A good jam should be thin or thick. How to thicken plum jam when cooking: recommendations for the hostess. Starch as a thickener for jam: is it possible

I think everyone has come across a liquid jam intended for a pie. Wherever I looked for advice on what to do, there were only 3 options: 1) boil until thick, 2) add starch, 3) add crushed crackers or nuts. I got only the third option, but the result was not pleasing. I thought, thought, and finally came up with it!

Of course, there was a powerful stimulus for reflection in the form of liquid currant jam. And a great desire to bake a grated pie with him.
So what to do. Pour a glass of jam / jam / jam into a saucepan, add 1 tsp. semolina, mix well and leave for 15 minutes to swell the semolina. Then bring to a boil and after 2 minutes get a beautiful thick jam. Jam. Jam. Semolina does not affect the taste or appearance of the fruit filling of the pie. Of course, depending on the consistency of the original semolina product, you may need a little less or a little more than a teaspoon.
And one more little advice. As a rule, the most delicious jam is eaten outside of baking, and not the family's favorite options remain for pies. Adding the zest of just half an orange makes any fruit filling incredibly beautiful, try it) Bon appetit to everyone!

Thick jams have a very pleasant taste and dense texture. How to thicken plum jam when cooking plum, what should be added to the pan with the main ingredients? How to thicken jam when cooking from plums so that the taste of the finished product is not affected? Experienced housewives know that it is a thick delicacy that adults and children love so much. If you want to make a truly delicious jam, you need to cook it using gelatin. It is better to choose a regular gelling product, rather than an instant one. For 1 kilogram of plums, you need 1 kilogram of sugar and 1 bag of gelatin, the net weight of which is 40 grams. Plums should be washed, pitted, covered with sugar and a gelling agent added. After 2 hours, you need to mix all the components, and after another 3-4 hours you can start cooking. The jam should be boiled for about 15 minutes, after which it can be poured into sterilized jars and rolled up.

You can also thicken jam from plums directly during the cooking process. If the hostess prepared a treat without adding gelatin, but the finished product turned out to be too liquid, you can add a thickener at the very end of cooking, about 5 minutes before turning off the stove. But in this case, you must first dissolve the gelatin in a small amount warm water, and after swelling, place it in a saucepan with plum jam. The indicated proportions are recommended, that is, the amount of gelatin can be reduced or increased. But it should be remembered that an excess of gelling product can adversely affect the taste of jam. Some housewives use special thickeners of synthetic origin instead of gelatin. Such components can greatly change the taste of plum delicacy. Therefore, their use is not recommended. It is better to give preference to natural gelatin.

It is possible to thicken jam from plums without the use of any foreign products. If the cooked delicacy seems too liquid, you need to drain some of the syrup and continue cooking. After 5-10 minutes it will be possible to evaluate the consistency again. Jam is considered to be cooked successfully if a drop of its syrup does not spread over the plate, but keeps its shape. It is also worth remembering that when chilled, the delicacy will be thicker. If immediately after cooking it seems not dense enough, you need to wait a bit and evaluate the taste after an hour. Then it will be possible to bring the mixture to a boil again and pour into sterilized jars. Jam should be closed with nylon, not metal lids. After it has cooled, you can remove the preservation in a cool place. Some housewives prefer to add mashed red currants or other berries with gelling ability to plum jam.

If the hostess does not plan to store jam for a long time and wants to use it as a filling for pies, rich pastries, you can make the delicacy thicker by adding flour or starch. Immediately after cooking, add this natural thickener to the pot with the main ingredients and boil the jam for another 3-5 minutes. Flour or starch must first be diluted in a small amount of water. This will help avoid the formation of lumps. The ratio of thickener and jam can be chosen independently. As a rule, 1 tablespoon of flour or starch should be used per glass of product. It is not recommended to exceed this dosage. When plum jam prepared exclusively for further use as a filling, you can add semolina or even breadcrumbs for thickening.

To cook tasty and healthy jam, you need to take into account several nuances: cooking time, sweetness and density. If the jam is not cooked, then the fermentation process will begin, and if it is digested, it will not remain. useful substances.

