Certo liquid pectin

[mrsflibble]

can suck my non existent penis.

seriously, i am so annoyed with this stuff it is unreal!!!

12 jars of jam have to be de-jarred and re-done with powdered pectin because the certo just hasn't worked despite me following the instructions to the fricking letter.

grrrrr.

[thesunflowergal]

We have used this before, and its pants. Now sticking to the powdered stuff. But last night I made Elderberry and Blackberry, just by boiling it for longer. But the jam has a more sort of trecle taste to it, which I am not very keen on

[red]

i prefer silver spoon pectin. only use it on strawberries though.. all the other jams i make have enough of their own

hopefully your jam is a success now :)

[Millymollymandy]

What a pain Mrs Flib.

[ina]

Wouldn't touch Certo anyway, as it contains sulphur. Now why would I go to the trouble of making my own jam and then stick a chemical in that "bought" jams don't contain?

[Millymollymandy]

Yuech, that's why I just use lemons if necessary.

[citizentwiglet]

Well, thanks for letting me know about Certo, Mrs F, as I was tempted to buy some yesterday - we picked 6lbs of brambles yesterday and then realised we didn't have room in the freezer so had to do some frantic jam-making. Two lbs of brambles, two lbs of jam sugar (the stuff with the extra pectin in it), two tablespoons of lemon juice and two teaspoons of cinnamon, 5 mins to setting point and the job was a good'un. Yay for jam!

(Unlike the marmalade I made last year following a Gary Rhodes recipe, which still has a knife jammed - Excalibur like - in the jar. Think I missed the setting point by a few days...)

[mrsflibble]

normally i use silver spoon powder or preserving/jam sugar. Certo was the only thing i could get at a pinch. i am going to go to asda tomorrow and get some of the powdered stuff. the jarred crappy jam will keep until then lol.

[Annpan]

I use lemons too. I bought some certo and never used it as it wasn't till I got home that I read on the backthat it had sulphur in it

[ina]

normally i use silver spoon powder or preserving/jam sugar. Certo was the only thing i could get at a pinch. i am going to go to asda tomorrow and get some of the powdered stuff.

If they sell it! Last year I couldn't get it anywhere - wrote to Silverspoon, and got a reply saying that as it is seasonal, the supermarkets de-list it every year, and that year they simply hadn't got their act together and re-listed it again. In the end, Silverspoon had a lot of out-of-date stuff sitting about, nobody was selling it, but you could get it from Silverspoon direct via mail order, in large quantities, out-of-date, and at vastly reduced price. I have enough pectin in my cupboard to last me for the rest of my life...

[Fifer182]

Try chucking in a bit of apple to the mix, or, if you don't fany it in the jam mix, boil some apples down, strain off the juice and add that - same can be done with rubarb or redcurrants - doesn't effect the taste, i promise!!
I've never, ever used jam sugar or pectin - just normal auld granulated or cane sugar for me jams, works a treat every time!

[Stonehead]

We've planted crab apples to enable us to make our own pectin, as well as improve fertilisation of the other apple trees.

Coarsely chop 2lb clean, slightly under-ripe crab apples. Leave the peel on and do not decore. Pop them in a large pan and pour in about half an inch of water. Gently bring to the boil, then simmer for about an hour. Stir often and don't allow the apples to stick. If the apples get too dry, add a little more water. By the end of the hour, you want a thick, soupy liquid.

Put colander lined with muslin or cheesecloth over a large bowl. Pour the apples into the cloth. Pull the cloth up and over the apples, then tie a tight reef knot in it with a strong wooden spoon passing through the centre of the knot.

Have someone else hold the spoon so the cloth wrapped apples are just above the colander, then use two more wooden spoons as paddles and turn the cloth tighter and tighter. Don't use your hands—remember the apples are very, very hot! Keep tightening the cloth bag until no more juices come out of it. (It can also help to squeeze the bagged apples with the spoons from time to time.)

Pour the juice from the bowl into a clean saucepan and heat gently until it's just off the boil. If you have jelly bag, use it for the next step. Otherwise, use an old, clean pillow case as we do. Rinse the bag in very hot water, quickly wring it out and then place it over a large bowl. Pour the hot apple juice through the bag (this helps clear the pectin).

I've found 4-6 tbsp of home-made pectin sets 1lb of strawberry jam quite well. The pectin freezes so an easy way of storing and using it is to pour it into ice-cube trays, then add one or two pectin ice cubeeees to each pound of jam.

Incidentally, lemon juice is not a substitute for pectin. Lemon juice is one means of providing the acid that reacts with pectin and sugar to "set" jams. Acid is necessary for clear, well-set jams that are not overly dark as they'll reach setting point with less cooking. A good level of acidity also means the sugar is less likely to crystalise.

[mrsflibble]

thanks for the info everyone, and Ina my asda has some now, but didn't two weeks ago lol!!!

[Cheezy]

I can confirm that the only thing "certo" about the stuff is that it is sh*te.

I had to buy it as the supermkt had sold out of the sugar with pectin in. I now keep a bag as a store item ready to go.

[Claripup]

Personally I'm a fan of bog standard regular sugar and a couple of lemons on standby if needed. I've never had any problems with my jam setting (and rarely use the lemons unless it's strawberry jam) and it has never tasted treacley. But most of my jams/jellys do have apples in so I guess that helps with the setting...