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The Most Common Problems in the Elaboration of Jams
Watery jam: this can be caused due to the following:
- Prolonged cooking that can cause hydrolysis of the pectin.
- An elevated amount of acidity that breaks the net system, causing the gel to become affected.
- Not enough acid, which avoids the gel of the pectin to become jellified.
- Negative effect of an elevated amount of salts that tardy and avoid complete jellification.
- Lack of pectin in the fruit.
- Elevated amount of sugar in relation to the amount of pectin.
- Jellification due to cooling before bottling the jam. This causes a rupture in the gel.
Syncretism: As opposed to the phenomenon of swelling or not jellifying, in this case the trapped water is exuded and a compression of the gel is caused. This can be due to the weakening of unstable interactions. This can be caused due to:
- An excess of water in the fruit
- Excess amount of inverted sugar
Crystallization: This can happen due to:
- An elevated amount of sugar
- Too much acidity, which causes high inversion of the saccharose originating a high dextrose concentration that can crystallize.
- Too little acidity, which causes the saccharose to crystallize.
- Not closing the bottle on time.
Color Changes: This can happen due to:
- Prolonged cooking due to the caramelizing of the sugar.
- Improper cooling after the jam has been bottled, which generally occurs in bigger bottles where the center is darker.
- An excessive amount of salts.
- Metal contamination, which can give the jam a milky color.
Fungus: This can be due to:
- An excess amount of humidity in the storing place.
- Contamination that occurred before closing the bottles.
- A low content of soluble solids, under 65%.
- Contamination due to improper sterilization of the bottles and the tops used.
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