Jam is a preparation often found among the Russian population. It has a sweet taste, is an additive to many desserts, and is beneficial to the human body. On cold winter days, it is very pleasant to drink tea with pastries filled with aromatic jam. Thickeners significantly reduce cooking time and retain all the beneficial substances of berries, fruits and vegetables. The result is a product of ideal consistency with maximum preservation of the beneficial properties of the products.
Sometimes it is necessary to change the consistency of a finished product in order to add it to baked goods, cakes and other desserts. Every experienced housewife should know how to thicken jam at home.
Thickening the syrup while cooking is the easiest task. To do this, you must follow a certain cooking technology:
This jam preserves all the vitamins and nutrients of fruits and berries.
There are special thickeners sold in specialized stores. They are simply added with all the ingredients to a cooking basin, observing the proportions (pectin, agar-agar, gelatin).
Important! Each of these products has its own instructions for use, which must be followed in order to thicken the product. Otherwise, you can spoil the jam by getting a jelly-like mass.
Tips for making thick jam:
Sometimes the finished product does not meet the owner’s expectations (in consistency). The situation can be corrected using the following tips:
Important! In this case, excess syrup will definitely remain. It can be used as an addition to desserts and for making compote.
If the housewife wants to thicken strawberry or cherry jam For filling pies, there are several tricks using improvised means:
The filling for baking is most often thick. Otherwise, the pie may burst, losing its attractive appearance. In order to thicken the filling without losing its taste characteristics, you must use the following additives.
In order to make the jam thicker, housewives have been preparing berries in honey for many centuries. However, nowadays it is much more common to use specially prepared syrup for this purpose. If the jam is prepared according to all the rules, it will look like this: beautiful berries, exuding a delicious sweet aroma, and, of course, pure and transparent syrup. There are many secrets proper preparation syrup, and here is one of them: you need to pour a kilogram of sugar into a basin intended for making jam and add half a glass of water. Stirring frequently, bring the mixture to a boil. Next, you need to reduce the heat and continue to cook the syrup, but do not stir it, just rock the basin a little. Good syrup will flow from the spoon in a viscous, thick stream.
Many people look for the answer to the question of how to make jam thick in the duration of cooking the syrup, etc. However, few people know that to prepare high-quality thick jam it is important to pay attention to the foam that appears. Almost all housewives advise removing it as quickly as possible, because it is the foam that can cause the finished jam to quickly sour. However, you should not rush in this matter and remove the foam ahead of time: shortly before the end of cooking, you should allow the jam to boil as hot as possible. After this, you need to remove it from the heat as quickly as possible and wait a few minutes for the berries to settle. Then you can, armed with a slotted spoon, carefully remove all the foam. This method makes it possible to get rid of even small particles. The result will be thick jam with intact berries.
One of the most important factors to pay attention to when making jam is completing the cooking process. If the jam is not cooked enough, the desired thickness will not be achieved in any case. In addition, such undercooked jam tends to quickly sour or ferment. If the jam turns out to be too thick, it can become sugary, and its immediate aroma and taste will be distorted. To correctly determine the end of cooking, you need to know what the finished jam looks like: the foam should not spread along the edges of the basin, but collect in its middle. The berries should not be concentrated on the surface - in properly prepared jam they are evenly distributed in the thick syrup. If you drop syrup onto a plate, the droplet should retain its shape and not spread.
Among other things, it is very important to properly prepare the berries from which jam will subsequently be made. They must be thoroughly washed and sorted. The seeds should be removed from any stone fruits and berries (including plums, cherries, apricots). In the evening, the berries are covered with sugar and left overnight. The required amount of sugar directly depends on how sour the fruit is used. For example, to make strawberry jam, the berries are covered with sugar in a one to one ratio. But if we are talking about plum jam, then the optimal proportions here are 1: 5. When preparing fruit jam, you should peel them, cut them into slices and also cover them with sugar overnight. Overnight, the berries and fruits will release juice, in which the sugar will partially dissolve.
It happens that there is too much juice. In this case, it should be carefully drained, and then cook the berries on their own for 10-15 minutes, without juice. After this time, the berries and fruits are poured with hot syrup. The future jam should be infused for about two to three hours. After this, the cooking process must be repeated. These steps are repeated until the syrup reaches the desired thickness (usually 2-3 times is enough). When the syrup thickens and the berries are well soaked in sugar, the jam can be set to simmer. You should not boil it for a long time - 3-5 minutes is enough. After this, you need to let the jam cool (about 2 hours). Depending on the berries, boiling is repeated 3 to 5 times. If there is not much juice (as is the case with apples), you don’t have to drain it and start cooking right away.
As a last resort, you can purchase a special thickener for jams and preserves in supermarkets and grocery stores. For those looking for an easy way to thicken jam, these can be quite helpful. However, we should not forget that all such additives are artificial, and therefore may not have the best effect on the quality and benefits of the jam. Moreover, if you wish and have minimal experience, you can easily make jam of the desired consistency without resorting to the use of such thickeners. Using the methods described above, you can slightly grind the berries in a blender to make jam and jam without spending hours of time boiling water. But one more question remained unresolved: is it possible to somehow thicken ready-made liquid jam?
