What to add to the jam so that. Why the jam turned out to be liquid, the secrets of thick jam

Jam is a preparation that is often found among the Russian population. It has a sweet taste, is an additive in many desserts, and benefits the human body. On cold winter days, it is very pleasant to drink tea with pastries stuffed with fragrant jam. Thickeners significantly reduce the cooking time, preserves all the useful substances of berries, fruits and vegetables. The result is a product of ideal consistency with maximum preservation of the useful properties of the products.

Sometimes it is necessary to change the consistency of an already finished product to add it to pastries, cakes and other desserts. Every experienced housewife should know how to thicken jam at home.

Thickening the syrup while boiling is the easiest task. To do this, you must follow a certain cooking technology:

1. Prepare the ingredients.
2. Syrup is made from sugar and water in a saucepan.
3. Pour fruits or berries into the boiling mass and cook for 5 minutes,
4. Strain the workpiece and separate them.
5. Fruit-free syrup is boiled for 8 minutes with the addition of lemon juice and the main ingredient is returned.
6. Withstand 5 min. Cool down.
7. Lay out in jars (sterile), roll up.

This jam retains all the vitamins and nutrients of fruits and berries.

There are special thickeners sold in specialized stores. They are simply added with all the ingredients to the bowl for cooking, observing the proportions (pectin, agar-agar, gelatin).

Important! Each of these products has its own instructions for use, which must be followed without fail in order to thicken the product. Otherwise, you can spoil the jam, getting a jelly-like mass.

Tips for making thick jam:

• The ingredients are best chopped with a blender, in this form (jam) they will help thicken the delicacy.
• Sugar is added in portions to control the amount of syrup. Otherwise, the jam may turn out liquid.
• Cooking is carried out in a basin (or any wide dish), over low heat (the liquid evaporates, the product is easy to thicken).
• The citric acid will help thicken the jam naturally.
• Before making jam, fruits must be dried (they should not have drops of water on them).
• Before starting the process of making jam, the berries are covered with sugar. When they release the juice, it is removed to make the product thicker.
• If you want to thicken the liquid jam quickly, use gelatin. To do this, dissolve it in a water bath and lower it into a basin for cooking.

Ready jam

Sometimes the finished product does not meet the expectations of the hostess (in terms of consistency). The situation can be corrected with the following tips:

• You can thicken it by straining pieces of fruit and adding syrup. For this, a sieve is used. The berries remaining on the sieve are transferred to a jar, the syrup is placed on a slow fire in a saucepan (enamelled). Cooking is carried out until the desired consistency is reached. You need to add a little sugar and lemon acid. Pour the berries with the prepared syrup, cool the jam and place it in the refrigerator for storage.

Important! In this case, excess syrup is sure to remain. It can be used as an addition to desserts and making compote.

• Pectin is an excellent tool for thickening the finished product. Ideal for making jam. To do this, dilute it and add, mix thoroughly. Pectin is a useful substance for improving digestion.
• If the goal is a thick filling for baking (patties, buns), then it is advisable to use semolina, flour or starch.

For filling

If the hostess wants to thicken strawberry or cherry jam for filling pies, there are several tricks using improvised means:

• Semolina. It is good with a neutral taste, which leaves the taste of the workpiece unchanged. Proportions of semolina: 1 tsp. in a glass of jam or jam. The maximum volume for a very liquid product is 2 tbsp. To do this, jam is mixed with cereals, left to swell for 15 minutes. Put the mixture on a slow fire and wait for it to boil. Maintain this temperature for 2-3 minutes, cool the jam.
• Cornstarch can also help the hostess thicken the treat. The proportions do not differ: 1 tsp. starch per 300 g of jam. If you use more than 2 tsp, the taste of jam may suffer, acquire a starchy taste. This ingredient is added only to the hot product, preheated on the stove. Boil the mixture for 2 minutes.
• Flour (any) is not able to harm the taste with its reasonable consumption. Proportions: 1 tbsp. flour for 1 cup of the workpiece. Jam can be thickened by heating it and adding flour. It is necessary to constantly stir the mixture to avoid the formation of lumps.

For baking

The filling for baking is most often used thick. Otherwise, the cake may burst, losing its attractive appearance. In order to thicken the blank for the filling without losing its taste characteristics, it is necessary to use the following additives.

What hostess has not faced a problem liquid jam, which upset all her plans related to baking a delicious cake or fragrant bagels? It’s sad when you want to please your family with pleasant smells, but the jam, prepared specifically for this purpose, suddenly ended.

