Learning how to make easy homemade jam without pectin is an important homestead skill to learn. Store bought pectin can be expensive, and at times hard to come by. In the old fashioned days people didn’t use store bought pectin for making their jams and jellies. So just how do you make jam without pectin? It’s a simple process that involves slowly boiling down your fruit and sugar until it is a jam like consistency. Some fruits are higher in pectin than others, and you can add the juice from some of those fruits to your jam to make it get to the right consistency faster if you desired.
Place fresh or frozen fruit in a large pot with a heavy bottom. If you are using fresh fruit, you may want to mash it in the pot lightly with a potato masher to help it start to release its juices. If your fruit is in large pieces, you may also want to cut it down to a smaller size.
Place the pot on stove over medium-high heat and bring to a slow boil.
Add sugar and stir well until sugar dissolves.
Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for several hours, stirring occasionally as the jam cooks.
Cooking time will vary depending on the amount of pectin in your fruit.
Wash jars and allow to air dry.
Put a plate in the freezer so it will be cold when you’re ready to test the thickness of the jam.
When jam has reduced over low heat and is starting to look thick, place a small bit of jam on the cold plate. Allow it to cool for a minute or two and push it around with the back of a spoon to see if it’s as thick as you want. If not, keep cooking it.
Canning Jam Made Without Pectin
When jam is the consistency you like, use a 2 cup plastic measuring cup to ladle it into jars fitted with a canning funnel.
Make sure there is nothing on the rim of the jar. Immediately place a lid and a ring on each jar and tighten until finger tight.
Allow to sit undisturbed at room temperature for a few hours or overnight.
Check to see if the jars have sealed by lightly pressing the middle of each jar lid. If they are indented and don’t “pop”, that means they are sealed. But if you can push the lid up and down slightly, then they did not seal. If I have a couple of jars that didn’t seal, I usually just put them in the refrigerator and use fairly soon. If you have a lot of jars that didn’t seal, you can open them, make sure there is no little piece of jam around the rim of the jar, and then process them in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.
When cool and sealed, remove rings and store on your pantry shelf. The shelf life of this jam is at least one year, although I have kept it longer and it's been just fine.
Cook it down for as long as you need to until you’re happy with the consistency of the jam or jelly.Put a plate in the freezer to get cold, and you can put a little bit of jam on it to see how well it sets up when cool.Bring your fruit to a full rolling boil before adding your sugar.Do not use sugar replacements as they can affect how the natural pectin sets up.If your jam or jelly is at a simmer, you can ladle the hot jam directly into the jars. Cover it with a lid and ring immediately and it should self seal. (See video below).You can also process the jars in a water bath canner for 10 minutes if you prefer.You can use fresh or frozen fruit or fruit juice to make this recipe.As I pick raspberries and strawberries throughout the summer, I just throw them into ziplock bags in the freezer. Then I can make the jam once I have all the fruit together, usually in the winterti
