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My runny Gooseberry Jam.

(10 Posts)
Nelliemoser Mon 17-Sept-12 15:39:49

Help! I have just made gooseberry jam from last years frozen gooseberries and its all runny. Really really runny! I have never had that happen before. Gooseberries are usually rich in pectin and the jam sets well. I only put in a minimal amount of liquid in. What I am wondering is ...
Did the long freezing process destroy the pectin?
Could it be that the goosberries were over ripe which I have read lowers the pectin levels.
It boiled rapidly and reached a good 105degC.
Any ideas how I could rescue it.

JessM Mon 17-Sept-12 16:09:24

Buy a packet of pectin. Then boil it up again. Can't imagine that freezing destroys pectin - it's mostly in the woody pippy bits - were they rather seedless gooseberries or something?

Nanadogsbody Mon 17-Sept-12 16:22:50

Did you wash the gooseberries before you froze them? jessM is right. You may be able to rescue it with more pectin. If in doubt I always use jam sugar which as pectin added.

Nelliemoser Mon 17-Sept-12 22:23:10

JessM and Nanadogsbody Thank you for the advice! I now have some pectin and I will experiment with re boiling tomorrow. If I overdo the pectin and my jam sets like jelly cubes I will cut it into pieces, sprinkle it with icing sugar and pretend its a new kind of Turkish Delight! grin

Nanadogsbody Mon 17-Sept-12 22:23:43

Yum yum!!

Elegran Mon 17-Sept-12 23:25:20

Gooseberry delight!

Nelliemoser Tue 18-Sept-12 16:56:55

Thank you for the advice. The jam was duly reprocessed and has set beautifully. Quite firm but it spreads easily and tastes wonderful. smile

I emptied all the jars out, strained the contents, added 125ml of liquid pectin to the syrup and boiled it up again. I then put the pulp back in so as not to overcook the fruit.

I have never used pectin before. I would probably use powdered pectin next time as I think its cheaper and keeps better but liquid was all I could buy at 5:15pm locally.

I also tested the amount of pectin in the original syrup which was very low. (probably due to over ripe gooseberries.)
This is a fun bit of domestic science using a teaspoon of the fruit syrup and 3 teaspoons of meths. See below for details.

http://www.jamworld.co.uk/pec.html

JessM Tue 18-Sept-12 16:58:18

Yum. Can you forward a jar please. Gooseberries not easy to come by these days are they.

Nelliemoser Tue 18-Sept-12 17:22:16

They are easy to grow if you can prevent the Gooseberry sawfly from eating every leaf on the plant! angry I have had two plants in very large pots for a couple of years now and results are quite good.
I suspect they are not considered the "in thing" these days as they are quite tart.
What I cannot easily get this year is Damsons. I think plums tend to crop variably and this is a bad year. Last year a friend gave me sacks full from her trees and had plenty for herself, this year there are a few at the top of the tree. I froze loads last year and I have just made jam from the last 2lb. Upstairs though I still have about 4 litres of Damson Gin stashed away. That will have to last me 12 months!

JessM Wed 19-Sept-12 07:36:12

Damson jam is my favourite. It is really nice in porridge or yoghurt.