Lemon juice, pectin

[Rhubarb]

I've been making jams aplenty now that the markets have started up, and since reading the Ballymaloe Cookery Course, have stopped using commercial pectin. Recipes for low-pectin fruits call for other pectin sources--apple, lemon zest, lemon juice, etc. I understand why fresh (or underripe) fruit/juice is better--that being said, I'm wondering if grocery store, from-concentrate lemon juice can be any help at all? I wouldn't expect it to perform as well, but...can anyone say for sure that reconstituted lemon juice contributes no pectin? Or that they've had good results with it? Thanks-

[danlepard]

Hi Rhubarb,

Lemon juice contains (virtually) no pectin, but as an acid is used in jam and preserve recipes in order to release pectin from the pith or flesh of the fruit. So concentrated lemon juice is fine for providing this acid, but no good for providing pectin. Under-ripe apples, picked from the tree, are great. But I've used crisp new season apples, like granny smiths, just brought from the shop and they've worked really well.

You can see the result here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...dpost&p=1258293

Redcurrants and whitecurrants are good for pectin too.

Dan

[andiesenji]

What's wrong with using commercial pectin? I am simply curious because I have never considered it to be expensive.

Because I am a diabetic and am now using no sugar in the preserves I prepare, I have switched to Pomona's Pectin - It is fairly expensive - I buy it in bulk as it is cheaper than in the 1 oz packages. It takes the guesswork out and the results are consistent every time.

It is the action of the acid/sugar/pectin that allows for jelling, this adding lemon juice to the fruit - most commercial pectins specify the amount recipes that use all fruit do also.

Cooking apples and crabapples have the highest pectin content of the apple group.

As noted currants are high in pectin.

Quinces have much more pectin and many of the oldest marmalade recipes included quinces - in fact, the name marmalade comes from marmelo, the Portugese name for the "honey apple".....

The advantage to using a commercial pectin (particularly with jellies) is that you can cook the fruit completely then strain out the solids.

After you return the liquid to the pot you add the sugar and cook it further, then add the lemon juice and the pectin.

start testing the jelling effect as soon as the jelly begins to boil and keep testing at intervals so you don't cook it too long because that will destroy the pectin.

This may be helpful too.

Edited June 19, 2007 by andiesenji (log)

[Kouign Aman]

Andie,

thanks for that post. I have a couple jars of black current juice from TJ's - too tart to drink as is, and I dont like stirring all that sugar in every time. Its been on the 'to make jelly' list for a while, but I've been dithering about whether to add apples or use commercial pectin, which I've never done before.

[michael_g]

Hi Rhubarb,

Lemon juice contains (virtually) no pectin, but as an acid is used in jam and preserve recipes in order to release pectin from the pith or flesh of the fruit. So concentrated lemon juice is fine for providing this acid, but no good for providing pectin. Under-ripe apples, picked from the tree, are great. But I've used crisp new season apples, like granny smiths, just brought from the shop and they've worked really well.

You can see the result here:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?act=ST...dpost&p=1258293

Redcurrants and whitecurrants are good for pectin too.

Dan

←

It's not that the juice has no pectin, but that it's simply insoluble, according to this fun article.

If you insist on making your own pectin, you should check out this patent. There's a lot of talk, but they've essentially patented the "hydrolysis of lemon peel at 85C to 90C, which is then dried and ground". That is, put lemon peel ("flavedo" only -- no pith) in nearly boiling water for one to five hours. (Longer isn't necessarily better; they say "preferably less than 5 hours".) Then dry it and grind it up -- voila, "pectocellulitic substance". Or, pectin with left over lemon peel bits, whatever you want to call it.

They're even kind enough to document how you can make jam with their pectocellulitic product.

Their first method is as follows:

2400 g lemon peel without pith, 'comminuted to a particle size of 3/8" or less' (chopped up into bits 3/8" or smaller)

600g tap water

1. Heat to 86-90C. Hold at temperature for three hours, stirring continuously. It will become a "thick slurry". Gross.

2. Spread the slurry as a thin layer on sheets and oven dry for six hours at 55C. A pilot light in a cold oven might do the trick, if your oven doesn't go that low.

3. The slurry should dry into "flakes", which should then be ground extremely finely, to a powder. (They say a 149 micron sieve, but my sieves don't seem to be labeled with that kind of information.)

What you have is now pectocellulitic powder. Now you can probably scale down the pectocellulitic powder recipe. They don't say how much powder it produces, but I bet 3kg of lemon peel and water dries and grinds down to a hell of a lot more than the 3.7g of powder you'll need for the following recipe.

I think you can scale it pretty freely, so long as you heat it for long enough. The key to the invention is that the plant tissue itself is of low enough pH (3.7-4.3) that it can, coupled with heat and water, break down the plant tissue and release the pectin. Maybe go to a science store and pick up some pH paper?

Anyway, let's make jam! They seem to have a penchant for strawberry jam, as that's what their jam examples all make. Here's the first one, but there are a four other jam recipes, all variants of the first. They mostly use a little bit more pectin.

450g crushed strawberries

20g + 530g sugar

3.7g pectocellulitic powder

2.5ml citric acid (50% solution, w/v (weight/volume? no idea))

1. Bring the strawberries, small quantity of sugar, and the powder to a rolling boil.

2. Add two thirds of the large quantity of sugar, and bring it back to a boil. Add the rest of the sugar.

3. When the mixture boils again, add the citric acid. I'm not sure how you can be sure of the concentration of the citric acid, but I bet the juice of a lemon would do the trick here.

They say that "jam color, texture, and flavor" were comparable to commercial products. So there you go.

3.7g seems like very little pectin for a jam to me, but they say that "surprisingly, the pectin and pectocellulitic compositions of the present inventions have a greater gelling activity than commercial pectins". They go on to say why: this powder has more pectin in it. (Golly!)

The one problem with all of this is that it's patented, so you can't sell the jam (or pectocellulitic powder) you make without getting Ehrlich's permission or paying royalties, at least not for the next ten years.

If you do try this, please post pictures!

[Yajna Patni]

you can use a muslin bag of lemon pits to add to the pectin.