Making Jams and Preserves: The Fruit

The fruit, naturally, is the most important ingredient of any jam or preserve that you will make. Fruit will create the flavour and consistency of your jam. Many fruits provide all of the pectin that you will need as well as a portion of the acid necessary to create the perfect jam. While it is recommended that you use fresh and ripe fruits you do have the option of using canned, frozen, or even dried fruits to make jam.

If you do decide to go the route of using canned fruits bought from the store, you will want to buy those that do not have any added sugar and that are in their own juice. Many canned fruits are canned in high fructose corn syrup and you will want to avoid these.

If you use frozen fruits bought from the store, keep in mind that these frozen fruit products may not contain enough pectin to deliver your desired consistency. Therefore, it may be necessary to add pectin to your mixture.

With dried fruits you can cook them in water until they become tender. You can use dried fruits to make jam recipes that use or do not use additional pectin.

If you have an abundance of fruit and are not able to use it all at one time, many fresh fruits will freeze well for you so that you can use them later on to make another batch of jam. Fruits that freeze the best are cherries, strawberries, blueberries, currants, and rhubarb stalks. It is not necessary to add any sugar to the fruits before freezing. When you thaw them out they will be ready for you to make jam!