No need for pectin in jams!

One of the things that kept me from making jam and jelly for so long is that they supposedly require additives that aren't actually so great for you, health-wise. One of those is pectin.

So I've been on a quest to try different recipes without adding commercial pectin, using the naturally-occurring pectin in fruit. And it's been universally successful. Not once has the jam refused to thicken on its own.

Case in point: My first go at lilac-lemon jam was a huge success. Here's my account, plus a recipe.

When jam's your jam, but recipes fail you

So my question for the community is, are you still using commercial pectin? And if so, why?

For those of you who've ditched it, any great recipes to share?

While I used sugar in my lilac-lemon jam, that's my latest frontier, going without sugar as well. I plan on writing about that next. This is exciting territory, kind of the regressive frontier, as we stretch forward into... ancient practices people have just forgotten.

Lisa Brunette wrote:One of the things that kept me from making jam and jelly for so long is that they supposedly require additives that aren't actually so great for you, health-wise. One of those is pectin.

So I've been on a quest to try different recipes without adding commercial pectin, using the naturally-occurring pectin in fruit. And it's been universally successful. Not once has the jam refused to thicken on its own.

Case in point: My first go at lilac-lemon jam was a huge success. Here's my account, plus a recipe.

When jam's your jam, but recipes fail you

So my question for the community is, are you still using commercial pectin? And if so, why?

For those of you who've ditched it, any great recipes to share?

While I used sugar in my lilac-lemon jam, that's my latest frontier, going without sugar as well. I plan on writing about that next. This is exciting territory, kind of the regressive frontier, as we stretch forward into... ancient practices people have just forgotten.

Cool!  I make Seville marmalade most years, when Sevilles are available (Jan-Feb in UK).  Never used commercial pectin, didn't even know it existed.  I just use the orange and lemon peel and seeds.  Put the seeds in a square of muslin cloth, tie with a bit of thread to make a wee bag, add to the pot.  Take it out before adding the sugar.  Learned all this from my mother.

I've experimented with brown sugar and molasses substitutes.  Brown sugar worked, molasses didn't!  Though you can put a bit in and it's OK.

Never tried it with honey but will give it a shot next year.

Cheers,
Antony

My understanding of pectin is that it acts as a regulator of metabolism and serves to keep simple sugars from entering the bloodstream too quickly. So for most people, this is a good thing (so is keeping your intake of simple sugars down).

When the ethnobotanist Gary P Nabhan and his colleagues were looking at rates of diabetes among the O'odham of Arizona and Sonora, they found that not only were the foods of colonisation -- white flour and sugar -- to blame for skyrocketing disease, but also the abandoning of the traditional foods. Things like cactus and mesquite beans have high levels of pectin and other complex sugars and for people who may need to go weeks or months with little food by storing reserves during times of plenty, that buffer is part of the means of survival.

So pectin on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe there is something about the commercial product that doesn't sit well.

Phil Stevens wrote:So pectin on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe there is something about the commercial product that doesn't sit well.

My understanding is that pectin make the jam gel faster, rather than having to boil it a really long time to get it to the "soft ball" stage. To use pectin this way, you have to add a lot of sugar.

Much of modern fruit varieties have more sugar than in the past and less acid. My "low sugar" recipes tend to call for lemon juice to increase the acid to make the jam safer to keep with 10 min in a boiling water bath.

I do tend to add acid. I also often dehydrate my fruit to make more of a "sauce" than a true "jam". I don't use regular pectin, but I do use Pomona's pectin for some recipes. Apparently it reacts with calcium instead of sugar to gel.

I use this pectin: https://pomonapectin.com/ - completely different than the one commonly used, and I can use little or no sugar. For me, leaving out the sugar is much, much more important than worrying about a bit of pectin that my body could actually use. Fruits often have so much natural sugar that (for folks like me, with hypoglycemia and struggling with the inflammation sugar brings, or diabetics, folks with weight problems, etc,) jams and jellies are often simply off limits. Cooking the fruits down far enough that their own natural pectin is sufficient ends up concentrating both the sugars and the pectins, as well as taking away the fresh-fruit flavor that I love. So, I'm not fond of either of those methods. With the Pomona, I can use a very small amount of honey, and the fruit cooking time is much shorter, so I call it a win-win. Plus, each box is a bit more expensive, but it also makes several more batches, so it ends up being substantially less expensive.

I love lemon jelly/jam. it also doubles as instant lemonade when a couple tablespoons are mixed in cold water.

