Help needed fast!!

Noozan

Quick!!

I'm trying to make raspberry jam....I've got 4 lbs of fruit and 2 lb of jam sugar which I've boiled for 7 mins in total so far. I keep doing the cold saucer test and it's still really runny! What can I do?

recovering_spendaholic

I'm not too sure but I always use a pound of sugar to each pound of fruit. I have also heard that if you put some lemon pips in a little muslin bag (or bit of j-cloth) and add that it helps with the setting. Hope you can resuce it, if all else fails it will make wonderful raspberry sauce for puddings and so on!!

twink

http://www.rivercottage.net click on seasonal recipes you will get one for rasp jam, you havnt enough sugar in yours i think, dont know if you good reboil with more sugar as it would need to be dissolved properly

Noozan

I followed the River Cottage recipe from the River Cottage Cookbook - it had 3kg of raspberries to 1.5kg of sugar so I figured 4lbs of fruit to 2 lb of sugar would be ok I'm going to try adding some lemon to it and see it that helps.....

culpepper

Sometimes it just takes a lot longer than it says in recipes to get the set.
If the rasps are very ripe,the lemon will probably help as it have more pectin.

newleaf

For Raspberry jam I always use equal parts fruit to sugar.

twink

i usually use jam sugar nowadays, thats with some pectin in, bit dearer but always works

thriftlady_2

Hate to say it, but I use 1 lb of rasps to 1 lb of sugar too. I made gooseberry and raspberry jam last week and that set really well. Gooseberries are high in pectin, if you have any around try adding them to your pan.

I boiled my jam for 15 mins before testing for a set.

I always find my jellies (quince, crab apple and damson take longer to set than the 5 mins the recipe suggests).

If it doesn't set properly, you can reboil it with more sugar, or you can store it in tubs in the freezer and use from the fridge. I would imagine it will still taste delicious.HTH:)

Queenie

twink wrote:

i usually use jam sugar nowadays, thats with some pectin in, bit dearer but always works

You don't *need* to purchase "jam sugar" ... a squeeze of lemon juice will do the trick - no faffing around with lemon pips either!

twink

right then queenie will buy ordinary sugar tomorrow, will it have to be fresh lemon or can i use the bottled?

flourgirl

Noozan was the jam sugar you used Tate & Lyle by any chance. Several of us at WI Country Markets used this to make Strawberry jam a few weeks ago and none of it set. Well actually it did, it was setting on the spoon and when tested on a plate it set, but the next day it had gone back to liquid in the jars. So I had to reboil with lemon juice until it set again, this time it was ok. I still had some strawberries left so I went to tesco and got Silver Spoon Jam sugar, followed the instructions on the back of the pack, boil for 4 mins
NO LONGER and it set perfect, so did the raspberry. I used equal quantities of fruit and sugar. My friend wrote and complained and they sent a snotty letter back and a refund. So I have found my receipt and I'm going to do the same.
I think you will be able to rescue yours by reboiling with lemon juice.
In future I will stick to buying only Silver Spoon Jam Sugar.

HTH. Karen