There is a way out, and this article will reveal little secrets that will remain in your cookbook for a long time, and most importantly, they will save you at the right time! We will be happy to share with you how you can turn liquid jam into a thick jam that does not flow out of the dough and does not spoil all the pastries!

Effective ways

There are many ways, born by experienced housewives, capable of making something out of nothing. Let's pay attention to the most accessible of them:

1. The most used is semolina. When it is added, the taste of the product does not deteriorate and does not change in appearance. It is only necessary to boil the jam with a few tablespoons of cereals (1 tsp per 300 grams of semolina).
2. The easiest way to make a thick liquid out of a liquid is to boil the mixture over low heat for some time, until the desired consistency is reached. The advantage is that you can control the desired density and viscosity yourself, as opposed to adding all kinds of thickeners. After all, you can not guess and overdo it with this case.
3. Many people use starch as a thickening agent. Moreover, you can use both potato and corn, adding it to an already heated mixture.
4. In order not to suffer for a long time, you can simply buy an ordinary thickener in the store and add it to the liquid. The proportions are indicated on the package.
5. Remove excess water and give an amazing taste of nuts, crushed into powder. Gelatin will turn your jam into a gorgeous jam. If you try to use flour for this purpose, the effect will be similar to how you cook goulash. In a small amount of water, stir a little flour to a homogeneous consistency and pour into the jam, stirring constantly.
6. Some even take egg white. It is beaten well, and then poured into a sweet mass.
7. Herculean flakes will be able to absorb excess liquid without distorting the taste.

All these options have been tested by many smart cooks and cooks who were able to find a way out of a difficult situation on their own and imagination.

Not everyone adds anything to the jam itself, some find it advisable to simply sprinkle some mass on the surface of the cake so that the liquid mixture does not penetrate the dough and spoil it. Here are some of their recommendations:

• flour;
• cereals;
• starch, biscuits (crushed);
• special powder.

It is necessary to cover the surface with these loose, as thick a layer as possible so that the liquid jam does not seep onto the cake.

Perhaps you, too, can find some interesting way for yourself, with the help of which you will successfully eliminate any difficulty that has arisen on the way to preparing delicious treats for your family.

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 piece of advice. As a rule, the most delicious jam is eaten outside of baking, and for pies there are options that are not the most beloved by the family. Adding the zest of just half an orange makes any fruit filling incredibly beautiful, try it! Bon appetit everyone!

And I'm not worried about liquid jam. I spread the dough on a baking sheet, making sides. I pour out the jam mixed with lemon to make it sour, distribute the jam, rub the dough from the freezer on top, which I put there for 15 minutes. The liquid jam pie is only softer. I bake all the time, I always have it on the table. Now there is no more thick jam. And the grandchildren come, give them a grated pie.

→ tamaraEasy! 500g margarine, 5 cups flour (wholemeal), this will be 800g. 1 tsp soda, 3/4 tsp lemon to-you grind with a spoon into powder (do not replace vinegar), 2-3 g of vanillin, 2 eggs. Grate cold margarine into flour, grind into crumbs, pour soda, lemon, vanillin. Mix. Beat in the eggs, knead the dough, divide into 2/3 and 1/3. Divide 1/3 into 3 pieces, make cakes and put in the freezer. Mash 2/3 of the dough on a baking sheet, make finger-high bumpers around the edges. Spread with sour jam. Better suited plum, apricot, apple. If the jam is sweet, I add a lemon, it is also better to grind it, at the rate of 0.5 tsp. per can of 0.6 liters. Approximately so much is spent on the filling, you can use more - 3 cups. You can cook fresh apple jam - 1 kg of apples, 300-400 g of sugar, no more. You can decompose fruits from compotes. They make it with a sweet curd filling, but we don’t like it. Over the filling, grate the dough from the freezer on a coarse grater, distribute the chips evenly. Bake over medium heat in the middle of the oven. I always put an empty baking sheet on the bottom, on which I put the foil so that it does not burn. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. I cut hot. First I cut the edges, fold separately, although the taste is the same. Then I cut into small squares. I have been preparing the filling since the summer. Just now I bought a carrot, I will cook the filling with lemon from boiled carrots, grated in mashed potatoes. The last time (on Friday) I added carrot puree to apple jam on the sly. Everyone was delighted. Then she confessed.

In August and September, almost all the cities and towns of our country have a delicious and sweet smell - jam is cooked in the kitchens. And although today there are many other ways to prepare berries or fruits for the winter, many prefer this old and time-tested method. Therefore, today we will talk about how to cook thick jam. So that it turns out, like our grandmothers, as they say, so that the spoon stands. And also share some recipes.