The consistency of the jam is important not only for personal preference, but also for using the finished product as a filling. For example, for the preparation of pies or other confectionery, it is preferable to choose a thick jam so that it does not flow out and soften the dough.

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Cooking

In order to make the jam thicker, you must consider the following:

• Fruits intended for making jam must be crushed and left to let the juice in for several hours;
• Very juicy berries can be chopped in a blender (pass through a meat grinder, ceiling) and put in a colander;
• Excess juice must be drained (you can drink compote, etc.), leaving only the part necessary for jam. It is enough that the juice almost covers the fruits or berries placed in the jam maker.
• At the end of cooking, add chopped lemon in a blender. It contributes to the gelling of the product in a natural way;
• You need to cook jam in a low, but wide bowl. So the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe open surface will be wider, and moisture will evaporate faster.
• Sugar increases the volume of the syrup by about 60% (i.e., if you add 1 kg of sugar, you get 600 ml of syrup);
• So that the jam does not turn out to be too liquid, sugar must be added gradually, in small portions with each boil. This way you can achieve the desired consistency, and also prevent the jam from being candied.

Finished product thickening

If the jam turned out to be too liquid, the finished product can be thickened in several ways:

• Strain the jam. The syrup can be boiled separately and poured over berries or fruits in the right amount, and the rest of the syrup can be used for other purposes - cook compote, pickle pears, pour over ice cream, etc .;
• Add pectin. This product will help the jam thicken (it will be like jam or jelly);
• Add breadcrumbs (or crumbled vanilla crackers) and let it brew for a while. This method is suitable for thickening immediately before use, and is good for making pies or cakes filled with thick jam;
• Add a small amount of starch or flour. It is important not to overdo it with the amount of powder - when cooling, the jam will become much thicker than when hot.

In the midst of the ripening of berries and fruits, from ancient times, people tried to preserve all the charm of the summer gifts of nature. For long winter days they made preserves, cooked jam. In order for the cooking product to be thick, fragrant, with a pleasant color and taste, our grandmothers had many of their secrets for preparing these products.

Nowadays, various thickeners have become popular. They are added during cooking to give the jam a bright, appetizing color and the desired density. They are not difficult to use, economical in terms of adding sugar. Jam is cooked using a thickener for only ten minutes. At the same time, vitamins are preserved in it, the berries do not fall apart, the jam turns out to be thick with a beautiful shade.

The main components of the thickener are pectin, gelatin, starch, and agar-agar. Jelly-like compositions are widely used both in production and in cooking. For fast food preserves, jams, marmalade, marshmallows use pectin, agar-agar, and gelatin to impart viscosity and density to the finished product.

Jam thickener pectin

Pectin is translated from Greek as "connecting". This ability to combine with acid and sugar, dissolve in cold and hot water, has been used to create gelatinous products. Pectin is a plant-based chemical compound found in many fruits and vegetables. The largest amount of pectin in apples and sugar beets. He is also present in citrus fruits, carrots, pumpkin, sunflower.

In cooking, apple pectin is especially valued. It is obtained by squeezing and concentrating from apples, followed by drying the resulting substance. It is a natural, vegetable hydrocarbon powder white color absolutely odorless.

The positive properties of pectin when cooking jam

• It has the ability to retain the aroma of the product. It takes 10 minutes to cook strawberry jam with the addition of pectin. The usual method requires a longer cooking time. The product is less aromatic and sweeter.
• Pectin keeps fruits and berries intact without overcooking them. The jam has a bright color of fresh berries.
• Shortened cooking time allows you to get a larger amount of the finished product.
• Pectin is a harmless substance, but you should not get carried away with it. An overdose of pectin can lead the human body to intestinal obstruction, to allergic reactions. If this happens, drink more fluids.

Little secrets of making jam with pectin

• The rate of pectin addition to jam depends on the amount of sugar and liquid in it. For 1 kg of fruit add 5 to 15 grams of pectin. When the ratio of sugar and jam liquid is 1:0.5, 5 grams of pectin are added accordingly. In a ratio of 1: 0.25 - up to 10 grams. If the jam is prepared without sugar, then 15 grams of pectin should be put on 1 kg of the original product.
• Pectin is added to boiled jam, pre-mixed with a small amount of granulated sugar, to prevent sticking of its grains to each other. After adding pectin, cooking lasts no more than five minutes, otherwise its jelly-like properties will be lost.

