7 best ways to make winter jam thick
Homemade sweet preparations for the winter are ideal filling for baking. Difficulty in cooking can arise only if there is an excessively liquid consistency of the dessert. In this case, it is very important to know how to make a thick jam using different food additives so as not to spoil the dessert. These additives and their use will be discussed further.
Why do you need to thicken the jam
When preparing a filling that is too liquid, you may subsequently encounter it flowing out of the pies, even if the edges are tightly clamped.
Also, the liquid consistency leads to a moist and damp cake dough. To solve this problem, some try to put less jam, but in the end, the dish still turns out to be less appetizing.
The best solution is to thicken the jam to the desired consistency.
Why is the jam liquid?
Many families have passed down seaming recipes from generation to generation. Everyone definitely has memories that are associated with tasty, thick, viscous jam, like the grandmother used to cook as a child. But in most cases, housewives cannot reproduce such a dessert on their own, the wrong density comes out.
Why does the dessert come out liquid:
- The jam is not boiled down.
- Little sugar was introduced.
- It is important to remove the foam.
- You do not need to take a pan for cooking, dishes that have low walls will help to quickly evaporate excess moisture.
- The jam should not take 3 hours in a row. It is recommended to do this in 3 stages. Raw materials are first boiled, cooked for 15 minutes and removed from the heat, cooled down. The procedure must be repeated 3 times.
To save liquid jam, you need to boil it down. It is not recommended to use this method if the dessert is made from raspberries, because the longer the delicacy is prepared, the more vitamins will be lost. This berry is rich in vitamins, so harvesting for the winter not only reminds of summer, but is also a therapeutic and prophylactic agent. Also, raspberries contain many organic acids that do a good job of preservatives.
Prolonged boiling of strawberries is not recommended.
The fruits are boiled, the strawberry becomes not aesthetic brown color, and sometimes with a bad smell.
But for a delicacy made from apples and pears, long cooking is useful. Slices of fruit are saturated with granulated sugar, acquire a resemblance to marmalade.
If during the preparation of the jam it comes out very liquid, you need to increase the cooking time. Fruits from the same tree, harvested in different years, may have different juiciness.If there is a lot of liquid in the fruits, then a lot of it will stand out in the dessert.
Also, when a delicacy comes out liquid, it is recommended to drain the liquid and cook only it.
After the hot syrup is sent to the bowl with fruits and berries. This thickening method can be used in the case of boiling gooseberries, apricots, black currants, pears. The sweetness and juiciness of the ingredients used may vary. Therefore, for cooking fruits from one tree each subsequent year, a different amount of granulated sugar may be required.
To thicken the delicacy, it is recommended to add sand, heat the mixture. Initially, add ¼ of the size, and then, after boiling in 2 stages, see how the delicacy thickens. It happens that it is necessary to increase the volume of sand by 1.5 times.
How to thicken liquid jam?
Various food additives are used to make the jam thicker.
Pectin
Thanks to pectin, the aroma of the dessert is preserved. It takes 10 minutes to cook strawberry jam with pectin. With the use of pectin, fruits and berries will remain intact, and the jam will have a bright shade of fresh fruit.
Reducing the boil time will result in more dessert.
How much pectin should be added to the dessert will depend on the amount of sugar and liquid in it. If you take 1 kg of fruit, you need to put in 5-15 grams. pectin:
- Based on granulated sugar and jam juice, 1 to 0.5 pectin requires 5 grams.
- If the ratio of sand to liquid is 1 to 0.25, then 10 grams of pectin is needed.
- When making jam without sugar, 15 grams are put on 1 kg of fruit. pectin.
Add pectin to a boiled dessert after mixing it with sugar to prevent sticking. Having added pectin to the treat, it is boiled for no more than 5 minutes, otherwise the jelly-like properties will be lost.
Quittin
A treat using quittin is easy. When preparing a dessert from whole fruits, you need to cover the fruits with sand overnight, and in the morning add quittin and cook the jam for 5 minutes. If the fruits are ground through a sieve, then quittin is added immediately, and the delicacy is cooked for 5 minutes.
Starch - can I use it?
Starch is a powder that has no aroma or taste. It is used occasionally to make jam.
When starch is added to the dessert, the taste of the delicacy decreases, due to this, it is necessary to introduce more sugar, citric acid in order to improve the taste.
Starch diluted in water is introduced into a liquid dessert in a couple of minutes. After pouring in the product, the jam is boiled for no more than 3 minutes. The cooled dessert will become thicker.
Gelatin
The classic recipe is making a dessert with gelatin. A delicacy is made as follows. For 1 kg of fruit and 1 kg of sand, 40 g is taken. gelatin. It should be combined dry with sand, and then prepare a dessert, following the recipe.
Agar agar
When making jam with the product, add 1 tsp per 250 ml of liquid. thickener. Initially, it is filled with water, set aside to swell. After the thickener is brought to a boil, it is mixed so that there are no lumps and sediment.
The prepared solution is sent to the dessert, mixed.
Flour
To make the dessert with a medium liquid thick, flour is introduced in the amount of 1 tbsp. l. for 250 ml of jam.
How to cook:
- A saucepan is placed on a small gas, you should wait for the workpiece to boil.
- Flour is gradually poured in.
- Dessert should be stirred all the time so that lumps do not appear.
Semolina
This thickener is used for fillings, as it practically does not affect the original flavor of the dessert. Semolina is introduced as follows: 1 tsp. 350 ml or 300 gr. goodies. If the mass is very liquid consistency, the volume increases to 2 tbsp. l.
To prepare the filling, the jam is poured into a cauldron, semolina is poured in, mixed and left for 15 minutes. This time is enough for the cereal to absorb excess liquid and swell.
Next, the pan is sent to a slow fire, the mass is stirred so that it does not burn.After 2 minutes, as it boils, the delicacy should be removed from the heat and put to cool.
How to cook thick jam for the winter?
To prepare a dessert with a thick consistency, you must follow the recommendations.
- A thick delicacy comes out if you use fruits rich in pectin: strawberries, raspberries, apples, plums, currants, gooseberries, cranberries.
- Large amounts of pectin are found in unripe fruits. To cook a thick jam, take ripe fruits and add a little unripe to them.
- A thick dessert is obtained using fruits with a sufficient amount of acid. If the test preparation showed insufficient density, then you need to pour in lemon juice.
- To make the jam thick, you need to cook it quickly in order to prevent the destruction of natural pectin during cooking. Prepare a delicacy by making a high heat, stirring often. Cookware is used with low walls and a wide bottom.