How to cook thick jam - preparation

Each process requires some preparation. And jam cooking is no exception. If you really want to make a good thick jam, you need to pay attention to the following points.

Jam is primarily berries and fruits. If you collect them yourself, then you need to do this in good, dry weather. If you buy in the market or in a store, then remember that for good jam you need good fruits or berries, without damage. Of course, you can cook jam from raw materials that are not of very high quality, but its taste will turn out to be much worse.

And, of course, do not forget to wash the berries and fruits. Even if you yourself have just plucked them from a bush or tree.

Chokeberry or blackcurrant can become too dry when cooking jam. To prevent this from happening, they need to be blanched - dipped in boiling water for 30 seconds, and then poured over with cold water. The same is recommended for all berries and fruits with excessively hard skins, such as gooseberries or pears. You can also pierce them in several places with a thick needle or make small cuts with a sharp knife. Then they are better soaked in syrup.

Now let's talk about sugar. To cook a good thick jam, you need to use only white sugar. Pressed or cane brown sugar is not suitable for this purpose. In addition, before cooking jam, it is advisable to sift the sugar. If you want to. To make the jam thick, do not save on sugar. Usually it is taken as much as berries or fruits, kilogram per kilogram.

How to cook thick jam - a few general recommendations

When cooking jam, you can’t cook other dishes nearby at the same time - it will absorb their smells.

In order for the jam to turn out thick and boil well, you need to cook it over very low heat after boiling.

You can determine the readiness of jam by its appearance. If the berries were sent translucent, do not float on top, but are evenly distributed in the syrup, if the foam that forms when the jam is cooked does not scatter along the edges of the basin, but gathers in the middle - the jam is ready. You can also check the readiness of the jam in the following way: scoop a little with a teaspoon and drip onto a clean saucer. If the drop does not scatter, but retains its shape, then it is time to remove the jam from the fire.

If, despite the readiness, the jam turns out to be too liquid for your taste, you can use pectin to thicken it - 3-4 grams per kilogram of berries or fruits. Pectin is added at the very end, then let the jam stand on the fire for another five minutes and turn it off. Please note. That the action of the thickener does not appear immediately, in order for it to be noticeable, the jam must cool.

How to make thick strawberry jam

To make thick strawberry jam, you will need:

• strawberries - 1-2 kg;
• sugar - 1-2 kg;
• lemon - 1-2 slices.

Peel the strawberries from leaves or stalks, carefully sort, rinse. Pour into a container in which you will cook it - preferably made of food steel, you can also use basins or pans with a special non-stick coating. But it is undesirable to use enameled dishes, since jam can burn in it. Sprinkle the strawberries with sugar and leave for a few hours to release the juice. How long this will take depends on the berry. It may be 3-4 hours, or it may be 10.

Then take a wooden spatula and mix everything well so as to raise the sugar from the bottom, where it will settle during this time. Place bowl with strawberries over medium heat, bring to a boil, stir, and reduce heat to low. To make the jam thick, it needs to be cooked only over low heat, stirring constantly. Keep the strawberries on fire for 10 minutes in this way, and turn off the stove. During this time, the sugar should have time to completely dissolve. Remove the formed foam.

Remove the berries from the syrup and set them aside for now. Put the syrup back on the fire, reduce it to a minimum and continue to boil the syrup for one hour.

Take a slice of cooked lemon along with the zest, cut it into small pieces and add to the syrup. Mix well and continue to simmer for another hour. Now add strawberries to the syrup again and continue to cook for another hour.

You should have a nice thick strawberry jam. After it is ready, remove from heat, cool and arrange in prepared jars. There is no need to roll such a jam. Just cover it with plastic lids or tie with parchment paper.

How to cook thick blueberry jam with gelatin

Gelatin, which is added to this exquisite blueberry jam, in no way spoils its amazing taste, on the contrary, it gives it a certain piquancy. To make thick blueberry jam with gelatin, you will need:

• fresh blueberries - 2 cups;
• granulated sugar - 2 cups;
• berry or lemon jelly - 1 sachet.

Sort blueberries, remove foreign matter, debris and rinse with cool water. This is best done using a colander and shower head. So you do not damage the tender berries. Let the water drain and lay the blueberries out on a paper towel to dry slightly. While the blueberries are drying, you can prepare jars in which you will lay out the finished jam. Rinse them well, wipe them dry with a towel and put them in a preheated oven for 15 minutes to sterilize.

When the blueberries are dry, pour them into a saucepan, add sugar and berry jelly. Mix well and put on a minimum fire. The sugar should dissolve and the blueberries should release their juice. After that, hold on low heat for a couple more minutes, and then pour into prepared jars directly while hot. Close with metal lids using a seamer and cover the top with a thick terry towel until the jam jars are completely cool. You need to store thick blueberry jam in the cellar or in the pantry.

