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jmcgraw16

fruit pectin

jmcgraw16
9 years ago

I have been making jelly for years but this year the Ball brand of fruit pectin is so outrageous (almost 50 cents per small jar!) that I need to find a replacement. Kroger brand came in at under 1/2 the price and worked fine. What are all the other canners out there using?

I tried the Pamona's stuff that uses calcium powder and was unimpressed.

Comments (14)

  • pixie_lou
    9 years ago

    I stock up at end of season sales.

  • digdirt2
    9 years ago

    Same here, we stock up at the year end sales. You can also buy it in bulk.

    But when you say "almost 50 cents per small jar!" I'm not sure which one you are buying or the size as that price doesn't jive with any of the prices around here. The 4.7 oz jar which is equal to 4 regular boxes of pectin (1 box per batch) is $4.79 here. That makes alot of jam for less than $5.00.

    Sure Jell @ $2.86 per box is a lot more expensive as 4 boxes of it would cost me over $11.00.

    Dave

  • missrumphius
    9 years ago

    I have moved almost completely to jams and jellies without commercial pectin. I am still mastering the learning curve on perfect set (some end up a bit too soft, some a little too firm) but the taste and the fact that less sugar is required makes it worth it.
    Elaina

  • myfamilysfarm
    9 years ago

    I bought 25 pounds of regular pectin from nuts.com. It's working just fine, and the price was equivalent to about 20 boxes (the last I looked). Last year I used 7 pounds, so 25 isn't a lot more. It came in a big box and I repackaged it into ziploc bags. If you only need smaller amounts, the last I looked was $3.99 per pound (equal to 6-7 boxes or more).

  • pattypan
    9 years ago

    does anyone know where and from what commercial pectin comes from ? like- is it made in china ? i've learned not to assume anything anymore.....

  • 2ajsmama
    9 years ago

    Fruit pectin is made from citrus or sometimes apples. I always buy organic apples since they are so heavily sprayed, but there is no organic pectin on the market. The low/no sugar pectin contains dextrose (Ball regular pectin doesn't, IIRC but Surejell does) which is made from (GMO) corn.

    Ball canister of low-sugar pectin and box of liquid are made in Canada. My lone box of Surejell doesn't say which is weird, I thought it was required.

    Of course who knows where they source the fruit from...but what are you going to do? Pomona might use local apples, but they're not organic.

    I use commercial pectin as little as possible.

  • pattypan
    9 years ago

    glad to hear some is from canada, guess i would get that if i needed to. the local apples aren't organic, so i make pectin from peeled ones. also add apples to berries, and macerate other fruit overnight and boil down just the juice and sugar awhile before adding to the fruit. that's because i've read that too much cooking destroys pectin. anyway, softer is better than firmer for our tastes. still, jams take a lot of sugar !

  • myfamilysfarm
    9 years ago

    Pattypan, if your fruit is sweet enough, you don't need to add lots of sugar. Use Ball's pectin calculator, It's great, I've saved it as a toolbar bookmark. You also don't need to macerate with sugar. Just freeze it solid and thaw, does the same as adding the sugar to macerate. It takes longer, unless you freeze large amounts like I do. I freeze my fruit in the quantities needed for the recipes.

  • pattypan
    9 years ago

    thanks ! great idea for using freezer space instead of our small fridge.

  • zemmaj
    9 years ago

    Hi, I made red Pepper Jelly from a recipe I got from a friend. I usually only make jams and jellies without pectin but this one called for pectin. I don't like commercial pectin and have not had good results from it. I find I either get soup or rock hard jellies. Now her recipe made 6 jars and as I make this more or less commercially I made 24. My Jelly is rather soupy and I guess I have to cook it again but I don't know how much more pectin to add to this. For 16 cups of Pepper and 21 of sugar plus vinegar and lemon juice, I had 4 pouches of liquid pectin, anyone????

  • myfamilysfarm
    9 years ago

    I don't care for the liquid pectin, I don't get consistent results. I've also found that you can't multiply batches with it as much. 1 batch at a time. i'm like you Zemmaj, I like to do large batches, 2-3x the orginial, and liquid pectin just doesn't do it for me. I've also found out that if the liquid is out-of-date by just days, it makes a difference. I haven't found that out with my pectin from nuts.com. I've had it for 2 years now and it's still just as trong as the day I got it.

  • trmeyer
    9 years ago

    I bought bulk this year from Nuts.com. I haven't had a chance to use it yet because I had a stash of bought boxes of pectin to use. I also used some of my pectin I made from apples last year and canned. It worked great. I'm hoping to do more of that in the future. If you look up how to make pectin using peels and cores from apples you will find lots of instructions. It is super easy and really worked better than I had hoped for. I don't know that I will use any of my peels this year as I only have a few apples left to process and they are the weird misshapen ones that are hard to peel and I was just going to throw them all in the roaster and cook down for apple butter and run through my food mill. But I might be set on pectin anyway as I have the 2 pounds bulk that I bought.

    Tracy

  • myfamilysfarm
    9 years ago

    Tracy, I love my pectin from nuts.com. I got it last year, towards the end, and this year it's been just as strong. I still have about 10 pounds of the 25 left, so I should be good for 2015. either that or I'll order more.

    I tried to make my own pectin, didn't work, but made some wonderful apple juice, a bit strong but I use it for jellies and it works good for that.

    Marla

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