Jam thickeners: types, reviews. How to make jam thick?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

During the ripening season of berries and fruits, many housewives prepare jam, wanting to keep the fruits until winter. This delicacy is really tasty, fragrant and he althy, but often the finished product turns out to be liquid. To avoid such a slip, you can use different jam thickeners. They are added when cooking jams and jams so that the product acquires a bright color and the desired consistency. Details about them are presented in the article.

The use of these products is not difficult, besides, for the preparation of the product, you do not need to increase the sugar rate. The fruit mass is boiled for about 10 minutes. The finished delicacy retains vitamins, the berries remain intact, and the consistency of the jam will be thick. Jam thickeners are used both in industrial conditions and in home cooking. You can find various reviews of hostesses aboutusing these products, but most of them use proven ways to thicken the product.

Choice of container and components for jam

Every housewife knows the subtleties of cooking their dishes. This is evidenced by numerous reviews, which provide tips for getting tasty and he althy desserts. Jam can be prepared in a copper, aluminum or enameled container. It is important that it is wide and the walls are low. Then the product warms up evenly and the liquid evaporates better.

Berries and fruits should be picked in sunny, dry weather. The fruits must be ripe and undamaged. Bones must be removed before the heat treatment of raw materials. If the berries have a thick skin, it can be pierced with a toothpick. In the case when the fruits gave a lot of juice, it is recommended to drain the excess. Sugar is better to use white, not cane. Moreover, it is not added immediately, but in parts.

Pectin

This is a popular jam thickener. The word from Greek is translated as "connecting". It has the ability to dissolve in water, followed by combination with acids and sugar without distorting their taste, so pectin is suitable for any gelatinous products.

This substance is a natural chemical compound found in various fruits and vegetables. Most pectin in apples and pulp - a product of sugar beet processing. It is also found in citrus fruits, pumpkin, sunflower. In cooking, apple pectin is in demand. It is created by squeezing andconcentration of apple mass, after which the intermediate product is dried. The result is a natural, plant-based polysaccharide presented as a white powder that is odorless.

Cooking properties

1. Preserves the flavor of the product. Strawberry jam with pectin is cooked for 10 minutes. For the standard version, when no thickener is used, more heat treatment time will be required, and the final product will be less aromatic and sweeter in taste.
2. Berries and fruits remain intact, do not boil soft. The jam takes on the color of fresh berries.
3. This cooking produces more finished product.
4. Pectin is recognized as a harmless component, but you should not use it often. Due to an overdose, intestinal obstruction and allergies are possible.

Cooking with pectin

1. The rate of addition of pectin depends on the sugar and wateriness of the fruit. For 1 kg of fruit, it is enough to use 5-15 g of the substance. If the ratio of sugar and liquid is 1:0.5, then 5 g of pectin will be required. At 1:0, 25 - up to 10 g. If there is no sugar in the jam at all, then 15 g of pectin can be added per 1 kg.
2. How to make jam thick? You need to add pectin to the boiled fruit mass, previously mixed with granulated sugar, this will help to avoid the formation of lumps. After that, cooking should last no more than 5 minutes so that gelling properties do not disappear from the substance.

Quitin

Thickener for jam "Kvitin", due to the presence inits composition of pectin, has a gelling effect, so it also does not require long-term cooking of the dessert. It only takes 5 minutes to prepare it. The tool will make the product tastier and he althier, since the vitamins will be preserved.

1 sachet of Quitin jam thickener is enough to cook 2 kg of product. It is used to produce jam and marmalade. The result is a delicacy with a thick, gooey texture.

Starch - can it be used?

This is a white powder, tasteless and odorless. It is obtained from potatoes, rice, wheat and corn. In cold water, the substance does not dissolve, but in hot water it becomes a transparent gelatinous mass - a paste. It is used when cooking kissels, compotes, custards, sweet sauces, sometimes jam.

With starch, the taste of the product decreases, so you need to add more sugar, citric acid. How to make jam thick? If the product is liquid, then a few minutes before readiness, add a little of this substance, which is previously diluted in a small amount of water. After that, cooking continues for no more than 3 minutes. The cooled product will be quite thick.

Gelatin

The human body needs amino acids and minerals. They have a positive effect on the he alth, condition of the skin, nails, hair. These components are found in gelatin, which is obtained through the heat treatment of bones, tendons, cartilage of animals and fish. The substance eliminates the feeling of hunger, so the product is considered dietary.100 g of gelatin contains only 355 kcal.

Gelatin is used to obtain aspic products, creams, ice cream, jams. Thanks to him, the sugar does not crystallize. How to use a jam thickener? To prepare a blank for the winter, you will need berries (1 kg), sugar (1 kg) and gelatin (40 g). The dry substances are mixed and then the sweet product is prepared following the recipe.

Agar-agar

This jam thickener is made from seaweed, which contains iodine, iron, calcium. The substance is presented in the form of a white powder, odorless and tasteless, serves as a vegetable substitute for gelatin. Used in confectionery.

The list of advantages of this substance includes the following features:

1. There is no fat in it, so the product is dietary.
2. Iodine, which is rich in agar-agar, restores the activity of the thyroid gland.
3. This thickener is of vegetable origin, and therefore agar-agar can be used by people who adhere to vegetarianism.
4. Its composition helps to cleanse the body and strengthen immunity.
5. Thickener properties are not lost with cooking.

Although the substance has useful properties, it is still necessary to consume it, not exceeding the allowable rate, so as not to bring the matter to intestinal upset. Please note that agar-agar cannot be combined with wine and fruit vinegar, sorrel, chocolate, black tea.

How to cookjam with this substance? For 1 glass of liquid, add 1 tsp. thickener. It is poured with water for half an hour, after which it should swell. Then the liquid must be brought to a boil, while the mass must be constantly stirred so that there are no lumps and sediment in it. The resulting solution is poured into the finished jam, which should be thoroughly mixed. After preparation, the product can be laid out in jars. Cooling down, agar-agar will turn into a transparent gel.

Cooking

The recipe for thick jam is simple. It is enough to complete all the steps:

1. Fruits or berries should be crushed, leaving for several hours to form juice.
2. Juicy fruits can be chopped with a blender or processed through a meat grinder, and then discard the puree in a colander.
3. Excess juice must be drained, leaving a thick part of the fruit, which will be used for jam. It is important, however, that the juice covers almost all the fruits or berries placed in the cooking container.
4. At the end add crushed lemon. It makes the product jelly-like.
5. Sugar increases the volume of the syrup by about 60%.
6. So that the jam is not liquid, sugar should be added gradually, little by little. So the finished delicacy will get the necessary consistency, besides, the product does not crystallize.

You can also use other thickeners mentioned above, with which you get an equally tasty and he althy product. It is important to monitor the amount of added substance so that the delicacy does not turn out to be too viscous. If the jam is to be used forpies and cakes, you can add a small amount of breadcrumbs before use.

Thus, natural jam thickeners make for a wonderful dessert. Each housewife has her own options for making jam, but sometimes you can use proven thickeners, as they make cooking easier. Thanks to them, tasty and he althy desserts are obtained, in which all valuable vitamins are preserved.