strawberry jam problem

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I made strawberry jam yesterday. Everything went fine until I pulled the jars out of the boiling water bath. All the crushed berries had risen to the top of their jars. Here's the procedure I followed:

I crushed the berries with a potato masher. I brought the berries, lemon juice, and pectin to a boil. I added the sugar and brought everything to a rolling boil and continued boiling for one minute while stirring constantly. I skimmed the foam, placed the jam in the prepared jars, sealed, and processed for 10 minutes.

What did I do wrong? Should I have pureed the berries? I thought jam was supposed to have small pieces of fruit.

I'm hoping to try again next weekend. If anyone can give me a clue between now and then, I'll be eternally grateful. ;)

TIA,

Cindy

-- Cindy Macolini (cmacolini@hotmail.com), April 15, 2001

Answers

Hi Cindy, I make jams and jellies to sale and I never do the boiling water bath. I pour the hot jam into hot jars, seal and then invert the jars for about 5 minutes. This gets the seal good and hot and mixes the fruit with the juice, as it begins to jell. Then I flip the jars back upright and wrap a couple of towels around the jars, away from drafts. This keeps the heat in to help with the seal. I hardly ever have a jar that doesn't seal, and hardly have fruit float. Also, if you put a quarter tsp of butter/margerine in the boiling fruit it will prevent foaming. Trick my mother taught me :) tang

-- tang (tang@mtaonline.net), April 15, 2001.

Cindy, this happens to me ,but I always process thejars for ten minutes for safety reasons antways. When I open the jar of jam I simply stir it all up to mix the fruit pieces back into the "jelly" part. If you want it to look better (like for a fair or some sort of competition) you can keep turning the jar ( flip end for end) after it has sealed and before it is cool. This will suspend the fruit and gives you something to do, if you're bored! For excitement it rates right up there with watching the freezer defrost!!! Best wishes and I'm sure it will taste great whatever you decide to do.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), April 16, 2001.

Tang, I have a friend who does the same thing. And the strawberry jam she shared with me last year was picture perfect. I'm just not comfortable with the idea of not processing the jam.

Melissa, I tend to be anal about some things, so don't give me any ideas. ;)

I've received a number of responses through different forums. The general consensus seems to be that it "just happens" that way every now and then. Some people have suggested stirring the jam for a few minutes after removing from the heat before filling the jars & processing. Another said to puree the berries. The majority said to just stir the jam before using.

I'm going to give it another shot this weekend, although I think I'll cut the recipe in half. I don't need another 9 jars of top-heavy jam.

Thanks for your suggestions.

~Cindy

-- Cindy Macolini (cmacolini@hotmail.com), April 17, 2001.


Cindy, perhaps your fruit was not fully ripe?? That has been my experience, less than fully ripe fruit floats.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.

Diane, the berries were ripe. I didn't use the few that weren't.

I called the Alltrista Corp. (Ball/Kerr) today and talked to a rep in customer service. She repeated someone's suggestion to stir the jam for about 5 minutes after taking it off the heat, prior to filling the jars. She also said that the floating problem is more common with large berries with a hollow interior. (shoulder shrug)

I'll let y'all know how the next batch comes out.

~Cindy

-- Cindy (cmacolini@hotmail.com), April 17, 2001.



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