The ideal filling for baking are sweet winter preparations, cooked at home. Difficulty in preparation can arise only if the consistency of the dessert is too liquid. In this case, it is very important to know how to make jam of a thick consistency using various food additives, so as not to spoil the dessert. Such additives and their use will be discussed further.
Why do you need to thicken jam?
If you prepare a filling that is too liquid, you may subsequently encounter it leaking out of the pies, even if you press the edges tightly.
Also, a liquid consistency leads to a wet and soggy pie dough. To solve this problem, some try to put less jam, but in the end the dish still turns out not so appetizing.
The best way out is to thicken the jam to the required consistency.
Why does the jam turn out liquid?
Many families pass down recipes for searing from generation to generation. Everyone definitely has memories that are associated with delicious, thick, sticky jam, like grandma made in childhood. But in most cases, housewives cannot reproduce such a dessert on their own; the resulting consistency is not the same.
Why does the dessert come out liquid?
- The jam did not boil down.
- Little granulated sugar was introduced.
- It is important to remove the foam.
- You don’t need to take a pan for cooking; dishes that have low walls will help excess moisture quickly evaporate.
- Preparing jam should not last 3 hours straight. It is recommended to do this in 3 stages. The raw material is first boiled, cooked for 15 minutes and removed from the heat to cool. The procedure must be repeated 3 times.
To save liquid jam, it needs to be boiled down. This method is not recommended if the dessert is made from raspberries, since the longer the delicacy is cooked, the more vitamins will be lost. This berry is rich in vitamins, so harvesting it for the winter not only reminds you of summer, but is also a therapeutic and preventive remedy. Raspberries also contain many organic acids that act well as preservatives.
Prolonged boiling of strawberries is not recommended.
The fruits are overcooked, the strawberries become an unattractive brown color, and sometimes have a bad smell.
But the delicacy made from apples and pears benefits from long-term cooking.Fruit slices are soaked in granulated sugar and become 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, collected in different years, can have different juiciness. If there is a lot of liquid in the fruit, then a lot of it will be released into the dessert.
Also, when the treat comes out liquid, it is recommended to drain the liquid and cook only that.
Afterwards, the hot syrup is sent to a bowl with fruits and berries. This thickening method can be used when cooking gooseberries, apricots, black currants, and pears. The taste of sweetness and the degree of juiciness of the ingredients used may vary. Therefore, to boil fruits from one tree, each subsequent year a different volume of granulated sugar may be required.
To thicken the treat, it is recommended to add sand and heat the mixture. Initially, add ¼ of the amount, and then, after boiling in 2 stages, see how the delicacy thickens. It happens that it is necessary to increase the volume of sand by 1.5 times.
How to thicken liquid jam?
To make the jam thicker, various food additives are used.
Pectin
Thanks to pectin, the aroma of the dessert is preserved. To make strawberry jam by adding pectin, you need 10 minutes. Using pectin, fruits and berries will remain intact, and the jam will have a bright shade of fresh fruit.
Reducing the cooking time will allow you to get more dessert.
How much pectin should be added to the dessert will depend on the volume of sugar and liquid in it. If you take 1 kg of fruit, you need to add 5-15 grams. pectin:
- Based on the calculation of granulated sugar and jam juice 1 to 0.5 pectin, 5 grams are required.
- If the ratio of sand to liquid is 1 to 0.25, then 10 grams of pectin is needed.
- When preparing jam without sugar, add 15 grams per 1 kg of fruit. pectin
Add pectin to the boiled dessert, mixing it with sugar in advance to prevent sticking. After adding pectin to the treat, cook it for no more than 5 minutes, otherwise the jelly-like properties will be lost.
Quittin
Treats using Quittin are easy to make. When preparing a dessert from whole fruits, you need to cover the fruits with sand overnight, and in the morning add Quittin and cook the jam for 5 minutes. If the fruits are ground through a sieve, then the quittin is added immediately and the delicacy is cooked for 5 minutes.
Starch - can it be used?
Starch is a powder that has no aroma or taste. It is used occasionally to make jam.
When adding starch to a dessert, the taste of the delicacy is reduced, due to this it is necessary to add more sugar and citric acid to improve the taste.
Starch diluted in water is added to the liquid dessert in a couple of minutes. After pouring in the product, cook the jam for no more than 3 minutes. The cooled dessert will become thicker.
Gelatin
The classic recipe is making dessert with gelatin. The delicacy is made as follows. For 1 kg of fruit and 1 kg of sand take 40 grams. gelatin. It should be mixed dry with sand, and then prepare the dessert following the recipe.
Agar-agar
When making jam with the product, add 1 tsp per 250 ml of liquid. thickener Initially, it is filled with water and left to swell. After the thickener is brought to a boil, stirred so that there are no lumps or sediment.
The prepared solution is sent to dessert and mixed.
Flour
To make a dessert with medium liquid thick, add 1 tbsp of flour. l. for 250 ml of jam.
How to cook:
- Place the pan on low gas and wait for the product to boil.
- Flour is poured in little by little.
- The dessert should be stirred all the time to avoid lumps.
Semolina
This thickener is used for fillings, as it has virtually no effect on the original flavor of the dessert. Semolina is introduced as follows: 1 tsp. for 350 ml or 300 gr. treats. If the mass has a very liquid consistency, the volume increases to 2 tbsp. l.
To prepare the filling, pour the jam into a cauldron, add semolina, mix and leave for 15 minutes. This time is enough for the cereal to absorb excess liquid and swell.
Next, the pan is sent to low heat, the mass is stirred so as not to burn. After 2 minutes, when it boils, the delicacy should be removed from the heat and left to cool.
How to make thick jam for the winter?
To prepare a dessert with a thick consistency, you must follow the recommendations.
- The delicacy becomes thick if you use fruits rich in pectin: strawberries, raspberries, apples, plums, currants, gooseberries, cranberries.
- Pectin substances are contained in large quantities in unripe fruits. To make thick jam, take ripened fruits and add a little unripe fruit to them.
- A thick dessert is obtained by using fruits with a sufficient amount of acid. If the test preparation shows insufficient thickness, then you need to add lemon juice.
- To make the jam thick, you need to cook it quickly to prevent the natural pectin from being destroyed during cooking. Prepare the delicacy by turning the heat to high, stirring frequently. Dishes are used with low walls and a wide bottom.
