Shiny, Silky, Sweet Jam

I have a history of making rather mediocre jam. Usually I make raspberry and usually it doesn't set and I have to "re-jam" it, with more cooking and commercial pectin. Of course any homemade jam tastes good on a thick slice of buttered Como toast, but my jam is often too firm and doesn't have the silky mouth feel that blue ribbon jam should have.

Although it's mid-summer, it feels like June (or January) and berries are just really hitting their stride. A few weeks ago, I bought my first flat of the season, strawberries from Deep Roots farm. Determined to make good jam this year, I hit the internet and my kitchen library for help. My quick review of literature illustrated a wide range of ideas about jam. Jam is political...people hold positions- no pectin, pro pectin, homemade pectin. And, the sugar debates make the pectin wars look like a tea party. I just want simple yummy jam to spread on toast.

I finally just bought Harriet Fasenfest's awesome treatise on radical homemaking, The Householder's Guide to the Universe, so I started with Harriet. I really enjoyed reading her "alchemy of jam" section which encourages me to develop a nose for jam learn the principles and depend on a technique and knowledge not a recipe.

She explains that berries have their own natural pectin. Seedy cane berries are reasonably high in pectin, high acid bush berries like cranberries, blueberries and gooseberries have very high pectin, and strawberries are low in the thickening agent. She goes on the point out that additional pectin, sugar, and cooking time can all be adjusted to respond to the natural pectin content of the fruit you are jamming. Her recipes looked delicious, so I set down Harriet's path until I was thrown a quandary, how to make home made apple pectin when apples are not in season?

So I went to the Joy of Cooking who calls for a ratio of one to one, berries to sugar by weight. That's a lot of sugar, not a deal breaker but I thought I do a bit more research. So then I asked my favorite food know-it-all, our cuisine manager and Laura Ohm. Her response was definitive, three-quarters to one cup of sugar for a pound of berries. So I used Laura's basic ratio and Harriet's tips, and a few pieces of knowledge I picked up over the years. And I'm happy to report lovely, bright, shiny, silky, sweet jam that has set up beautifully in the jars.

Silky jam

Here is what I did:

Yield 3 pints jam

3 pounds (5 dry pints) prepped berries
2.25-3 cups sugar, depending on pectin level in fruit

Prep berries and add sugar and let sit for over 4 hours.

Sugared berries waiting...


Choose your cooking vessel well. The key to successful jam-making is surface area; choose a wide flat pan with deep sides like this 6 quart deep sauté pan from All-Clad.

6 quart All-Clad

Pour sugared berries in cooking vessel and turn up the heat. When you make jam you are making caramel, jamming is candying... so no slurpy deep simmers, get some surface area, turn up the heat, and don't stir very often until they very end.

Turn up the heat!

Use your senses, a thermometer, or both to know that your jam is ready. The jam will have reduced by at least a third and start to look shiny and tacky, as Harriet say's the jam will "part waters" when you draw a spatula or spoon for it. It will also be 220 degrees and mound on a plate that has been in the freezer.

Because this is a high sugar jam you seal it safely in a hot sanitized jar and boiled lids and rings. If you are nervous about mold, go ahead and process jam in a hot water bath according to the Ball canning instructions.

Shiny, silky, sweet jam!

Posted by Piper Davis, Co-Owner & Cuisine Director/ Portland