Antony Brush wrote:
Cool!  I make Seville marmalade most years, when Sevilles are available (Jan-Feb in UK).  Never used commercial pectin, didn't even know it existed.  I just use the orange and lemon peel and seeds.  Put the seeds in a square of muslin cloth, tie with a bit of thread to make a wee bag, add to the pot.  Take it out before adding the sugar.  Learned all this from my mother.

I've experimented with brown sugar and molasses substitutes.  Brown sugar worked, molasses didn't!  Though you can put a bit in and it's OK.

Never tried it with honey but will give it a shot next year.

Cheers,
Antony

Antony, you Brits and your marmalade... that's actually what got me started down this path, the idea that I could use the pectin in lemons like marmalade to branch into other territory. I just made jam with sand cherries and honey, and it turned out great. I think your marmalade will be even better that way.

Phil Stevens wrote:My understanding of pectin is that it acts as a regulator of metabolism and serves to keep simple sugars from entering the bloodstream too quickly. So for most people, this is a good thing (so is keeping your intake of simple sugars down).

When the ethnobotanist Gary P Nabhan and his colleagues were looking at rates of diabetes among the O'odham of Arizona and Sonora, they found that not only were the foods of colonisation -- white flour and sugar -- to blame for skyrocketing disease, but also the abandoning of the traditional foods. Things like cactus and mesquite beans have high levels of pectin and other complex sugars and for people who may need to go weeks or months with little food by storing reserves during times of plenty, that buffer is part of the means of survival.

So pectin on its own is not necessarily a bad thing. Maybe there is something about the commercial product that doesn't sit well.

That's really fascinating, Phil, about the O'odham. Yes, natural pectin is a wonderful substance for a lot of reasons, but the commercial stuff is highly processed. I bet it loses a lot of the health benefits in the processing.

Jay Angler wrote:My understanding is that pectin make the jam gel faster, rather than having to boil it a really long time to get it to the "soft ball" stage. To use pectin this way, you have to add a lot of sugar.

Much of modern fruit varieties have more sugar than in the past and less acid. My "low sugar" recipes tend to call for lemon juice to increase the acid to make the jam safer to keep with 10 min in a boiling water bath.

I do tend to add acid. I also often dehydrate my fruit to make more of a "sauce" than a true "jam". I don't use regular pectin, but I do use Pomona's pectin for some recipes. Apparently it reacts with calcium instead of sugar to gel.

Jay, I've been experimenting with a combo of apple cider vinegar and honey instead of sugar and pectin, with great results. I don't like my jam sickly sweet anyway, so these chunky versions--I guess technically more like chutneys--are really pleasing my palate. I'm giving them a trial for long-term storage, put into hot, sterilized jars. My latest is mint and sand cherries. Up next to try is elderflower and gooseberry.

Carla Burke wrote:I use this pectin: https://pomonapectin.com/ - completely different than the one commonly used, and I can use little or no sugar. For me, leaving out the sugar is much, much more important than worrying about a bit of pectin that my body could actually use. Fruits often have so much natural sugar that (for folks like me, with hypoglycemia and struggling with the inflammation sugar brings, or diabetics, folks with weight problems, etc,) jams and jellies are often simply off limits. Cooking the fruits down far enough that their own natural pectin is sufficient ends up concentrating both the sugars and the pectins, as well as taking away the fresh-fruit flavor that I love. So, I'm not fond of either of those methods. With the Pomona, I can use a very small amount of honey, and the fruit cooking time is much shorter, so I call it a win-win. Plus, each box is a bit more expensive, but it also makes several more batches, so it ends up being substantially less expensive.

Interesting approach... and I agree with you on the sugar thing, though I think I'll stick to natural pectin. I no longer trust any of these commercially available products, even when they claim to be "all natural" and all that. I've been experimenting with a chunky, chutney-style jam made with a combo of apple cider vinegar and honey, with excellent results. Sand cherry and mint was a winning combo, and I'm trying elderflower and gooseberry next.

bruce Fine wrote:I love lemon jelly/jam. it also doubles as instant lemonade when a couple tablespoons are mixed in cold water.

Ha, ha, great idea!

For a no-pectin or homemade-pectin preserves cookbook, may I recommend Linda Zeidrich’s The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves?

I’ve been using it for years and the recipes work excellently. They are not low-sugar but are reasonably low compared to other recipes that seem to use equal amounts of fruit and sugar.

