One of the real treasures at home. A collection of jams made by me, my mom, and my grandma.

When I go to pick a new jar from the shelf, I am always reminded that there is tradition here. I wasn't particularly interested as a teenager, but eventually the gardening and jam making bug caught me too. It was inevitable 😛

Fun fact. There are different types of pectin with different structures. High methoxyl (HM) pectin requires a lot of sugar and a high temperature and will set quickly. Low methoxyl (LM) pectin needs calcium and works at a lower temperature and is slower to set.

Where I live, HM is absolutely dominant but the amount of sugar needed to make a thick jam is staggering and makes the end product less enjoyable in my personal opinion. It works fine for blueberries which have a level of astringency, but with strawberry it turns by far too sweet (or too runny if you use less).

This is why I bunker up on LM (with added calcium for a reliable result) when I'm traveling. With it, I can make much thicker and fruitier, well balanced jams 🍓🍒

Also, some fruits and berries have so much pectin on their own that there is no need to add any. For example apples and lingonberries. These can be combined with other fruits to thicken a jam with less or no added pectin 🍏

#jam #homemadejam #cooking #pectin #cookingtips #homesteading