[boosmummy]

hi there,

i want to make some strawberry jam, i would love to tell you that its from strawberries ive grown but its not - next year i promise it will be  anyway ive found a simple recipe to follow and in the recipe it says test for pectin? now ive made blackberry jam before (from foraged blackberries) and it was a bit runny, so obviously not enough pectin.  how do i test for pectin or should i just put a sachet of it in anyway for good measure?

xx

[Kleftiwallah]

 Fruit vary in the ammount of pectin they contain and stawberries aint got much.  You can mix them with a high pectin fruit (cooking apples, black/red currants, damsons, gooseberries, plums among others) or use commercial pectin.

Next   is the magic phrase is   "To test for a set".   Cheers,   Tony.

[sunshineband]

If you have a look in the recipes section in the buttons at the top of the page, all the mysteries of jam making are explained by Val 

I hope you find this helpful 

[Spana]

As home made strawberry jam is so special why not buy the jam sugar with  pectin already added. I use it all the time for soft fruit as it only takes 4 mins to boil so you dont boil away any fresh fruit flavour and it stays a lovely bright colour.

It is a little more expensive than granulated but its saves on fuel and you dont need to buy lemons.

Follow the recipe on the bag and you wont need to worry about pectin tests or setting, it works brilliant every time and makes the best strawberry jam.  :happy:

[sunshineband]

This is true, Spana, especially for strawberries 

Just a little word of caution if you are making jam out of fruit with a lot of natural pectin already -- check for setting a little sooner than usual to avoid jam you can slice