I can also recommend the eggplant jam included in the book! It tastes like baklava.

Leanne Opaskar wrote:For a no-pectin or homemade-pectin preserves cookbook, may I recommend Linda Zeidrich’s The Joy of Jams, Jellies, and Other Sweet Preserves?

I’ve been using it for years and the recipes work excellently. They are not low-sugar but are reasonably low compared to other recipes that seem to use equal amounts of fruit and sugar.

I can also recommend the eggplant jam included in the book! It tastes like baklava.

Thanks, Leanne! I've made a note of it.

Honestly, I'm not fond of adding much beyond what is already present in fruit, with exception of lemon juice.  Adding cups n' cups of sugar to thickify a fruit spread.... not my bag.  With that approach I tend to lean towards making butters and preserves.  In fact, just this week I preserved 2c of raspberries with 1/2 cup honey and lemon juice, simmered until thick then put into the fridge (it was enough for nearly a perfect half pint).  One of my best memories of fruit preserving was when a few years back I made Pflaumenmus jam (slow cooked plum jam - easily 18-24 hours simmered in the slow cooker!) and the flavor was a burst of summer in winter.  So good!

So I have two recipes:

"Jelly" is equal parts sugar and juice; "Preserves" is 5 cups fruit, sliced, to 4 cups sugar.



I didn't know pectin was used in fruit preserving until I was an adult.  I appreciate that it makes more of a gel out of your goo, while candying the sugar makes a syrup.  When the fruit in question has high pectin itself, you can accidentally create some really solid stuff.  My BIL added pectin to grape jelly once and it barely could be scraped out of the jar by an adult; the poor nephews were quite sad about being denied PB&J!!

I know citrus and apple peel are good additives for natural pectin.  Does anyone cook with cactus?  I could totally believe prickly pear jelly to be divine.

Use the peel of a couple green unripe apples.  They’re LOADED with natural pectin.

I’m addicted to papaya preserves, no pectin. I use one papaya, dates, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar, honey,and spices . It’s really delicious 😋

Hi Angelena welcome to Permies!
Oh my, papaya jam? I'm not sure I've ever had papaya - it certainly doesn't grow locally! I usually make jam with my fruit in season - rhubarb, raspberry, blackcurrant and apple being the most frequent. I do make strawberry jam from bought fruit because......strawberry!
What I do instead of bought pectin for low pectin fruit is use some tart apples as Jennies suggested above - these may need stewing separately as the cooking time may vary. Apple and rhubarb jam is rather good!

Angelena Thomas wrote:I’m addicted to papaya preserves, no pectin. I use one papaya, dates, lemon juice, and apple cider vinegar, honey,and spices . It’s really delicious 😋

Hey Angelena! I just made this last week-- the papayas all came ripe at once and we can't keep up. Just a lime and a bit of sugar and a tiny hit of cinnamon and cardamom, good stuff.

I think in the US the feeling often is that you need to use pectin or it won't work (which is how I was taught to make jam!). I find it funny that outside the US many people have never even heard of commercial pectin. I used to buy some to bring back when I traveled to the US, and realize today that I have a jar in my spice drawer that's probably been there for 4 years!! Guess I've gotten the hang of doing it without adding pectin.

But I agree entirely with what Mimi said-- it's more sugar than we want or need around here, especially as we get older and are really refining what we eat. I like to take whatever is in season and make a quick jam with chia (you don't need to add any sugar at all if you don't want to), preserve it in small portions (it won't last very long without the sugar), and enjoy it without the sugar shock.

I like jelly more than jam, it's a seed texture thing for me.  So, I make my own pectin every year or two using crab apples before they are fully ripe.
You just rough chop them into a pot add enough water to cover them and let them simmer for 2 hours then strain out the fruit.  I jar up the liquid pectin.

Regarding use of pectin in U.S. vs other parts of world, I think part of it has to do with what use is being made of the jam. When I was I Eastern Europe, no one bothered to thicken their jams. But their jam was not really a thing to spread on bread, it was more a sauce to put on pancakes or stir into porridge or tea. Runny Russian jam is lovely eaten that way, but will squirt right out of your American soft-bread peanut butter sandwich!

In my own kitchen, i haven’t bothered with adding pectin, I usually have some high-pectin fruit like currants, apples, or grapes in the mix, though. I mostly do jams/preserves where the bulk of the fruit gives texture to the end product. The exception is the one batch of red currant jelly I make to use for Christmas cookies.