Dear Folks, Greetings ! I have not participated with this group since
the new format began due to a lack of time. I have a small commercial
canning company that makes low sugar jams in small batches (mostly by
hand),producing 1500-2000 jars a day. Because of the volumne of jars
produced in 40 quart pots, with pouring and capping by hand, I have a
little experience under my belt. If I can be of service, I can try to
share past or present experiences.
Signed, commercialcanner

commercialcanner wrote:

> Dear Folks, Greetings ! I have not participated with this group since
> the new format began due to a lack of time. I have a small commercial
> canning company that makes low sugar jams in small batches (mostly by
> hand),producing 1500-2000 jars a day. Because of the volumne of jars
> produced in 40 quart pots, with pouring and capping by hand, I have a
> little experience under my belt. If I can be of service, I can try to
> share past or present experiences.
> Signed, commercialcanner

Welcome, CC. I know my low sugar jams suffer in the looks department.
They seem to rapidly lose color and get sort of faded. My jams with
Splenda only are even worse. Have you dealt with this problem? Do you add
a secret ingredient you'll share with us?
Edrena

Edrena, jams that begin as red except for raspberry, tend to fade
towards brown. We hope to have strong color for 3 months on normal red
jams. In the past holding strong color in plum and white nectarine has
forced us to eliminate these jams from our line. Apricot and peach jams
always hold their color. Over cooking the fruit will cause immediate
darkening. Another factor with color is the ripeness of the fruit. We
work with fruit that begins in frozen form, if we over defrost we lose
color in our jams. Over ripe fruit will fade more quickly.
As far as added sweetner is concerned, there is a balance to find.
Fruit that is too dilluted with sweetner will also dull color, yet a
good balance of sugar and acid will hold color. We try to keep our
acid/ph (we use frozen single strength lemon juice) below 3.8. There
are commercial jams from Europe that advertise right on the label that
their fruit was never boiled. This is a secret in making high quality
preserves. -commercialcanner

commercialcanner wrote:

> Edrena, jams that begin as red except for raspberry, tend to fade
> towards brown. We hope to have strong color for 3 months on normal red
> jams. In the past holding strong color in plum and white nectarine has
> forced us to eliminate these jams from our line. Apricot and peach jams
> always hold their color. Over cooking the fruit will cause immediate
> darkening. Another factor with color is the ripeness of the fruit. We
> work with fruit that begins in frozen form, if we over defrost we lose
> color in our jams. Over ripe fruit will fade more quickly.
> As far as added sweetner is concerned, there is a balance to find.
> Fruit that is too dilluted with sweetner will also dull color, yet a
> good balance of sugar and acid will hold color. We try to keep our
> acid/ph (we use frozen single strength lemon juice) below 3.8. There
> are commercial jams from Europe that advertise right on the label that
> their fruit was never boiled. This is a secret in making high quality
> preserves. -commercialcanner

Thanks for the tips - every little secret helps.
Edrena

Dear Commercial Canner:

Any experience with jellies? I am a very small commercial jellymaker
having a terrible time trying to figure out why my jelly weeps so much.
Your thoughts would be appreciated.
Susan

CL, Very little except for concord grape. I am not sure what you mean
by weeping. Are you speaking of the set? -commercialcanner

In article .com>,
"commercialcanner" > wrote:

> CL, Very little except for concord grape. I am not sure what you mean
> by weeping. Are you speaking of the set? -commercialcanner
>

My guess is she's talking about syneresis.
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> Several notes since 8/18/05

In article om>,
"California Lavender" > wrote:

> Dear Commercial Canner:
>
> Any experience with jellies? I am a very small commercial jellymaker
> having a terrible time trying to figure out why my jelly weeps so much.
> Your thoughts would be appreciated.
> Susan
>

Syneresis. BBB says its due to the quantity of acid and the quality of
the pectin in quick-setting soft spreads. Happens to yogurt and sour
cream, too.

Have you asked for help at sci.bio.food-science? They're professional
folks and you might get some info there.
--
-Barb, <http://www.jamlady.eboard.com> Several notes since 8/18/05

Storage temperature of finished product could be a reason too.-CC