As a veteran jelly maker with 30 years of experience, I’ve been able to experiment with different techniques and equipment, and have had the pleasure of gathering tips along the way from some experts in canning.
I’ve been asked many times for tips on how to make the best homemade jam or jelly, so I would like to share with you these 23 tips on how to ensure your final product has that “wow” factor. Do everything on this list, and your family and friends will think you are a pro.
1. Select the Best Fruit
The most important way to ensure your jam and jelly will be flavorful and delicious is to select the best fruit possible. These are some things to look for when choosing fruit for jam/jelly:
- Choose fruit that is high in natural pectin– This is especially important if you are making a fruit product the old-fashioned way without adding commercial pectin.
Some fruits, like apples and crab apples, are high in natural pectin; some fruits, such as blueberries and peaches, are low in natural pectin.
In order to make jam or jelly from a fruit that is low in pectin, you would either have to combine those low-pectin fruits with high-pectin fruits or use commercial pectin to get your jam/jelly to gel properly.
Luckily, modern jelly makers do have access to commercial pectin, which is the great equalizer allowing us to make jelly and jam from any type of fruit without having to consider how much natural pectin our fruit contains. - Fruits you buy should be in season because fruits that are in season are more nutritious, more flavorful, and much more affordable.
- Fruits you make jam/jelly from should be the kind of fruit you and your family like– Unless you gift a lot of jellies or have a jelly business, it is better to just pass on the deal if your family doesn’t like a particular fruit.
- Fruit should be at its peak of ripeness– When fruit reaches the point of being fully ripe, it is more flavorful, contains the most nutrients, and contains the maximum amount of natural pectin and acid.
- Fruits you purchase should be readily available– When you buy your fruit locally when it is in season, you can get the best price, the quantity you need, and at the point of ripeness that you desire.
To read more on this topic, be sure to check out How to Choose the Best Fruit to Make Jam or Jelly.
2. Include Some Slightly Under-Ripe Fruit
I know this also has to do with fruit, but it’s so important that I felt it needed to be included separately.
As fruits are ripening, the pectin content is increasing until the fruit has just reached its peak of ripeness. This is when the fruit contains the maximum amount of pectin content. Then, as the fruit continues to get riper, the pectin content begins to decrease.
This means the perfect batch of fruit to make jam/jelly would be a combination of approximately 3/4 fully ripe fruit for flavor and color and 1/4 slightly under-ripe fruit for pectin and acid.
3. Clean the Fruit Properly
Wash all fruit well and pick through it to be sure there aren’t any leaves, twigs, or trash in the fruit you are using to make jam or jelly.
It goes without saying how embarrassing it would be to gift a jar of jam that had a twig in it.
4. Don’t Squeeze the Bag When Straining the Fruit
After cooking the fruit to extract its juice for making jelly, pour the fruit into either a jelly bag made specifically for straining juice or into a bowl lined with cheesecloth. Then, just let it sit until all the juice has run out.
You can take two sides of the cheesecloth and twist them to see if the fruit has more juice, but never squeeze the bag of cooked fruit as this will make the juice cloudy and affect the jelly by making it darker in color and cloudy instead of clear.
For more on the process, check out my article called How To Extract Juice From Fruits To Make Jelly: A Detailed Guide.
5. Use a Well-Tested Recipe
Even though you can throw a pinch of this and a dash of that in many dishes you cook, and it will turn out just great, it is not that way with jam and jelly.
To get the jam/jelly you are making to jell properly, there must be the correct ratio of fruit or juice to sugar to pectin to acid. To achieve that ratio, you must use a recipe that has been tested and is known to work consistently.
The only exception to this rule is when you are making a refrigerator or freezer jam that does not depend on a scientific formula to gel or for preservation. This is the time you can try your hand with alternative sweeteners and use a taste-as-you-go method.
6. Only Make One Batch at the Time
There are many jelly makers who make double and triple batches of jelly at one time, and they say they get good results. However, the majority of old-timers swear by the rule of only one batch at a time.
As a matter of fact, I have made double batches myself which turned out just fine. But, I have also made double batches that never jelled completely and were “runny.”
Here are some of the reasons to only make one batch at a time:
- Making jelly requires a scientific formula to work as it should. There has to be a certain ratio of juice or fruit to sugar to acid to pectin in order to form a gel bond. If you double those amounts, it throws the formula off.
- Jelly must be made in a certain size pot that has a sufficiently large circumference and low sides, which allow the jelly ingredients to come to a boil quickly and cook fast enough at a temperature high enough to form a gel bond. A certain amount of condensation must also take place, or the jam/jelly will have a rubbery consistency. If you double or triple the batches, your regular jelly pot will be too small.
The only way to consistently produce good jam/jelly while making double and/or triple batches is to use an industrial stove and huge, industrial-size pots and find a recipe that has been tested and proved to make consistently good jelly in larger batches.
And if you have ever had a batch turn out runny, I wrote an article on the topic: Why Is My Jam Too Runny? (How to Reboil and Fix It).
7. Use Exact Measurements
Many times in cooking, you can substitute ingredients and add a little more or a little less of other ingredients. When making jam and/or jelly, that is not the case. The recipes must be followed exactly and we have to think about this scientific formula thing here and make precise measurements.
