In a jam

July 8, 2021 11:11 PM

Jam makers of Metafilter, I’m in a sticky situation. I’ve just made strawberry jam for the very first time and run out of jars. I have maybe a jar and a half left and no glass jar to put it in. Can I put the leftover jam in a drinking glass with no lid and keep it in the fridge and eat it over the next week safely?
posted by Jubey to Food & Drink (9 answers total)

Best answer: This should have the same life as any jam jar that you have opened...I keep mine in the fridge for months but whatever you normally do should work. The main problem here is going to be drying of the jam surface. How about storing the jam in another clean container that has a lid to avoid that? Or else place clingfilm or kitchen foil over the drinking glass as 'lid'.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:22 PM on July 8, 2021 [11 favorites]

You can safely put a lid on it once it's cooled a little to prevent the drying out kohiatamadl mentioned. Or just put it in a plastic Tupperware style container.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:23 PM on July 8, 2021

Response by poster: Well, that was easy. Thank you!
posted by Jubey at 12:27 AM on July 9, 2021 [1 favorite]

Drying out? Strawberry jam? If that's the problem you just need more scones/biscuits and a bigger spoon. I usually put the pan-scrapings into a ceramic bowl so it looks like what you'd get in an olde tea shoppe. Jam spoils more readily as you lower the sugar content.
posted by BobTheScientist at 1:38 AM on July 9, 2021 [5 favorites]

place clingfilm or kitchen foil over the drinking glass as 'lid'

I keep half a dozen of the thick peel-away foils that yoghurt or dip tubs come sealed with for making temporary lids to stop stuff drying out in the fridge. More robust than ordinary kitchen foil so they're easier to rinse clean and re-use, and they work well on opened cans of pet food too.
posted by flabdablet at 4:05 AM on July 9, 2021 [5 favorites]

I'm assuming that you are referring to canning jam (like you make the jam and then you pour it into a mason jar and then you boil that jar in a big pot of water so you can make it shelf-stable). If that's the case, then - yes, you can put the remaining jam into any container and stick it in the fridge.

All you're doing with the faffing about with boiling the jar and all that is just making it shelf-stable. As long as the rest of it is kept in the fridge, it'll last as long as a jar of Smucker's once you've opened it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:06 AM on July 9, 2021

Or you can freeze it!
posted by bq at 9:20 PM on July 9, 2021

In the Great Canning Jar Shortage of 2020 I put up a lot of jelly and preserves in lidded plastic containers because not making jelly and preserves was not an option. They even make plastic containers specifically intended for freezer jam storage, though you can use any old plastic container you have on hand. The point being, it doesn't need to be stored in glass.
posted by drlith at 1:58 PM on July 10, 2021

The point being, it doesn't need to be stored in glass.

Adding the important footnote that if you are going to try to can it for shelf-stable storage, it still would need to be stored in glass, of course - but if you're going to stash it in the freezer or in the fridge instead, yeah, go nuts.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:31 PM on July 13, 2021