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.

-Bob

I would have thought it would melt too.....glad you got some good jelly
out of it though......if it turns more syrupy it would work great in
English muffins....the nooks and crannies will hold it....Carol

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

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)

On 9/4/2011 8:54 PM, 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.
>
> -Bob
I used some three-year old Certo liquid pectin the other day and it
worked fine. Mine is stored in the house, which is air conditioned in
the hot months and heated in the cold months. I never heard of a sealed
pouch of liquid pectin hardening over time. Got me bumfuzzled too.

The Cook wrote:
....
> 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.

thanks! in a funny coincidence this morning i had
to run out and get some more pectin and the prices
were better for the liquid so i thought i would give
it a try for these next batches of peach jam.




songbird

On Sep 4, 6:54*pm, 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.
> -Bob

Could it have had a tiny hole it in somewhere and maybe started to dry
out over the years?

I used liquid pectin for the first time this year with peach lavender
jam from Small Batch Preserving. It seems to have worked. I've never
really used pectin of any kind much so I'm just learning about how
they behave. Why does one recipe call for liquid and one for dry?