How to thicken liquid jam for stuffing pies and cakes

If boiled syrup of berries and sugar is served with tea, its consistency is particularly unimportant. As a filling for baking, thick jam is required so that it does not leak and does not burn on the baking tray. Liquid syrup can be thickened with products that will preserve its flavor, aroma or change slightly.

Why does jam turn out sloppy?

There are several reasons why jam is liquid:

Type of raw material

Strawberries, plums, raspberries, and cherries release a lot of juice when combined with sugar and boiled down. If you continue heat treatment until it thickens, the shape of berries, the vitamin composition is destroyed, the usefulness of the delicacy becomes minimal.

Improperly selected utensils

The smaller the layer of liquid is heated, the faster the moisture evaporates. In narrow, deep pots, raw material takes longer to boil than in wide and low pots. In addition, in the wrong cookware, the steam partially settles on the walls, falls back into the sweet mass, not having time to evaporate.

Not enough sugar

If the proportions of sugar and raw materials are not observed in accordance with the recipe, the desired consistency will not be achieved. You can count on a thick jam only if the ratio of sugar to berries is not less than 1:1.

Other reasons for a liquid delicacy - short boiling time, not removed in time foam.

Rules for cooking thick jam

To procure a quality product for the winter, begin with the collection of raw materials. The harvest is taken from berry bushes, fruit trees in clear weather, after the morning dew dries out. If the raw material is purchased on the market, choose fresh, not overripe fruits, with no damage, no signs of disease. Fully matured shape retains only cherries when cooked, the rest of the berries are better to collect or buy a little unripe.

The next step is the choice of utensils. The best option is an enamel or high-quality stainless steel basin with a thick bottom. Copper, aluminum utensils are not suitable because of entering into chemical reactions with acid.

To make high-quality jam, take only white sugar. If its amount will be less than the mass of raw materials, the jam will not only turn out liquid, but also will quickly become sour.

Recommendations for cooking:

1. After boiling, turn down the heat to minimum, remove the foam, which forms intensely in the first 10 minutes of boiling.
2. If you are not using raspberries as raw material, boil the berries in syrup in three steps.
3. In between cooking, cover the basin with parchment.
4. At the end of boiling, add lemon juice or a couple of lemon slices.

Ready is considered jam, in the syrup of which translucent berries are evenly distributed, the remaining foam is concentrated in the center.

What to add for a thicker jam

A mistake in the preparation of jam is not difficult to correct by introducing thickeners into the composition:

Pectin

For 1 liter of jam, 10 grams of gelling polysaccharide of plant origin in the form of white powder will be needed.

The jam is poured into a bowl and heated in a water bath. When the first bubbles appear pectin is added, turn off the stove. To ensure that the plant fibers are evenly distributed in the syrup, the sweet mass is periodically stirred.

If you do not immediately see the result, do not increase the dose of thickener. Its effect will manifest itself after the jam has cooled.

Agar-agar .

Gelatinous substance from red algae manufacturers produce in the form of tablets, plates, powder, or flakes. Any of these are good for thickening. If you want to get jelly from the syrup with berries, for 1 liter of product take 3 g of agar, for a denser consistency will need 5 g.

Pre-soak the agar in a small amount of warm water for 10 minutes. The solution is added to the boiling sweet mass, continue boiling for 4-5 minutes, not forgetting to stir, remove from the stove.

You can use another version of the introduction of thickener. Agar is dissolved in sweet warm water, boiled for no more than 20-30 seconds, then poured into the boiling jam. The introduction of agar makes the product thicker and enriches it with micronutrients.

Quittin

To introduce a food additive made from pectin, powdered sugar and citric acid, the jam does not need to be brought to a boil. It is enough to warm it to 60 degrees.

To avoid the formation of lumps, the syrup is stirred for two minutes, then removed from the stove. To form the consistency of dense jam for 1 liter of sweet product take 10 grams of gelling agent. The result of it will be visible only after 4 hours.

