Found gritty or crunchy crystals in your homemade jam? Learn why jam crystallises, how to prevent it and what you can do with a crystallised batch.
Category: Preserve Making Basics
Can You Replace Sugar in Jam? Honey, Brown Sugar and Sweeteners Explained
Can you replace sugar in homemade jam with honey, brown sugar or sweetener? Learn what works, what changes and when you need a specialist low-sugar recipe.
How Much Sugar Do You Need to Make Jam?
How much sugar should you use in homemade jam? Learn the traditional fruit-to-sugar ratio, why sugar matters and what changes when you reduce it
Preserving Sugar vs Jam Sugar: What’s the Difference?
Jam sugar and preserving sugar are not the same. Learn what each one contains, when to use it and whether ordinary granulated sugar will work instead.
Preserve Making for Beginners: Books, Tools and Easy First Recipes
Preserve making can feel intimidating at first. What kind of preserve should I make? What jars do I need? How do I clean and sterilise them properly? Will I make someone ill? How do I even know if it’s safe to eat? It can all feel a bit of a minefield. Before I started making…
Jam Sugar vs Granulated Sugar: Which Should You Use?
When you first start making jam, sugar seems like the simple part. Fruit goes in the pan.Sugar goes in the pan.Everything bubbles away.Eventually, with a bit of luck, it turns into jam. Then you start looking at different recipes and suddenly there are several types of sugar being mentioned: granulated sugar, jam sugar, preserving sugar,…
What Is Pectin and Do You Really Need It for Jam?
If you’ve ever made jam at home, you’ve probably come across the word pectin. And maybe you’ve wondered (potentialy out loud, starling the family as I may have done) ‘What on EARTH is PECTIN?!’ Some recipes tell you to add it. Some tell you to use jam sugar (which already contains added pectin). Others don’t…
Why Hasn’t My Jam Set? How to Fix Runny Jam at Home
There are few things more frustrating in the kitchen than spending time chopping fruit, boiling a pan of jam, carefully filling your jars… only to find the next day that your homemade jam is still runny. The good news is this: runny jam is not always a disaster. In fact, most soft or loose jams…
Reducing Sugar in Jam: What You Need to Know
Curious about making low-sugar jam? Learn how reducing sugar affects set, flavour, and shelf life, plus tips on using honey, maple, or other sweeteners in jams like pear & blackberry.