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.