Copper kettles for jam-making?

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I have been hearing about using copper vessels for making jam and jelly. Is there an advantage over conventional stainless pans? I live very close to Santa Clara del Cobre, where what seems like the entire population is engaged in either making or selling all kinds of copper products, from small decorative pieces to huge kettles for making carnitas and everything in between . So I could easily convert from my traditional cookware--stainless--to copper if there's a real advantage.

 

Thanks for your advice/ideas.

[Okanagancook]

YES, fabulous for jam making.....I have the largest Mauviel jam pot...get large due to foaming.  The copper interacts with the jam....there was a good article about that...found it https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/tools-test-kitchen/article/mauviel-copper-jam-pan

 

I guess my only reservation about be about the purity of the copper used. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have an unlined Falk copper pot I use for sugar stuff.  Though I have never tried jam making specifically.

 

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I looked at the Mauviel website and saw copper pans identical to what I can buy in Santa Clara, down to the riveted handles. Amazing--but further proof that good designs exist everywhere.

 

I have used a stainless pan with a copper pad but that's as close as I've gotten to actually cooking in a copper vessel. Any tips about managing the heat? The copper is much thinner than my big pan and I worry about scorching the jam.

 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Nancy in Pátzcuaro
spelling (log)

[heidih]

7 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

YES, fabulous for jam making.....I have the largest Mauviel jam pot...get large due to foaming.  The copper interacts with the jam....there was a good article about that...found it https://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/tools-test-kitchen/article/mauviel-copper-jam-pan

 

I guess my only reservation about be about the purity of the copper used. 

 

oK memory lane - what a beautiful vessel  

Post link goofed. Pot image

Edited May 8, 2020 by heidih (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

45 minutes ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

I looked at the Mauviel website and saw copper pans identical to what I can buy in Santa Clara, down to the riveted handles. Amazing--but further proof that good designs exist everywhere.

 

I have used a stainless pan with a copper pad but that's as close as I've gotten to actually cooking in a copper vessel. Any tips about managing the heat? The copper is much thinner than my big pan and I worry about scorching the jam.

 

 

 

 

Wow, how thick is the pan you are using now?  My Falk sugar pan is 2.0 mm thick, as is their larger 10 liter jam pot (currently on sale).  Yes, I am tempted but the thing weighs 3.8 kg.  If the copper were much thicker than 2.0 mm I'd be more worried about being able to lift it than whether or not such thin copper would scorch anything.  Plus the Falk jam pot would be great for laundry if my 13 quart Vollrath was in use.

 

[Okanagancook]

Any copper cooking vessel does not tolerate high heat.  It is a learning curve using them.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

15 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Any copper cooking vessel does not tolerate high heat.  It is a learning curve using them.

 

Melting point of copper 1085C.  Your stove is better than mine.

 

 

[heidih]

The image from @Okanagancook that i posted looks to have a heat diffuser under it?

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Clearly more research is in order. In any case due to the coronavirus I'm not going to be driving to Santa Clara any time soon, so there's an opportunity for due diligence. I know that the artisans work the copper in a wood fire, which doesn't get hot enough to melt it. If I want to cook down the jam it will just take longer, and for the one jelly (chile perón, also know as chile manzana) that requires pectin I know that I have to boil the mixture to above 200, which at 7200 feet isn't easy. I don't think I'd melt the copper, though it might distort a little.

 

Thanks, everyone.

[Okanagancook]

I guess I should rephrase my overheating copper pots comment.

You can easily get your copper pot too hot by putting it over high heat.  It doesn't need to be over high heat to get hot quickly.

Pots lined with Tin is another situation as the tin can melt over a hight heat...I have ss liners.

 

Yes, I use a diffuser under the jam pot...its a big pot and when on a low heat it gets too hot in the centre.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

56 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I guess I should rephrase my overheating copper pots comment.

You can easily get your copper pot too hot by putting it over high heat.  It doesn't need to be over high heat to get hot quickly.

Pots lined with Tin is another situation as the tin can melt over a hight heat...I have ss liners.

 

Yes, I use a diffuser under the jam pot...its a big pot and when on a low heat it gets too hot in the centre.

 

 

How thick is your pot?

 

[Okanagancook]

1.22 mm 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Were I to get the Falk jam pot I wonder if I could use it for anything else?  Polenta, maybe?  I don't do much bobbing for apples this time of year.

 

[AlaMoi]

40 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Were I to get the Falk jam pot I wonder if I could use it for anything else?  Polenta, maybe?  I don't do much bobbing for apples this time of year.

 

 

you could just buy a run of the mill stainless lined copper pot of the heavier persuasion, and carry on.