Starch as a thickener for jam: is it possible?

• Starch is a white, powdery, tasteless and odorless product. Produced from potatoes, rice, wheat, corn.
• In cold water, starch does not dissolve, but in hot water it turns into a transparent gelatinous mass - a paste.
• It is used for cooking kissels, compotes, custards, sweet sauces and occasionally jams.
• Starch reduces the taste of the finished product, so you have to add more sugar to the jam, citric acid, to improve the taste of jam.
• In liquid jam, which cannot be boiled to the desired density, a few minutes before readiness, you can put a little starch, which must be diluted in a small amount of water. After adding starch, cooking lasts no more than three minutes. The cooled jam in this case will become thicker.

Cooking jam with gelatin

The human body constantly needs substances such as amino acids and minerals. They have a positive effect on the health, condition of the skin, nails, hair of a person. All these substances are contained in gelatin, which is obtained by heat treatment of bones, tendons, cartilage of animals and fish.

Gelatin suppresses the feeling of hunger, therefore it is considered dietary product. There are 355 calories in 100 grams of gelatin. It is used mainly for the preparation of aspic products, creams, ice cream, jams. It does not allow sugar to crystallize.

Classic jam with gelatin for the winter is prepared simply: for 1 kg of berries and 1 kg of sugar, you need 40 gr. gelatin, which is dry mixed with sugar, and then jam is prepared according to the recipe.

The use of agar-agar thickener when cooking jam

Food agar is made from seaweed, which contains a lot of iodine, iron and calcium. It is a white powder, tasteless and odorless, and is a vegetable substitute for gelatin. It is widely used in the confectionery industry.

Useful properties of agar-agar

• The complete absence of fats, which makes the product dietary.
• The high content of iodine in it normalizes the functioning of the thyroid gland.
• Agar-agar contains no calories and is an assistant in a vegetarian diet.
• The composition of agar-agar helps the body cleanse and strengthen the immune system.
• During cooking, it does not lose the ability of a thickener, on the contrary, it becomes dense and viscous, sets faster.

Agar-agar is associated with a sponge that absorbs useless substances and removes them from the body. But with all his useful properties you need to adhere to the dosage, and normalize the amount of its consumption. Otherwise, you are guaranteed an upset stomach. It must be remembered that agar-agar is not combined with products such as: wine and fruit vinegar, sorrel, chocolate, black tea.

When cooking jam with agar-agar, 1 teaspoon of powder of this thickener is added to 1 glass of liquid. First, it is poured for 30 minutes with water, and allowed to swell. Then the liquid is brought to a boil, stirring constantly, to prevent the formation of lumps and sediment. The finished solution can be poured into the cooked jam, mix. And put into clean jars. When the product cools, it becomes a clear gel.

Every skilled housewife has her own ways of making jam, but do not neglect ready-made industrial thickeners to facilitate the cooking process. Choose for yourself which jam thickener you like, and create, create new culinary masterpieces. Happy preparations.

The ideal filling for baking is sweet preparations for the winter, cooked at home. 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 jam with a thick consistency using various food additives so as not to spoil the dessert. These additives and their use will be discussed further.

When preparing a filling that is too liquid, you may subsequently encounter it flowing out of the pies, even when the edges are tightly clamped.

Also, the liquid consistency leads to a wet and damp dough of pies. To solve this problem, some try to put less jam, but in the end the dish still turns out to be not so appetizing.

The best way out is to thicken the jam to the desired consistency.

Why does jam turn out liquid?

Many families pass down recipes from generation to generation. Everyone definitely has memories that are associated with delicious, thick, viscous jam, as grandmother cooked in childhood. But in most cases, housewives cannot reproduce such a dessert on their own, the density is not the same.

Why dessert comes out liquid:

1. The jam hasn't boiled down.
2. Little sugar was introduced.
3. It is important to remove the foam.
4. For cooking, you do not need to take a pan, dishes that have low walls will help to quickly evaporate excess moisture.
5. Preparing jam should not last 3 hours in a row. It is recommended to do this in 3 stages. The raw material is first boiled, boiled for 15 minutes and removed from the fire, cooled. You need to repeat the procedure 3 times.

