Jam from frozen fruit?

earthmother

Just a quick query - I have two large tubs of (shop-bought) frozen raspberries, and I was thinking about making jam as they don't seem to be getting used elsewhere.

Would you defrost them first, or pop them in the pan frozen and let the cooking process defrost them? (I know some berries go mushy when defrosted - wasn't sure if this would affect the recipe?)

twink

i think i would defrost them first, raspberries dont stay whole in the jam anyway, think i read to use a little bit more sugar when you are using frozen berries

bigmuffins

Nooooooooooo! Try this recipe with some of the raspberries!
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=144986&highlight=white+choc

Post #5
you won't regret it! :beer:

Actually seriously about the jam, I use frozen berries, just add sugar as normal and proceed as usual. I use same amount of sugar as berries.

Have fun!

earthmother

Thank you both

The muffin recipe looks lovely, but my oven is dodgy and doesn't like cooking anything that has to rise (seriously - never had any problems with the oven at our old house).

I'll just take my strawberry jam recipe and swap the raspberries in then - looks like I'll be busy next week - we're almost out of lemon curd too.

thriftmonster

One of my books recommends using 10% extra fruit if using frozen fruit than in a normal recipe - to counteract the thawing process

VickyM_2

Personally I've always just used frozen fruits (raspberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, whatever) straight from frozen to make jam. After all the first thing you're going to do is cook them, so just heat them slowly and then add the sugar and so on.

Seakay

I have found that freezing seems to degrade pectin, so I would make sure that you add another source, even with the blackcurrants (lemon juice or bottled pectin or preserving sugar with added pectin).
Apart from that, I don't think that you'll have any problems at all.

Just realised that Earthmother is only using raspberries! Sorry!

earthmother

Thanks again

I'm going to give it a go next week once the kids are back in school, so I'll let you know how it goes. I'm also trying out a jelly net as hubby prefers seedless jams, so it could be interesting, but if it all goes well, it's one more addition into my Christmas hampers.

sunset_gold

Can I make jam from frozen rhubarb, blackberries and gooseberries with fresh cooking apples? I have just been given two large bags of cooking apples that need using up quickly. I have picked fresh blackberries today and am busy making jam at the moment, but would like to use some of the frozen fruit I collected earlier in the year.

Bangerchick

My hubby collected loads of blackberries from our garden this year, he has frozen them and intends to make jam with them. Not sure if you need to thaw it first though

Penelope_Penguin

I make jam from fruit in the garden, and often don't have time to make it immediately after harvest :rolleyes: so freeze it. The jam is great :T

I'll add this to the existng thread, to keep ideas together.

Penny. x