strawberry jam didn't set up!!

[trunkman]

I'm pretty upset, made strawberry jam this morning and it came out like a syrup, it didn't gel up like it should have. I made a mistake when I bought the pectin, I bought instant instead of original pectin and still tried to use it. Is there anything I can do or should I just save it for strawberry sauce to use in baking or strawberry shortcake...??

 

[Carol Dee]

Hmmmm it will be able to use as sytup. (I did not know there where 2 kinds.) My last batch I water bathedtoo long and it got really stiff

 

[catjac1975]

I'm pretty upset, made strawberry jam this morning and it came out like a syrup, it didn't gel up like it should have. I made a mistake when I bought the pectin, I bought instant instead of original pectin and still tried to use it. Is there anything I can do or should I just save it for strawberry sauce to use in baking or strawberry shortcake...??

I would think you can just go back and reheat and add the correct pectin. Seems like a lot of work though.

 

[lesa]

I stupidly added too many berries to my jam last year... I was able to save some by adding the strawberry into my blackberry jam (which was awesome), but I have to say we have finished all the strawberry sauce. What seemed like a big disappointment, was actually delicious and we enjoyed it immensely! When life give you lemons....

 

[trunkman]

Lesa, we're gonna make lemonade!

 

[vfem]

Is there a shortage of regular pectin?! I went to 2 walmarts & a food lion today and could find 1 box or jar of regular pectin. I'm pretty annoyed! I had to splurge and buy the liquid pectin when I finally found boxes of that on the back of the shelf at food lion. I am finishing up my strawberry, strawberry lemonade, strawberry balsamic and carmelized onion & garlic balsamic jams right now. I would have done more but couldn't find enough pectin or jars after shopping all day! UGH!

 

[pretty40acres]

I'm pretty upset, made strawberry jam this morning and it came out like a syrup, it didn't gel up like it should have. I made a mistake when I bought the pectin, I bought instant instead of original pectin and still tried to use it. Is there anything I can do or should I just save it for strawberry sauce to use in baking or strawberry shortcake...??

Last year I made a bunch of strawberry jam and half of it didn't set up so we used it for pancake syrup. I did the same with grape jelly. It's actually really good!

 

[Kassaundra]

When my gma's didn't set up she always played it off like she was making syrup for pancakes and ice cream, and we always ate it, it was great.

 

[trunkman]

I'll be eating it for a while, I made 11 pints so we'll be having pancakes and ice cream a bit more often!... I'm going back for more strawberries this weekend tho, I love my jam...

 

[schmije]

Thank you for posting this question. Our cherry jam didn't set up, and I came here to find out how to fix it. Now you've convinced me NOT to fix it. My cherry 'sauce' is going to be awesome on ice cream and pancakes

On a side note - we figured out what we did wrong, and the second batch came out perfectly!