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pectin? — Brooklynian

pectin?

sweet tea
sweet tea
edited November -1 in Prospect Heights
anybody know where i can get pectin (for canning)?

i have a sudden windfall of fruit.

met foods says they don't have it.

Comments

  • stacey
    stacey

    Subject: Re: pectin?

    sweet tea wrote: anybody know where i can get pectin (for canning)?

    i have a sudden windfall of fruit.

    met foods says they don't have it.
    Sahadi's on Atlantic?
    Key Food on 5th Ave? If they dont have it the manager can try and get it for you
    There is/was a baking store on Washington (next to Natural Heights) - maybe they have it? (WhyFi can probably tell you if they are still there)
    I know for sure you can pick it up at a place in Manhattan at NY Cake Supply. I have to be careful in there though there is sooooo many great things to buy there.

    http://tinyurl.com/395d62
  • queencallipygos
    queencallipygos
    Most supermarkets should indeed have either SurJel or Certo pectin for canning. (I've sometimes found that asking for "pectin" gives me blank looks, but asking for a particular product name, they know what you mean.)

    But if you want to look a little further afield, I actually recommend Pomona brand Pectin, which you'd probably do better trying to find in health food stores; I like the way it works better, and you can make low-sugar jam recipes with it, and adapt to smaller quantities. (I've tried both kinds of pectins, and the SurJel and Certo taste good, but use so much sugar that the jam I make is vaguely candy-like; I prefer something less sweet.)
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    thanks, guys. i was already at home, so tried to keep it local. here, for anyone else who's interested, is a list of places that do NOT have pectin:

    Met on vandy
    KF on Washington
    KF on F'bush
    natural Land
    KF on 5th says they'll have it "in season" -- Sept or Oct
    hardware store on 5th (suggested by KF)
    pinchiks (why not, i figured? i'm already here)

    as the aforementioned windfall is subsiding on my tabletop, my jam won't have it either.
  • doctorj
    doctorj
    Maybe Amazon could overnight you some...
    http://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Krafts-Gel-EZ-Pectin-Mix/dp/B00024WPSO/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8597620-0280711?ie=UTF8
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    If you don't have pectin, you can add some slices of apple to the mix while you're cooking the jam. I've done that before to help thicken jam I made with leftover strawberries from the greenmarket. Apples have lots of natural pectin. You can put the apple slices in a sachet if you want to be able to remove them later.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    it turns out that a high proportion of the peaches i have are under-ripe, so i'm going to hope they'll add some pectin to the situation. (I know peaches are low-pectin when ripe, but they should still have some when under-ripe.) i'll let you know how my jam/fruit-honey turns out....

    (thanks for the amazon tip, dr j, but i'm trying to keep the project windfall-cheap, less the new jars i had to buy -- where do the old ones get off to? someday i'll be able to just buy new lids....)
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    sweet tea, while i don't can i do use those vintage mason jars for storing all my rice, beans, etc. they're easy to find in most thrift stores, and all you need in the future are the rubber gaskets.

    (i'd also post on freecycle to see if anyone has any canning jars to give away. in fact, i may have a box of new ones in my mom's garage and i'll be out there the week after next. PM me if you're interested.)
  • pitu
    pitu
    Broadway Panhandler is the only reliable source of lids etc that I've found locally.

    It's easier to go visit my mom and get stuff at garage sales and the hardware store . . .
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    for lids etc: (in case someone else reads this some time)

    Pinchiks has replacement lids and rings for common sizes. They also have jars, but only 1 pint and 1 quart, i think, and not terribly many.

    cook's companion on atlantic has more jars, etc.

    b'way panhandler has the widest jar selection i've found.

    i think the hardware store across 5th ave from the KF also carries jars and lids, but i didn't go in to look at how many kinds they had.

