What is Pectin?
Those of you who don't jar your own jellies and jams may be unfamiliar with pectin. It is a polysaccharide found naturally in fruits like berries and becomes a thickening agent when combined with sugar and heated up. Before pectin, you must continuously reduce jam overheating to get it to the right consistency.
Found in most supermarkets but with a limited shelf life, you want to use a new box each year. I have found an excellent source describing just about everything you want to know about pectin here.
What About Sugar-Free Pectin?
I received an email from Robert N. asking about the availability of "No Sugar Pectin" for preparing raspberry jam. I immediately contacted Chef Jennie Field, a graduate of Orlando Culinary Academy, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Arts School in Florida. Here are Robert's questions and Chef's response:
Hi RG - Kathy M. suggested I ask you to help in our quest for NO-SUGAR PECTIN. We grow lots and lots of raspberries and the family loves the jam my wife makes but prefers it with no-sugar pectin. We just have not been able to find it. Any suggestions?
Chef Field's Response:
Most pectin needs a high sugar to gel--there are special low-sugar and no-sugar kinds you can get to make jams and jellies with a lower sugar content. Here's a link to purchase no-sugar pectin:
Apparently, you can use this type of pectin to make a Polaner All-Fruit type of jam: fruit, some fruit juice, and maybe some sugar, along with the no-sugar pectin. In my experience, raspberries have a pretty high pectin content.
I used to make a great raspberry jam at the restaurant with just IQF raspberries, lemon juice, a bit of salt, and sugar. Not sure how "low-sugar" they want their jam to be, but my ratio was 1 to .9 fruit to sugar--gelled just fine, as long as I reduced it to the right consistency on the burner.
andre
We are informing you of our new canning website and letting you know we are here for your readers! We have a wide variety of canning supplies on our site. We are looking forward to the next harvest. Please let us know if we can help you in any way. Thanks.
Norma
I made rhubarb jam, and I think ball classic pectin is almost pure sugar. I do not like the jam. Last year I made rhubarb jam, and it was tart very good don't recall the name of the pectin I used. It must not have had sugar in it. I put sugar in the rhubarb; pectin with sugar is overkill. What brand has no sugar in it?