Overly sweet jam

General Cooking tips

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Barry
KG Regular
Posts: 350
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:18 pm
Location: Central Kent

Our homemade jam always tastes much sweeter than that bought in the shops. In fact, it is really too sweet. Has anyone else encountered this problem and, if so, what did you do about it? Is it just a case of reducing the quantity of sugar used or are recipes based on getting correct jam by putting in the right amount of sugar (if you see what I mean!)
Thanks.
Granny
KG Regular
Posts: 354
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:13 pm
Location: Just north of Cambridge

You can use less sugar. I often drop by about 25 percent, especially with marmalade which sets easily. Sometimes you might need to boil it for longer to reach setting point. But adding more pectin is the important thing for setting. (I use lemon juice if the main fruit isn't acidic enough. You can buy pectin or add fruit like gooseberries or apples).
Try it with small amounts to see what suits you.
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Granny
456cat
KG Regular
Posts: 21
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 3:14 pm

Hi

Sometimes homemade jam can become too sweet due to too long boiling time. I encountered this last year when I made Tayberry jam.

456cat
Granny
KG Regular
Posts: 354
Joined: Thu Oct 26, 2006 2:13 pm
Location: Just north of Cambridge

Yes, absolutely. I'd forgotten about that. On reflection, could that be because it wasn't setting through lack of pectin? It happened to me many years ago when trying to get strawberry jam to set.
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Granny
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