It's just a lot of boiling, right?

June 11, 2017 10:42 AM

Has anyone ever personally, themselves made jam in a bread machine WITHOUT a jam cycle? I have a mind to just set it to "French," the longest cycle, but I'd rather not waste the ingredients if possible. Thank you!
posted by 8603 to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Not, it's a bit more complex than just a lot of boiling. Successful jam making really depends on the type of fruit, amount of pectin, amount of sugar, personal preferences around consistency, and how long you're trying to keep the finish product (do you want some shelf stable?). Different fruits will jell at different rates and setting and forgetting is probably not a great strategy for great jam. You'll want to watch it and use some kind of jell test (I like putting a bit on a small plate that's been in the freezer for a few minutes, then running my finger through it to see how it sets).

That said, I've made great fruit butter in a slow cooker, but fruit butter is all about the slow evaporation of water and gradual thickening of the finished product.
posted by brookeb at 12:15 PM on June 11, 2017

It's just a lot of boiling. You just need to get it hot enough and cooked down enough, regardless of the method you use. Consider that people in the olden days made all their own jam over wood fires outdoors, and it turned out fine.

I make it in a pot on the stove. Pick a high-pectin fruit, add 3/4 of its weight in sugar, and boil it until it gets to 225 F. It takes about 45 minutes and it will foam up to double its height, so use a big pot. Gel temp is 220-225 F, use a candy thermometer. The easiest way to double-check the thermometer is to dribble some jam in an inch of rubbing alcohol; if it's ready, it'll firm up enough that you can stab it with a fork (don't eat it though, throw out the tester.)

You can also do about half of the boiling in a pressure cooker or any heat-producing device, then boil it the rest of the way on the stove. I have used an Instant Pot to get the jam from the foam up, break down stage, and then gone on to boil it the rest of the way on the stove. There are a lot of jam resources on the internet and I like the USDA or the Ball company for the clearest directions. In your case I would use the longest, hottest setting on the breadmaker (I didn't even know they could also make jam! That's rad!) and then take the temperature of what you get and see what you need to do.

It's not rocket surgery, if it doesn't gel the first time, go get some Ball instant pectin to add to a second heating. Or call it "ice cream topping" or "pancake compote" and enjoy it anyway.
posted by blnkfrnk at 4:18 PM on June 11, 2017

My only concern would be overcooking, but I'm not familiar with the duration and temperature of the bread machine settings.
posted by Lady Li at 1:03 PM on June 12, 2017

Best answer: Is your machine programmable? If so, you might try to mimic the jam cycle on one that does. The jam cycle on my Zojirushi heats for fifteen minutes, heats and stirs for 45 minutes, then cools for 20 minutes. It has recipes for strawberry, blueberry, kiwi, double berry, and mango that just call for the fruit to be mashed first, and apple jam and marmalade recipes that require more pre-preparation. (I tried cherries recently as an experiment and they weren't soft enough to cook down sufficiently in the allotted time. Ice cream topping, as blnkfrnk says.)
posted by jocelmeow at 2:12 PM on June 12, 2017