On Mon, 5 Sep 2011 01:30:00 -0400, songbird >
wrote:

>zxcvbob wrote:
>
>> I made crabapple jelly today. I had 6 cups of juice from the steam
>> juicer, so I boiled it down to 4+ cups and topped it off with water to
>> bring it back to 5. Added 7.5 cups of sugar and brought it to a boil.
>> (boy, was it foamy) Opened the packet of Ball equivalent of Certo,
>> dated October 2008, and squeezed it in. It was gelled in the packet. I
>> assumed it would melt, so I broke it up and stirred it in and brought
>> the jelly back to a boil. The pectin broke up into little pieces but
>> very little of it dissolved.
>>
>> I had to strain the jelly into the jars, and I don't know if I'll have
>> syrup or jelly. (probably too-soft jelly, which is OK by me.) I've got
>> 6 very pretty half-int jars, and 2 ugly ones, and a little bowl of foam
>> that I can use to sweeten a smoothie or something.
>>
>> I've used old boxes of dry pectin before without any problem. This was
>> the first time I've knowingly used liquid pectin that was more than 2
>> years old -- and it wasn't much over 2 years. It was bad news.
>
> i'm not a super experienced jam maker
>nor have i used liquid pectin, but it
>seems strange to me to add pectin to
>a hot liquid. the recipe i used today
>had the pectin going into the fruit
>mash and sitting for a while before
>heating. i'm not sure if that's the
>problem or not.
>
> i'm hoping jam makers with more
>experience will comment too.
>
>
> songbird

Powdered pectin is added before cooking, then the sugar is added after
a boil. Liquid pectin is add after the sugar and fruit are boiling
and the boiled 1 minute.

And you cannot use liquid pectin with a recipe for powdered or
powdered pectin with a recipe for liquid pectin.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)