Hi, I have an abundance of grapes growing in my backyard so I attempted to make grape jelly. I used liquid pectin. The jam never set. It has now been about 4 weeks since I jarred the “jam”, is it possible to reopen all the jars, clean them up, add more pectin/sugar to the failed jam and redo the jarring process all over again? Is that safe? Will it work? Is it worth an attempt? I will use new lids! I’ve never made jam before let alone jarred anything.
by Shelldawn69
10 Comments
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No, it has been on the shelf too long to reprocess. General advice for reprocessing is within the setting time, 12-24 hours. And that is without taking it out of the jars. Reprocessing it right now is taking the same risk as using precanned green beans and recanning them.
So for this batch it’s best to just take the L and use it like syrup.
Next batch make sure to do it in smaller batches. I’ve found that if I go over 2x a recipe for jelly/ jams for some reason it’ll have trouble setting.
Honestly, what I would do is leave them, and then fix the set-as-you go. Open maybe 2 jars at a time, add the additional sugar and pectin, use that batch up, then when you’re ready for a new jar, open the next jar or two. Some might be thick enough to use on icecream or make purple milkshakes. Opening up *all* the jars and trying to fix the entire large batch and then re-canning sounds like way too much work, and might end in more heartbreak. So, just leave the sealed jars as-is and go 1-at-a-time.
Curiosity: Did you use Pomona liquid pectin or a regular (Certo or Ball) liquid pectin?
That appears to be way more than a single batch of jelly. With pectin recipes you should never increase the batch size or it will not set correctly. Additionally the pot isn’t big enough anyway, when it needs a one-minute rolling boil it will foam up and end up all over the place. If you empty all the jars and reprocess *one batch at a time*, you might be able to rescue it. It appears that you are using one-piece lids which generally are not recommended instead of two-piece lids and standard Mason canning jars, especially if they are reused commercial jars. The sealing material in the lids is a one time use material.
For jams made wlth regular high sugar pectin, always use an approved recipe and don’t double/triple the batches. That looks like quite a high volume of grape juice, so I’d assume there were multiple batches down at once. Liquid and dry pectin are not interchangeable…they are added at different times in the jam making process. Reducing the sugar can also affect the set.
You can double/triple using Pomona’s low sugar pectin but you still need to make just enough to fill with hot product to water bath can.
Only use 1/2 pint or 1/4 pint jars unless the recipe has processing times for pints. Jams and jellies should never be canned in quarts (unless it’s fridge/freezer ones).
Those jars and lids aren’t safe for home canning. You need to you two piece lids
https://www.healthycanning.com/one-piece-lids-for-home-canning/
Just a note about grape jam: even when you do it right it can take up to 2 weeks to set.
You made grape syrup. Congrats. I personally would keep it and use on pancakes because a failure is just a different recipe on your learning path. Yummy
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Pour all of the jars into a pot. Make sure you have a good 4 inches left at the top to allow for foam. Using a candy thermometer, boil until the jam reaches 221⁰F (subtract 1⁰ for every 1000 ft elevation, if you’re above sea level). Make sure to stir it well to confirm the temperature is the same throughout. This is how I’ve saved several failed batches using pectin. This is how jam and jelly were made before pure pectin was widely available. Can and process the same as if it were pectin jam.