Gelatin

When using any other forms, except for quick-soluble, the thickener is soaked in warm water. The jam is heated without bringing it to a boil. Swollen gelatin is dissolved in a water bath or in a microwave oven, put in the berry syrup, stirred.

Properties of gelling agent is lost in the heat. In this regard, we recommend storing jars in the refrigerator.

For 1 liter of jam, add two to four teaspoons of gelatin. If apples, gooseberries or currants with natural gelling properties are used as a raw material, less addition will be needed.

How to thicken jam for pie and pie fillings

Liquid sweet filling not only leaks, impoverishing the taste of baked goods, but also excessively moistens the dough, which in the finished pie seems unbaked. To avoid these problems, the jam is boiled or thickened with a product with an unobtrusive flavor, aroma.

With the help of semolina.

To preserve the shape of berries, the syrup is decanted before the introduction of additives, after thickening it is combined with the fruit. If the integrity of raw materials is not important, the jam is whipped into a homogeneous mass with a blender, then add an additional ingredient.

Two teaspoons of groats are poured in 500 ml of liquid jam, in a very liquid - 2 tbsp. After a quarter of an hour, the bowl with the contents is placed on low heat, stirring constantly. After boiling, boil for 2 minutes. Readiness is determined by dropping a couple of drops of the cooled filling on a saucer.

With the help of flour.

The jam is heated in an enamel bowl, poured flour, stirring continuously with a wooden spatula. Remove the condensed product from the fire after a couple of minutes of boiling.

Flour is introduced in the amount of one tablespoon per glass of filling. If there appeared an unpleasant taste, the situation is corrected by adding lemon zest.

Using oat flakes.

The product is ground in a coffee grinder. Oat flour (1 tbsp) is poured into the berry syrup (300 ml), leave for 20 minutes. After swelling the crushed flakes, put the jam on a water bath, heated for 10 minutes, not forgetting to stir.

If the filling is needed urgently, the hot container with the contents is placed in cold water. The product, cooling at room temperature, is used as intended, not earlier than in an hour.

It is important to strictly observe the proportions, otherwise the syrup will acquire a foreign taste.

Using breadcrumbs.

When thickening berry syrup, use breadcrumbs without extraneous additives, salt, so as not to spoil its taste. An additional component in an amount of 1-2 tbsp. enter into a glass of jam, stir, leave to absorb excess moisture for 20 minutes. Heating and moreover boiling is not required.

The taste of the baked goods will become tastier if you add chopped nuts to the stuffing with breadcrumbs.

Using starch.

For a glass of jam, you will need 30 g of starch, 50 ml of cold water. In a small cup make a starch solution. Heat the jam on the stove. The contents of both containers are combined, stir until homogeneous composition, continue to heat.

A minute after boiling, turn off the stove. Do not be frightened by the turbidity of the syrup, it passes as the starch brews.

After cooling, the filling turns out transparent and thick.

With the help of shortbread cookies.

This option of correcting liquid jam is especially suitable if the filling is intended for products made of shortbread dough.

One and a half tablespoons of cookies are crushed in the bowl of a blender or put in a cellophane bag, rolled with a rolling pin. Prepared additive in the amount of 1.5 tbsp poured into 300 ml of jam, stir. The filling for baking is left at room temperature until the cookies swell.

Where you can use liquid jam

Liquid jam can not only be served in rosettes for tea, but also impregnate biscuit cakes with it after straining. The sweetness diluted with water makes a delicious kissel by adding starch to the liquid base. When combined with gelatin, you get jelly, which is eaten as a dessert or used to glaze a cake.

The jam is served in curd casseroles and cheesecakes. Confectionery jam can be used as a base for sweet cakes, meat sauces, and custard for fancy cakes.

Professionals advise warming thickened jam in a water bath to avoid burning, and do not forget that the consistency is judged only after complete cooling.