How to cook thick apricot jam

To make thick apricot jam, you will need:

• half-ripe apricots - 1 kg;
• granulated sugar - 850 g;
• citric acid - 3 g.

Rinse the apricots, pat dry and cut in half. Remove bones. Divide the apricots in two. Put one of them in a saucepan, sprinkle with sugar, add half a glass of water, put on the stove. Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes. The apricots need to be quite soft. Then wipe them through a colander, add citric acid and the second half of the apricots. If desired, they can be cut into smaller pieces.

Put on fire, bring to a boil and cook over low heat for about 40 minutes. Do not forget to stir and remove the foam.

Arrange the finished thick apricot jam in clean, sterilized jars and roll up with metal lids.

How to cook a thick jam of their pears

To make thick pear jam, you will need:

• ripe pears - 3 kg;
• granulated sugar - 2 kg;
• lemon juice - 1 teaspoon.

Wash the pears well, let them dry and, without peeling the skin, cut into small pieces. Put everything in a saucepan or a bowl for cooking jam, sprinkle with sugar and leave for 3-4 hours so that the pears release juice. After that, put a bowl of pears on the stove, stirring constantly, bring to a boil, and then reduce the heat to a minimum. Boil for 20 minutes, not forgetting to remove the emerging foam. Turn off the heat and leave the pears to cool - overnight.

The next day, put on fire again, bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, removing the foam that appears. Remove the pears from the heat again and let them cool completely.

Repeat all the previous steps again, boil the pears over low heat for 20 minutes and just before the end, add one teaspoon of lemon juice. Let the pears stand on the fire for about 3 more minutes, then remove from heat and arrange in sterilized jars. Roll up, let cool and store jars of jam in a dark, cool place.

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 healthy, but often the finished product turns out to be liquid. To avoid such a slip, you can use different jam thickeners. They are added at the time of jam 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 does not cause difficulties, besides, for the preparation of the product, it is not necessary 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 about the use of these tools, but most of them use proven methods to make the product thick.

The choice of containers and components for jam

Every hostess knows the intricacies of cooking their dishes. This is evidenced by numerous reviews, which provide tips for getting tasty and healthy 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

It 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 as a natural chemical compound is found in various fruits and vegetables. Most of all pectin is in apples and pulp - a processed product. It is also found in citrus fruits, pumpkin, sunflower. In cooking, apple pectin is in demand. It is created by squeezing and concentrating the 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. Retains the aroma of the product. boiled with pectin for 10 minutes. For the standard version, when no thickener is used, more time will be required for heat treatment, and the final product will turn out to be less aromatic and with a sweeter taste.
2. Berries and fruits remain whole, do not boil soft. The jam takes on the color of fresh berries.
3. With this cooking, more of the finished product is obtained.
4. Pectin is recognized as a harmless component, but you should not use it often. Due to an overdose, intestinal obstruction, allergies are possible.

Cooking with pectin

1. The 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 this, cooking should last no more than 5 minutes so that the gelling properties do not disappear from the substance.

Quitin

The thickener for jam "Kvitin", due to the presence of pectin in its composition, 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 healthier, since the vitamins will be preserved.

1 sachet of thickener for Kvitin jam is enough to cook 2 kg of products. It is used to produce jam and marmalade. The result is a delicacy with a thick, viscous texture.

Starch - can it be used?

It 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, and sometimes jams.

Starch reduces the taste of the product, 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 beneficial effect on the health, 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. In 100 g of gelatin, there are only 355 kcal.

Gelatin is used to obtain jellied 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, and 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. It does not contain fat, 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 plant origin, and therefore agar-agar can be used by people who adhere to vegetarianism.
4. Its composition helps to cleanse the body and strengthen the immune system.
5. With cooking, the properties of the thickener are not lost.

Although the substance has useful properties, it is still necessary to consume it without exceeding the permissible norm, so as not to bring the matter to intestinal upset. It should be borne in mind that agar-agar cannot be combined with wine and fruit vinegar, sorrel, chocolate, black tea.

How to cook jam 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, agar-agar is converted into a transparent gel.

Cooking

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

1. Fruits or berries must 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 chopped 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.

Other thickeners mentioned above can also be used, with which an equally tasty and healthy product is obtained. 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 will be used for making pies and cakes, a small amount of breadcrumbs can be added to it before use.

Thus, natural jam thickeners allow you to get 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 healthy desserts are obtained, in which all valuable vitamins are preserved.