Ready to Make Jam?
Colorful jams are the source of taste of our breakfast tables. It is possible to make jams, which are sometimes spread on bread, sometimes eaten with pancakes or used in dessert recipes, in all seasons. However, especially in the summer months, with the abundance of fruits such as strawberries, sour cherries, apricots, figs, grapes and watermelons, sweet smells begin to come from the kitchens. So, what should be considered in order to make a good jam? What should be done in order to preserve the color, taste and consistency of the jam for a long time and not to sugar? Here are a few tricks from beginner to advanced for those who want to make jam…
As in everything else, the quality and freshness of the ingredients used in making jam is very important. Choose the fruits you will make jam according to the season. Be sure to use natural, hormone-free fruits. You should not use fruits that have lost their vitality. If there are any crushed or spoiled fruits among your fruits, remove them. Using crushed fruits to make jam may seem like an economical solution to you. However, if the resulting jam is bad, it may mean that many things such as sugar, energy and time are wasted.
If you are going to make jam with soft fruits such as blackberries, strawberries, mulberries, start working immediately as soon as they are collected. If you are going to use hard fruits such as quince, pears, apples, clean the stained parts on the fruits with a knife. pesticides on fruits, etc. Clean the residues by washing them thoroughly. Before making jam, add granulated sugar to the fruits and leave for a while. This will allow the water and flavor of the fruits to be released. Thus, you will be able to obtain healthier and tastier results without adding too much water and sugar to your jam.
Speaking of water, the water you put in is important as well as the juice of the fruit itself. If you use lime-free, chlorine-free, rested drinking water, your jam will be more natural and delicious. You should adjust the sugar amount of the jam very well. Adding sugar will prevent the flavor and consistency of your jam from being as you imagined. You should adjust the amount of sugar each time, depending on the amount of fruit and which fruit you use. Sour fruits remove more sugar.
To balance the sugar you add to the jam, you should add lemon juice and even lemon salt to the pot towards the end of the boiling phase. This both contributes to the consistency of your jam and ensures its longevity. There are two things you can do if you want the fruits to not melt too much while making jam, and to have grains in them: One of them is to choose hard, fresh fruits. The second is to boil the jam for a while, then take the fruits from the pot and continue to boil only the water, then add the fruits back into the jam.
The foams that form on the jam while boiling can damage its appearance and clarity. Therefore, at the end of the boiling process, collect the foam on the jam with a spoon. The way to prevent excessive foaming is to add a teaspoon of butter to the pot. Your jam will be brighter and clearer. The right temperature is very important to keep the consistency of the jam. The easiest way to set the right temperature is to use a kitchen thermometer. If you take the pot off the stove when the thermometer shows 105 degrees, the consistency of your jam will be fine.
If you don't have a thermometer, take a spoonful of the jam you made and drip it onto a flat plate. If the drop is falling apart, continue boiling. If it remains intact and maintains its form, your jam has reached the required consistency, you can take it from the stove. You can also drip jam into a glass of water instead of a plate. It means that the consistency of the jam, which goes down to the bottom of the glass as a ball, without dispersing. Remember, it will harden a little when it cools.
To increase the consistency of the juicy jam, you can chop an apple and continue boiling it. It will also be effective to mix the consistency until it thickens. If your jam is still liquid after it cools, you can put it back on the stove and add some more lemon juice or orange juice. After making this addition, boiling your jam for 5 more minutes will thicken it. Do not use a metal spoon to mix the jam, mix it with a clean wooden spoon. Chemical reactions that may occur when you use a metal spoon can cause your jam to spoil easily.
You can use fragrant herbs and spices to add different flavors to your jam. Ingredients such as jasmine or violet leaves, cinnamon sticks and cloves allow you to go beyond traditional jam flavors. In jams such as apple and quince, you can get a brighter jam if you place the seeds of the fruits in a small pouch and boil them together with the jam.
Everything is ok, the color, consistency and flavor of your jam are all in place. So does that end there? Of course not. The storage conditions of the jam are also very important. Make sure that the jars in which you put the jam are well washed with hot water, dried and disinfected before use. The jars you use should not be too big. Otherwise, an air gap remains on the jar. This shortens the life of the jam. Moreover, even if you fill the jar, once you open the lid, you should consume it in a short time. However, you can divide the jam into several small jars, open the lids as needed, and consume your jams safely for a long time.
If you are sure that you have closed the lids of the jars well, you can put the jars in a cool place out of the sun with the lid on. When you place the jars with the lid down, you will prevent them from getting air.