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Thanks for your participation in our Ask Kraft Kitchens message board! I'm having so much fun learning about you from all your great questions regarding recipes and cooking. For questions regarding product information, ingredients, and availability, please use our Contact Us site. Our Consumer Relations representatives are the product experts, and will provide you with the most accurate and up-to-date product information. Thanks!
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Posts:
49
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 18, 2007 4:30 PM
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Strawberries have so little natural pectin that ripeness doesn't matter that much.
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Michele from Kraft Kitchens
Posts:
879
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 18, 2007 2:43 PM
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Hi Csnowman00,
I spoke with my colleague, Sarah, who works on the pectin brands (Certo and Sure.Jell). Here is what she recommends. First, use firm ripe fruit. Over-ripe fruits contain less natural pectin and will result in a soft set. Under-ripe fruits contain more natural pectin and will result in a firm set.
As far as crushing the fruit, work in batches. Put about 1 cup of strawberries in a glass pie dish or glass 13 x 9-inch pan. Make sure the strawberries are in just one layer. Crush them with a potato masher. You want to crush them pretty hard. Crush them to the point where there is a good amount of juice coming out of the berries. (The strawberries should be crushed to about the size of a pea.) Too little crushing will result in floating fruit at the top of your jam.
I hope these tips help. I know you said you were using Certo but you might want to check out the Sure.Jell website for general jam-making tips:
http://http://www.kraftfoods.com/surejell/
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Posts:
340
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 16, 2007 12:15 PM
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Thank you very much. I know last night, I made peach jam and the peices were no bigger than half a grain of rice. This worked out perfectly. I just wasn't sure about the strawberry since it was my first time making that type. The largest peices were about 1/2 the height of a sweedish fish.
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Michele from Kraft Kitchens
Posts:
879
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 16, 2007 10:25 AM
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Hi Csnowman00,
I have forwarded your question on to my colleague who works on the CERTO and SURE.JELL brands. I will post her reply as soon as I receive it.
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Posts:
939
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 14, 2007 10:23 AM
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I am not able to answer the question specifically to the appropriate crush of the strawberries, as I am not familiar with that specific recipe, but I can say that riper fruit has more pectin than unripe. So, if you were using strawberries slightly out of season, you could have a problem with setting, unless the amount of added pectin was modified.
Kraft will hopefully be able to give you more specifics to that particular recipe. Good luck!
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Posts:
607
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 13, 2007 5:30 PM
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Snowman, when I make jam, I run my fruit through the food processor for a couple of spins and that seems to be enough. I think it's really a matter of how chunky you like your jam's consistency in the end.
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Posts:
126
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Re: Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 13, 2007 2:24 PM
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> *** PAM PLEASE TO NOT ERASE THIS ***
>
*sigh* I find it really sad that snowman, a long-time contributor to this community, has to resort to begging to save his post.
> On the insert for the Certo fruit pectin, when you
> make strawberry cooked jam the directions say to
> crush the strawberries. To me crush is a very
> subjective direction. How large should the peices be
> when I make this? I made this a few weeks ago and
> while the mixture was boiling, the fruit was floating
> to the top. Is that a sign that I crushed the fruit
> too much or too little? How do I know how much
> crushing is needed. Right now the jam has soft-set.
I've made jam, snowman, but it's been a long time ago, now. I'm sorry I can't help you with your question. We do have many fine chefs who post here. Maybe one of them will be able to answer your question.
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Posts:
340
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Pectin Question - Crush Strawberries is vague
Posted:
Jul 13, 2007 2:06 PM
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*** PAM PLEASE TO NOT ERASE THIS ***
On the insert for the Certo fruit pectin, when you make strawberry cooked jam the directions say to crush the strawberries. To me crush is a very subjective direction. How large should the peices be when I make this? I made this a few weeks ago and while the mixture was boiling, the fruit was floating to the top. Is that a sign that I crushed the fruit too much or too little? How do I know how much crushing is needed. Right now the jam has soft-set.
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