I have copper heat diffusers I use under my copper - and other - pots.  anything viscous/thick does not conduct heat all too quick - so applying heat more evenly over the whole bottom makes life easier on a gas flame.  jams and preserves definitely fall into the viscous world.

my grandmother cooked on a coal fired cast iron stove with removable rings.  with all the rings in place it was a "flat top heating surface"

now,,, gas knobs are way more convenient than filling the coal scuttle - so I'll go with a diffuser plate and gas burner....

 

copper pots / cookware predates gas stove tops by Eqyptian times to mid-1850's.  it is (diamond and silver aside) the most "responsive" material - the pot may heat and cool quickly, but a load of hot sugar jam is not going to heat or cool quickly.

copper has remained in use in the confectionery world because confections are typically not reactive and plain copper is cheaper than tinned and/or stainless lined.

certain other practical issues apply - for example kettle corn - no one makes a stainless lined copper anything the size needed for kettle corn.

 

[Okanagancook]

53 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Were I to get the Falk jam pot I wonder if I could use it for anything else?  Polenta, maybe?  I don't do much bobbing for apples this time of year.

 

 

If it's the 'sugar'pot on their webpage it is 2.2 L so that would be ok for small batches of jam and polenta.

[Okanagancook]

This is another good article:  http://www.coppercookwareinfo.com/copper-jam-pan-the-game-changer-for-jamming/

[JoNorvelleWalker]

34 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

 

If it's the 'sugar'pot on their webpage it is 2.2 L so that would be ok for small batches of jam and polenta.

 

That is the pot I have...I was speaking of the 10 liter jam pot.

 

[Okanagancook]

Oh, sorry.  That's a big surface to stir polenta even for a serving for four...it would dry out without being watched....that's my thought.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

39 minutes ago, AlaMoi said:

 

you could just buy a run of the mill stainless lined copper pot of the heavier persuasion, and carry on.

I have copper heat diffusers I use under my copper - and other - pots.  anything viscous/thick does not conduct heat all too quick - so applying heat more evenly over the whole bottom makes life easier on a gas flame.  jams and preserves definitely fall into the viscous world.

my grandmother cooked on a coal fired cast iron stove with removable rings.  with all the rings in place it was a "flat top heating surface"

now,,, gas knobs are way more convenient than filling the coal scuttle - so I'll go with a diffuser plate and gas burner....

 

copper pots / cookware predates gas stove tops by Eqyptian times to mid-1850's.  it is (diamond and silver aside) the most "responsive" material - the pot may heat and cool quickly, but a load of hot sugar jam is not going to heat or cool quickly.

copper has remained in use in the confectionery world because confections are typically not reactive and plain copper is cheaper than tinned and/or stainless lined.

certain other practical issues apply - for example kettle corn - no one makes a stainless lined copper anything the size needed for kettle corn.

 

 

I possess a battery of stainless lined copper pots of the heavier persuasion.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Somehow good sense stopped me from buying the 10 liter jam pot that I couldn't lift.  However not one to pass up a sale of Falk, I ordered a 24 cm saucier, a larger size than what I have in my Falk collection.  As much as I love the Falk classic line, for the first time I am trying their induction compatible copper.  The copper layer is only 1.9 mm but 1.9 mm should be tolerable.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Oh, sorry.  That's a big surface to stir polenta even for a serving for four...it would dry out without being watched....that's my thought.

 

I've tried polenta in the Falk sugar pan.  Not large enough in my opinion.  And a pain to clean.  I keep it for sugar work.  I confess I do not understand the logic of cooking polenta in copper pots, although I understand unlined copper pots for polenta are traditional in Italy.

 

Actually I suspect the 24 cm Falk I just ordered will be pretty good for polenta.  Still if I were into jam making that Falk 10 liter jam pot would be my choice.  The Mauviel copper seems too thin for proper heat conduction.

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/25717-understanding-stovetop-cookware/

 

 

[andiesenji]

I inherited this large preserving pan from my great grandmother (along with several other copper pots) and I used it for many years.  I bought a "portable" burner so I could use it outside.  It has a round bottom so on a regular stove top you need a ring - and the propane burners have a righ normally.

Four years ago I decided I wasn't going to use  it again so I sold it. 

They show up quite often on ebay, not all as large as this - 18 inches in diameter - though some are even larger, I saw one just a few weeks ago when I was looking for a lid for an old saucepan.

It weighs a lot but does a terrific job of preserving just about anything with a high sugar content.  Since I had an apricot tree that produced heavily, I mad a lot of apricot preserves.

I've used Stainless steel, enameled cast iron, &etc., and I prefer copper for sugar cooked with anything.  

 

 

 

It's sitting on a 12-inch burner in the following photo in case you can't read the numbers on the ruler.