    also, here's a site i've found with lots of no-pectin recipes and a useful faq (award-winning canner who doesn't like the stuff.): http://www.stasek.com/preserves/recipes.php
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    sweet tea wrote: also, here's a site i've found with lots of no-pectin recipes and a useful faq (award-winning canner who doesn't like the stuff.): http://www.stasek.com/preserves/recipes.php
    You notice that all of the jellies that don't have pectin in them have apple? ;)
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    what exactly is pectin?
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    pectin
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    far too much information
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    Pectin for dummies:

    It makes liquidy stuff gel.
  • brooklynpotter
    brooklynpotter
    thank you.
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    Carnivore wrote: [quote=sweet tea]also, here's a site i've found with lots of no-pectin recipes and a useful faq (award-winning canner who doesn't like the stuff.): http://www.stasek.com/preserves/recipes.php
    You notice that all of the jellies that don't have pectin in them have apple? ;)

    jellies, love, yes, but i'm talking about the jams. there's no getting around pectin in jelly (although i think most berries have enough on their own), but jam can be a bit runnier. and i don't much care for jelly, anyhow.

    your apple suggestion is a sound one. i just didn't have any apples in the house and had reached the end of my shopping rope.
  • doctorj
    doctorj
    Between the peel in chutneys and the seeds and skins in berries for jam, my mother never used added pectin. And she was otherwise the food technologist, with an additive for every occasion.
  • trainsmoke deleon
    trainsmoke deleon
    I can be very useful for ridding one of their excess fruit.
  • queencallipygos
    queencallipygos
    Trainsmoke DeLeon wrote: I can be very useful for ridding one of their excess fruit.
    Actually, so can I.... (I'd be making some into jam as well, but I've also been making tarts, liqueurs, etc.)

    I can share recipes, if you need. Depending on the fruit in question.
  • roux42
    roux42
    brooklynpotter wrote: what exactly is pectin?
    it is what makes jelly beans gel!
  • vanilla
    vanilla
    they have pectin suppliments at the co-op, perhaps a gel cap per jar? :wink:
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    for those of you playing at home, the jam turned out runny, but tasty, and so thick with actual fruit chunks (i suppose it's more of a preserve) that no one's complained.
  • carnivore
    carnivore
    sweet tea wrote: for those of you playing at home, the jam turned out runny, but tasty, and so thick with actual fruit chunks (i suppose it's more of a preserve) that no one's complained.
    Sounds like a good ice cream topping. :D
  • pitu
    pitu
    sweet tea wrote: for those of you playing at home, the jam turned out runny, but tasty, and so thick with actual fruit chunks (i suppose it's more of a preserve) that no one's complained.
    Somewhere on the Home Cooking board of Chowhound there was a discussion of Certo v whatever the other main brand of pectin is -- SureGel? It's all about that jellification, and how each of them works. Last summer or the year before...wonder how well their search engine is working...
    :chef:
    Thanks for making me remember the 2006 peach preserves I have tucked away from my mom . . .
  • brookfetish
    brookfetish
    Pectin is what is also used to make the wrapper (not the label, but the outer cigar leaf) stay together.

    FYI
  • queencallipygos
    queencallipygos
    sweet tea wrote: for those of you playing at home, the jam turned out runny, but tasty, and so thick with actual fruit chunks (i suppose it's more of a preserve) that no one's complained.
    (Dons past-jam making experience hat)

    Some home jams can be a little on the fluid side; anything from the amount of sugar to the humidity can affect how firm the jam sets. We have had a lot of humidity the past few days and that could be throwing things out of whack. If you want to avoid this and get firmer jam in future, waiting until a drier day and then checking and double-checking and triple-checking that you've got exactly the right amount of sugar you need helps.

    Of course, you've also discovered the benefit to home jam -- it's so delicious that most people don't care whether it's runny, soupy, or even takes on the form of a blinking effigy of Carrot Top. So you could always just take the Microsoft approach ("it's not a bug, it's a feature") and eat it anyway. :D
  • sweet tea
    sweet tea
    ooo, i didn't think about humidity -- and it was plenty muggy, since you mention it.
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