Topic: Mouldy jam!

[caroline7758]

I made lots of lovely strawberry jam and now I've found quite a few of the jars have got mould on the top! The jam underneath is fine. A quick google says i should scrape off the mould and boil the jam up again making sure to sterilise the jars and lids again. Do you think this will rescue it?

[peanuts]

From time to time, over many years, I have had mould develop on jams, and lemon marmalade (rarely other marmalades).  All I do is to take the mould off, and perhaps half an inch of the jam as well, give a thorough wipe round the top of the jar, and continue to eat it! 
I'm sure nowadays  there will be plenty of official advice as to why I shouldn't do this, but I'm not going to stop now, and certainly I won't be boiling it up again!

[caroline7758]

That's what I like to hear! Just maybe not give it away as Christmas presents this year! 

[galina]

It probably seems like overkill but putting hot jam into jars with pop up lids and then putting the jars in a hot water bath (large, deep  saucepan taller than the jars will do) and boiling the jars for ten minutes guarantees no mold.  When you take the jars out of the water bath, the lids pop down and that guarantees that the contents are sterile and also vacuum sealed.  Lasts for years.

Should the lids not pop down for whatever reason, then the jam goes into the fridge rather than the larder, and gets eaten first.  These jars are not hermetically sealed and bacteria can access the jam and spoil the surface of the jam.

There is too much sugar in normal jam to really cause problems other than in the moldy surface bit, but if you make low sugar jam or use sweetener instead of sugar, it becomes more important to go for sterile contents and for a hermetically sealed jar.   

[caroline7758]

Another question- is it possible to freeze jam?

[galina]

Another question- is it possible to freeze jam?

Yes!  Make as normal and freeze in portions (cubes).  Then put a few cubes at a time into the jam dish. 

[Digeroo]

I sterilise my jars in the oven before they are filled, never seen any mould.

But you can make strawberry freezer jam.  Just crush the fruit with sugar and freeze in an icecube tray. No cooking required.   Then thaw out portions as needed.

[pumkinlover]

Since I took Jeannine's advice I have always pressure sealed all my jams and chutneys and now feel this is the only safe method and never had mould.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,65350.msg665012.html#msg665012

[galina]

Since I took Jeannine's advice I have always pressure sealed all my jams and chutneys and now feel this is the only safe method and never had mould.
http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,65350.msg665012.html#msg665012

Just for information.  Here is the US version of making strawberry jam with water bath boiling at the end to sterilise and seal the jars (they use a version of pop-up lids, consisting of a disc with the pop up centre and a ring to fasten it to the jar)

http://www.freshpreserving.com/recipes/strawberry-jam

They have a book called the Ball Blue Book of Canning (US name for preserving), but all the information is online too.   

[Jeannine]

Bit late,,but modern food prep says chuck the mouldy jam away. I know e all used to do it but apparently the mold spores go down in the jam like invisible lines and cannot be removed,, it won't kill you but it could give you a nasty t.tummy upset.

The USDA canning inf is all on line, is far superior to the the UK and also to our own Canadian one.

The Blue book,,b Ball..is put out by a company that makes Mason jars here.

The easiest one for you folks to get if called Putting Food By it has all the up to date info on any kind of food prep, just make sure you don't get an old copy as it is updated to follow along with the USDA updates, the latest one is  June of 2010 and is available on Amazon UK.  Another good one and reliable too is called Stocking UP(3rd Edition). It gives more info on such things as making fruit leathers and yogurts, baking for freezing etc.. Both excellent and safe books but if you only get one get Putting Foods By.


XX Jeannine