Jam, jellies & marmalade
Practical Action
Process outline
Fruit selection and preparation
Wash the fruit in clean water, peel it and remove stones and damaged parts. Chop large fruits
into smaller pieces. The fruit should be as fresh as possible and slightly under-ripe. Over-ripe
and/or bruised fruit will not make good jam as it has low levels of pectin and/or acid; in this case,
the jam will not set.
Preparation of pectin
Thoroughly mix the pectin powder with 5 times its weight of sugar, taken from the total sugar
allowance for the recipe. This allows the pectin to fully dissolve in the fruit mix without forming
lumps.
Preparation of the bottles and lids
Wash the glass jars and lids and put them into a large saucepan. Fill the saucepan with water so
that the jars and lids are covered and heat until the water boils. Let the water boil for about 5
minutes. Remove the jars and turn upside down so that the water can all drain out. Do not dry
them with a dirty cloth.
If you are using plastic jars they cannot be sterilised by heating like this. If the jars are new and
unopened, do not open them until they are needed. If the jars are recycled, wash them thoroughly
in chlorinated water (100ppm). Stand upside down and leave to drain well. Do not dry them with
a dirty cloth.
Extraction of juice (jelly making) or preparation of pulp (jam making)
Jelly making
To make a jelly, the fruit should be softened into a pulp to allow the juices to run
• Place the washed fruit in a pan and heat over a low heat to soften the fruit and allow the
juice to be released. Add a little water to prevent the fruit burning or sticking to the
bottom of the pan. Do not add too much water because you need to remove it all later
during the boiling stage.
• Transfer the softened fruit to a jelly bag (a bag made from muslin cloth that is tied and
suspended above a bowl into which the fruit juice drips). Allow the juice to drip out from
the cloth - this may take overnight. Make sure that the juice cannot be contaminated by
insects and dust while it is dripping. Do not squeeze the bag as this makes the juice
cloudy.
• Measure the volume of juice extracted. Weigh out the sugar (you should have equal
amounts of juice and sugar) and add it to the juice.
For jam making
To make jam, the fruit also needs to be softened into a pulp
• Place the washed fruit in a pan and heat over a low heat to soften the fruit and allow the
juice to be released. Some fruits will need a little water to be added at this stage to
prevent the fruit burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. Do not add too much water
because you need to remove it all later during the boiling stage.
• When the fruit has all softened and there is juice in the pan, add the sugar and continue
to heat gently until all the sugar has dissolved.
Adding pectin and citric acid
• Mix together the sugar/pectin mixture and fruit juice or pulp and adjust the pH to 3.3-3.6
using citric acid. Make a note of how much citric acid you add so that next time you
make this particular recipe you can just weigh out the ingredients. You will need a pH
meter or pH indicator strips to do this the first time you make the particular recipe.
7