I use the same measuring cups for liquid and dry ingredients so that there is no chance of throwing off the formula, and always use measuring cups that measure to the top as the cups with hash marks are easy to mismeasure and throw the formula off.
8. Use the Right Pectin
There are several types of pectin and even some pectin substitutes. Here are a few and how they should be used:
Types of Pectin:
- Regular Pectin – Use with full granulated sugar recipes. Use one package of single batch pectin or follow package directions for bulk pectin.
- Low and No-Sugar Pectin – Use in low and no-sugar as well as alternative sweetener jam/jelly. Use one package of single batch pectin or follow package directions for bulk pectin.
Pectin Substitutes:
- Homemade Pectin: a healthy alternative that requires access to a good supply of fresh, tart green apples. Use 1 cup for every 4 cups of mashed fruit or juice.
- Chia Seeds: nutritious and considered a superfood. Great for refrigerator and freezer jams. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons for every 8-ounce jar of jam.
- Cornstarch: contains fewer calories than Chia but has more carbohydrates. Use 2 tablespoons for every 4 cups of prepared fruit for jam.
- Gelatin: high in protein, but is an animal by-product which would be a game-changer for persons on certain diets such as Vegan. Use 2 tablespoons for every 4 cups of prepared fruit or juice.
- Jello: gives you the option to add additional flavors to the fruit you are using, and is made from gelatin. Use one 3-ounce package for every 6 cups of prepared fruit or juice.
- Tapioca: an allergen-free natural carbohydrate. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per quart of prepared fruit.
- Add apples: a natural, pectin-filled addition to jam that will not affect the flavor. Add 1 to 3 apples for every 8 cups of prepared fruit.
- Citrus Pith: natural pectin mainly used in marmalade. Add one cup of natural pectin made from citrus pith per batch of marmalade.
For more on pectin substitutes, check out 8 Best Substitutes for Pectin in Jam Making.
9. Use Granulated Sugar
The jam/jelly recipe that consistently turns out perfectly is made with commercial pectin and granulated sugar.
Using any sugar substitute, even raw cane sugar that is very similar to granulated sugar but does not go through the final process known as the bone char process, can affect the final jam/jelly product. Any substitute for granulated sugar will, in most cases, produce a product that is runny and does not jell properly.
10. Use a Good Non-Reactive Pot
For making jam/jelly, the pot you use must
- Be non-reactive, which means it must be made from stainless steel, copper, coated cast iron, or coated aluminum;
- Conduct heat well so that the jam/jelly cooks quickly and evenly;
- Have low sides which will allow for the proper amount of evaporation;
- Be wider than tall so that the ingredients will come to a boil quickly;
- Be easy to pour to fill jars quickly with the least amount of spillage;
- Have high capacity allowing a full rolling boil without boiling over;
- Be non-stick to avoid sticking and burning;
- Clean up easily so that you are not spending extra time scrubbing the pot.
I recommend this stainless steel pot (click the link to see the Amazon listing).
I also write a comprehensive article on choosing a good jelly and jam-making pot, be sure to check it out.
11. Set Timer for Cooking
Cooking for a designated length of time is one of the most important components of the jelly-making process. Undercooking and overcooking have equally devastating results in that both situations often result in a jam or jelly that is runny and fails to achieve the perfect gel formation.
To avoid either scenario and because it is so easy to become distracted at the most crucial moment, always set a timer when making jam, jelly, and any other canned fruit products. The timer on my stove has become my lifeline in the kitchen and keeps me on track no matter what I’m cooking.
12. Skim Foam Before Jarring
When making jam and jelly, the foam that forms on the top should be skimmed off before it is poured into jars for a couple of important reasons.
The first is that a layer of foam detracts from the appearance of all fruit products. But, more importantly, because foam contains air, a layer of foam on the top of canned foods can cause mold to grow if the food is stored for an extended period of time.
I have seen many suggestions for removing a jam pot from the heat before skimming, but my skimming method includes skimming during the cooking process and after I turn off the heat immediately before jarring.
I use the very large stainless steel spoon that I stir with to skim the foam and pour it into a bowl that I keep right beside the stove for that purpose. If there is still a little stubborn layer of foam after the food is poured into the jars, I use a teaspoon to scoop that out before putting on the lids.
Adding a little butter to the juice or fruit at the beginning of the cooking process will reduce the amount of foam that is formed, but I personally don’t like to do this because adding any type of fat to any canned fruit product, in my opinion, can reduce the shelf life of the food.
13. Check Jars Carefully for Cracks and Nicks
Checking jars (make sure you use quality jars) carefully to make sure there are no cracks anywhere or nicks around the rim will save you a lot of time later on and avoid the potential for ruining a jar full of your jam or jelly.
If your jar has a crack, chances are good that while the jars are boiling during the time you are making the jelly, the jar will completely split, and when you pour in the jelly, the jar will break apart, and the jelly will run into the boiling water.
If it doesn’t break at that time, it probably will break during the boiling water bath. Either way, there will be a mess to clean up.
If one of your jars has a nick around the rim, it will either not seal properly, or it will seal, but within a short time, possibly become unsealed and reduce the shelf life of the jam or jelly.
Rather than take a chance of ruining some of your jam/jelly and avoid a possible mess to clean up, just be sure to check your jars carefully before you begin.