As the title states, I will be canning for the first time this evening. Not that it matters, but I did watch my great Granny can things as a small child so I do have some idea of how this goes. She referenced her books and I have referenced USDA guidelines and am looking for heavily trusted recipes only. Granny had a pear tree so made lots of jellies and jams and they were SO delicious.
I will can apple butter this evening and that will be my first time canning. I've done lots of reading and feel well prepared. But, the jars came in a 12 pack and I only need 4 so… I went looking at Ball recipes using pears as an ingredient. Came upon this one and I have a couple of questions…
The recipe does not include pectin and I thought, well, maybe jams don't use it? Nope, looked at peach, mixed berry, fig, strawberry, raspberry, etc. jams (not jellies) and they all call for Ball® RealFruit™ Liquid Pectin. Ball's pear jelly also calls for pectin. So, why no pectin in the cranberry, orange, pear jam? What might happen if I added pectin to the recipe? If I were to do so, I would probably go with the amount Ball calls for in similar-ish recipes… I mean, they've got plenty of berry jams as well as a plum jam, so I think those would point me right, and I would err on the side of a little less would probably be better. I just can't understand. I've looked at so many of their jam recipes and they all include pectin, so why not this one? My only, very elementary guess is… this recipe was formulated to be chunky and I would like to reduce the chunk.
I want the jam to spread nicely, thinly, on crackers and toasted things and am not terribly interested in it having whole fruit pieces. Would using my (very clean) stick blender in the mixture before it finishes cooking cause any harm?
Thanks for any help you kind folks can provide.
by Stella_plantsnbakes
3 Comments
First off: [here is the official recipe link](https://www.ballmasonjars.com/blog?cid=cranberry-orange-pear-jam); you have to be careful with blogs, even when they purport to give a recipe straight from Ball.
Second: this jam doesn’t call for added pectin because cranberries have a *ton* of natural pectin. The canned cranberry sauce that plops out and keeps its shape? That’s because of the cranberries’ pectin.
Looking at the recipe it does seem to be a chunky jam. I personally would feel OK pulsing it with a stick blender a couple times, but it may or may not set the way Ball intended it.
I just made that Cranberry Orange Pear jam last week and my family are really enjoying it. I left the cranberries whole and diced up the pear fairly small…it had a nice texture. I had no problems getting it to set, even without additional pectin…just make sure you have a decent thermometer so you can gauge when it’s at the setting stage. I used frozen cranberries (thawed before use). I went light on the cloves and allspice because I wasn’t sure if it would overwhelm it but next time, I’ll add what is called for in the recipe.
Cranberries have a lot of pectin. I’ve made Cranberry sauce and it doesn’t need any pectin to set. Have fun.
If you do decide to can with pectin (no Cranberries, I find Pomona’s pectin the best, but I’ve also had good success with ball. Surejell works if you follow their recipes exactly, but sometimes it’s not as reliable.