To save liquid jam, it must be boiled down. This method is not recommended if the dessert is prepared from raspberries, because the longer the delicacy is cooked, 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. Raspberries also contain a lot of organic acids that work well as preservatives.

The fruits are boiled soft, the strawberries become not aesthetically brown, and sometimes with a bad smell.

But long-term cooking is useful for a delicacy of apples and pears. Fruit slices are saturated with sugar, becoming similar 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.

After the hot syrup is sent to a basin with fruits and berries. This method of thickening can be used in the case of cooking gooseberries, apricots, black currants, pears. The taste of sweetness and the degree of juiciness of the ingredients used may vary. Therefore, for cooking fruits from one tree, each subsequent year may require a different amount of granulated sugar.

How to thicken liquid jam?

To make the jam thicker, various food additives are used.

Pectin

Thanks to pectin, the flavor of the dessert is retained. To cook strawberry jam by pouring pectin, you need 10 minutes of time. With the use of pectin, fruits with berries will remain intact, and the jam will have a bright shade of fresh fruit.

If you reduce the cooking time, then this will allow you to get more dessert.

How much pectin should be poured into dessert will depend on the volume of sugar and liquid in it. If you take 1 kg of fruit, you need to throw in 5-15 gr. pectin:

1. Based on granulated sugar and jam juice, 1 to 0.5 pectin requires 5 grams.
2. If the ratio of sand to liquid is 1 to 0.25, then 10 g of pectin is needed.
3. When preparing jam without sugar, 15 gr. pectin.

Add pectin to the boiled dessert, mixing it with sugar in advance to prevent sticking. By adding pectin to a delicacy, it is boiled for no more than 5 minutes, otherwise the jelly-like properties will be lost.

Quittin

A treat using Quittin is easy to make. When preparing a dessert from whole fruits, you need to fill the fruits with sand at night, 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 it be used?

Starch is a powder that is odorless and tasteless. It is used occasionally to make jam.

When starch is added to the dessert, the palatability of the treat decreases, due to this, more sugar and citric acid should be added to improve the taste.

In a liquid dessert, starch diluted in water is introduced in a couple of minutes. After pouring the product, the jam is boiled for no more than 3 minutes. The cooled dessert will become thicker.

Gelatin

The classic recipe is cooking dessert with gelatin. The delicacy is made as follows. For 1 kg of fruits and 1 kg of sand, 40 gr. gelatin. Dry it should be combined with sand, and then prepare a dessert, following the recipe.

agar agar

When making jam with the product, pour 1 tsp into 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 stirred so that there are no lumps and sediment.

The prepared solution is sent to dessert, mixed.

Flour

To make a dessert with a medium liquid thick, flour is introduced in an amount of 1 tbsp. l. for 250 ml of jam.

How to cook:

1. A pan is placed on a small gas, you should wait for the workpiece to boil.
2. Little by little flour is pouring in.
3. Dessert should be stirred all the time so that lumps do not appear.

Manka

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. for 350 ml or 300 gr. goodies. If the mass is of a highly liquid consistency, the volume increases to 2 tbsp. l.

To prepare the filling, jam is poured into a cauldron, poured semolina, mixed and left for 15 minutes. This time is enough for the cereal to absorb excess liquid and swell.

How to cook thick jam for the winter?

To prepare a dessert of thick consistency, you must follow the recommendations.

1. A thick delicacy comes out if you use fruits rich in pectin: strawberries, raspberries, apples, plums, currants, gooseberries, cranberries.
2. Pectin substances are found in large volumes in unripe fruits. To make a thick jam, they take ripened fruits and add a little unripe ones to them.
3. A thick dessert is obtained using fruits with a sufficient amount of acid. If the test cooking showed insufficient density, then you need to pour in the lemon juice.
4. In order for the jam to become thick, you need to cook it quickly to prevent the destruction of natural pectin during cooking. Prepare a delicacy by making a strong fire, stirring often. The dishes are used with low walls and a wide bottom.