My jam & marmalade didn't set

MrsE_2

I made apple & plum jam - 3 jars & 18 jars (!!!!) of marmalade (Oranges & a quarter apple).
They haven't set:(

What can I do?

Buy that Certo stuff & reboil?

How much do I need for 21 jars?

Its sweet enough, so I don't want to add jam sugar:(

jonewer

Wait a bit. It may set of its own accord given a week or two at room temp.

billieboy_2

I had that happen with something once - it's very annoying. I ended up adding lemon juice and re-boiled until it set.

I made some strawberry jam this year that didn't set but I've been using it as it is. A bit runny but still tastes delicious.

As jonewer has said it might be worth leaving for a while.

Good luck.

Chris25

billieboy wrote: »

I had that happen with something once - it's very annoying. I ended up adding lemon juice and re-boiled until it set.

I made some strawberry jam this year that didn't set but I've been using it as it is. A bit runny but still tastes delicious.

Good luck.

I've done the same, added lemon juice & reboiled - why not try just one jar & see how it turns out. With the added juice, it may not be as sweet as you want and then you might want to add a little more sugar.

And, I too, have had jam that didn't set (& chutney) but I just gave some away as 'conserve' and kept the others - as billieboy says, still delicious.

-taff

With that much, and it's sweet already, you risk overboiling and it being like treacle [I speak from experience]
You could add cooking apples which would increase the pectin, and not affect the sugar levels, or you could boil up another couple of orange skins, shred and reboil wqith the original.

MrsE_2

billieboy wrote: »

I had that happen with something once - it's very annoying. I ended up adding lemon juice and re-boiled until it set.
I made some strawberry jam this year that didn't set but I've been using it as it is. A bit runny but still tastes delicious.
As jonewer has said it might be worth leaving for a while.
Good luck.

Chris25 wrote: »

I've done the same, added lemon juice & reboiled - why not try just one jar & see how it turns out. With the added juice, it may not be as sweet as you want and then you might want to add a little more sugar.
And, I too, have had jam that didn't set (& chutney) but I just gave some away as 'conserve' and kept the others - as billieboy says, still delicious.

Just put ordinary lemon juice in? Like jif or fresh squeezed lemon juice?

How much?

I want to give it away, so I need it to set.

It is a little set, but not enough, its more than soft set, its very runny.

MrsE_2

-taff wrote: »

With that much, and it's sweet already, you risk overboiling and it being like treacle [I speak from experience]
You could add cooking apples which would increase the pectin, and not affect the sugar levels, or you could boil up another couple of orange skins, shred and reboil wqith the original.

For the marmalade I used 3lb of oranges & 1lb of cooking apples. I put the apple peel & cores & the orange pith into a muslin sheet & put in the top of the fruit & water, when it was all well cooked, I wrung it tight into the marmalade to get extra pethin out. I also put the shredded zest of 3lb of oranges in!!!!!

I wonder if I just added too much water:(

5 pints & 5 lbs of sugar.

Chris25

there's an article here that uses additional pectin http://www.pickyourown.org/how_to_fix_runny_jam.htm

I squeezed one lemon for mine (about 5 jars, I think), from what I can remember, but it's surprising how much the quantity goes down too - lodt about half a jar. It's a faff but it can come good.

Just remembered that I used a couple pectin sachets in some apricot jam that didn't set - but I did add a little more sugar too.

-taff

I'm not sure what went wrong, it may be the amount of water yes.

when you say zest, do you mean just the top layer[ as in you'd grate for a cheesecake for example], or the complete depth of orange skin [as in the complete skin with the layer of white pith underneath]?

MrsE_2

-taff wrote: »

I'm not sure what went wrong, it may be the amount of water yes.

when you say zest, do you mean just the top layer[ as in you'd grate for a cheesecake for example], or the complete depth of orange skin [as in the complete skin with the layer of white pith underneath]?

Zest (orange bit) shredded in the marmalade, pith (white stuff underneath) boiled in muslin bag & squeezed out (along with all other bits - cores, peel, pips, ect) to extract pethin.