Of course you can! True, in order to do this, you need to very carefully monitor each stage of the process - otherwise you can completely ruin the finished dessert. The easiest way is, of course, to pour out some of the syrup. But you can only do this if the rest of the jam turned out to be almost perfect. This syrup is quite suitable for consumption. For example, you can pour it over pancakes or ice cream. Alternatively, you can strain the syrup and boil it separately to the desired consistency. Next, the boiling syrup is poured into the berries, the mixture is brought to a boil and poured into jars. To make the jam even tastier, you can use various natural additives. For example, cherry leaves are often added to gooseberry jam, and lemon zest and vanilla are added to watermelon jam.
In the midst of the ripening of berries and fruits, since ancient times, people have tried to preserve all the charm of nature's summer gifts. For the long winter days they made preserves and made jam. In order for the cooked product to be thick, aromatic, with a pleasant color and taste, our grandmothers had many of their own secrets for preparing these products.
Nowadays, various thickeners have become popular. They are added during cooking to give the jam a bright, appetizing color and the desired thickness. They are not difficult to use and are economical in terms of adding sugar. The jam is cooked using a thickener for only ten minutes. At the same time, vitamins are preserved in it, the berries do not disintegrate, and the jam turns out thick with a beautiful shade.
The main components of the thickener are pectin, gelatin, starch, and agar-agar. Jelly-like compositions are widely used both in production and in cooking. For instant cooking jams, preserves, marmalade, pastilles use pectin, agar-agar, and gelatin to impart viscosity and density to the finished product.
Pectin means “connecting” in Greek. This ability to combine with acid and sugar and dissolve in cold and hot water has been used to create gelatinous products. Pectin, a plant chemical compound, is present in many fruits and vegetables. Nai more pectin in apples and sugar beets. It is also present in citrus fruits, carrots, pumpkin, and sunflower.
Apple pectin is especially valued in cooking. It is obtained by squeezing and concentrating apples, followed by drying the resulting substance. This natural, plant-based hydrocarbon is a white powder with absolutely no odor.
The human body constantly needs substances such as amino acids and minerals. They have a positive effect on the health and condition of human skin, nails, and hair. All these substances are contained in gelatin, which is obtained by heat treatment of bones, tendons, cartilage of animals and fish.
Gelatin suppresses the feeling of hunger, so it is considered dietary product. 100 grams of gelatin contain 355 kcal. It is mainly used for preparing jellied products, creams, ice cream, and jam. It prevents the sugar from crystallizing.
Classic jam with gelatin for the winter is easy to prepare: for 1 kg of berries and 1 kg of sugar you will need 40 grams. gelatin, which is mixed in dry form with sugar, and then jam is prepared according to the recipe.
Food agar-agar is made from seaweed, which contains a lot of iodine, iron and calcium. It is a white powder, tasteless and odorless, and is a vegetable substitute for gelatin. Very widely used in the confectionery industry.
Agar-agar is associated with a sponge that absorbs useless substances and removes them from the body. But with all of it beneficial properties you need to adhere to the dosage and normalize the amount of its consumption. Otherwise, you are guaranteed to have intestinal upset. It must be remembered that agar-agar does not combine with such products as: wine and fruit vinegar, sorrel, chocolate, black tea.
When cooking jam with agar-agar, add 1 teaspoon of this thickener powder to 1 glass of liquid. First, fill it with water for 30 minutes and allow it to swell. Then the liquid is brought to a boil, stirring constantly to prevent the formation of lumps and sediment. The prepared solution can be poured into the cooked jam and mixed. And put it into clean jars. When the product cools, it becomes a clear gel.
Every skilled housewife has her own ways of making jam, but you shouldn’t neglect ready-made industrial thickeners to make the cooking process easier. Choose for yourself which jam thickener you like, and get creative, create new culinary masterpieces. Enjoy your preparations.
Many homemade lovers are faced with the problem of liquid jam. It happens that housewives, seeing that the product is not thick as planned, begin to “boil” it for 5-6 hours. However, this method will only produce something reminiscent of burnt jam with the taste of burnt sugar. Why this happens, how to deal with this problem and make the jam thick, read the tips below.
For ordinary people, these words seem synonymous, and, as they see it, they mean berries or fruits boiled with sugar (and sometimes with the addition of vegetables, citrus fruits, nuts, flower petals, honey). But still, there is a difference in these terms.
The easiest way to get thick jam is to add pectin, agar-agar or gelatin to the mixture. By the way, you can read what the difference between these substances is.
If even after all these manipulations the jam turns out liquid, it means some mistake was made. Don’t be upset: serve it with pancakes, cheesecakes, and make jelly from it.
If you need delicious filling for pies, layering a cake or any other baked goods, and you only have liquid jam available, do not rush to get upset. We recommend using the following proven method.
Take the jam that needs to be thickened and pour it into a saucepan or metal ladle. Add semolina at the rate of 1 teaspoon per glass of product. After this, mix the ingredients and leave for 10-20 minutes (this time is needed for the semolina to swell). Next, place the saucepan on low heat and simmer for a couple of minutes.
Believe me, with this method of thickening the jam, semolina will not be felt at all! It will acquire the taste of boiled fruits or berries.
By the way, one more piece of advice. Usually not the most used for baking best jam(usually one that was underestimated by household members). Add a couple of spoons of lemon zest to the filling and see how the taste changes.
