and the waste of time.

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    1. Yeah - this felt like I wasted a whole evening and I've got so much to do at the moment!

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  4. They aren't mistakes, they're learning experiences! :) I once had a batch of elderberry jelly that didn't set, so I just used it as elderberry syrup.

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    1. I already have some cherry jam I made that was more like syrup! But yeah, I'm always learning. I think big batches like this aren't ideal.

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  5. As with Leigh above, two years ago I had a batch of haskap berry jam not set up. The batch was much smaller than yours (thankfully!) so we just used it as syrup which was yummy. But I understand when you wanted JAM, it must have been a frustrating disappointment! Per Leigh's comment, again, it was a learning experience. And don't we all feel we've had too many of those! :o)

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    1. Yeah, I was after jam! But never mind I got there in the end. I son't do such a huge batch next time!

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  6. Big batches have that problem because the best way to set jam (if you have go the right fruit/sugar/pectin combo) is to get it up to boiling as fast as possible and keep it at a rolling boil if your pot size will permit it. If it simmers at a lower temperature for too long the chemical reaction needed to make the pectin and sugar hold hands and gel gets invaded by water from the fruit - and then it won't set. We use runny jam as the 'sugar' in various baking recipes - muffins and steamed puddings in particular - and just cut back on whatever wet ingredient was called for.

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    1. Yeah, I think next time about half this is the right amount. That and I need a bigger sppon so I don't burn myself!

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  7. Kev, I have failed more than one cheese making attempt and even some yogurt, which is about as simple a dairy product as one can make. To Leigh's point, it is all just a learning experience - sometimes aggravating, but no-one ever mastered anything by only hitting successes.

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    1. exactly that! someone that's made no mistakes is someone that's done nothing!

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  8. I concur with Tigger; your batch was too big. The thing about doing several small batches is you don't need to wash the pot in between. Since my jams are made without commercial pectin, it's always a chance of failing to set but experience will make it almost foolproof. I find that just reboiling can create a glue-like texture. I've done the reboil thing so I do not envy you having to do 28 jars! A noble effort.

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    1. Yeah, I think the batch was far too big, hard to get it heated all the way through. Next time I'll split it in half at least if I have that much fruit.

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