1. Foods 4-11 (Salting, Curing, Smoking)
FOOD TECHNOLOGY
Foods 4-11 (Salting, Curing, Smoking)

2. The science behind jam, jellies, and marmalades
Four ingredients go into making jams and jellies: fruit, pectin, sugar, and acid. Exact measurements are essential, and for this reason, use measuring cups and spoons and follow directions to the letter. Exact boiling times are also essential.
FRUIT
Just about any kind of fruit will work, as long as you add pectin, sugar, and acid in the right proportions and follow the recipes scrupulously. But strawberries are a favorite in sugar preservation. They make up beautifully with a rich red syrup and plump pieces of berries.

3. Pectin
Pectin is a naturally occurring substance found in fruits. It’s present in all fruits but is higher in under-ripe ones. It is responsible for the gelling of jams and jellies.
Sugar
Sugar helps jams and jellies gel. Jams and jellies contain about 65 to 68% sugar. If the percentage falls below 65%, the end product will be runny and weak. If it’s over 68%, the sugar won’t dissolve, and you’ll have sugar crystals throughout your product.
Substituting honey, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners on a none-to-one basis with sugar in jam and jelly recipes won’t work. You’ll need to use recipes developed for these products.
Sugar also adds flavor.

4. Acid
Just as with pectin, acid content is higher in under ripe fruit, so if you’re making jam and jelly with ripe fruit, you’ll need to add acid to be sure your fruit product gels. Acid also adds flavor.
Acid is measured by the pH scale that ranges from 0 to 14. A pH below 7 is acidic. A pH of 3 and 3.3 is very ideal. Below pH 3, the jelly “weeps” or forms drops of water on the surface. A pH above 3.3, the jelly gets weak and runny.
Lemon juice is what’s usually added to fruit to get the correct amount of acidity. If citric acid will be used, you’ll need 1/8 teaspoon for each tablespoon of lemon juice.

5. Types of preserves
Basically, all jellied fruit products are called preserves. Jellies are usually made by cooking clear fruit juice with sugar. They should hold their shape on a spoon but be soft enough to spread on toast. Jams are thick, sweet spreads made from cooked and crushed fruit and sugar. They are less firm than jelly. Preserves are made with small pieces of fruit suspended in a clear, slightly gelled syrup. Conserves are jams that are made from fruit combinations. Sometimes they contain raisins, nuts, or coconut. Marmalades are soft fruit jellies that contain small pieces of fruit or peel evenly suspended in a clear jelly. Butters are fruit pulp cooked down to a spreading consistency.

6. FOODS HIGH IN NATURAL PECTIN
Lemon
Papaya
Grapes
Apples
Citrus
Potatoes
Carrots
Beets
FRUITS LOW IN PECTIN
Peaches
Pineapple
Strawberries
Pears
Apricots
Bananas (not too ripe)

7. Testing the Juice for Acid by comparing its Acid Taste with a Standard Acid
Prepare a standard acid solution using 1 teaspoon calamansi juice, 3 tablespoon tap water and ½ teaspoon sugar. Stir thoroughly. Taste the solution, then taste the juice extract. If they are comparable then record 0; if test juice is more acid than the standard, record + sign. Always refer to the acid standard to compare the acidity of the test extract.
If the acidity of the juice is comparable to that of the standard solution, then the juice which has been found to give a good pectin test is a good starting material for cooking the jelly or the jam.

8. If less acidic than the standard the fruit juice extract may be acidified by adding some acid fruit juice .
If more acidic than the standard, the juice extract should be combined with a pectin-containing but less acidic juice. Never dilute the juice with water for you will dilute the pectin also. Nor should you add more sugar to make the juice seem less acidic. This only modifies the apparent and not the real acidity of any juice.

9. Extracting Juice
Grate of grind papaya. Add a pint of water and 2 level teaspoons of citric or tartaric acid that has been freed from lumps. Boil gently for 15 minutes, counting time when the liquid starts to boil. Strain juice (with muslin bag) but do not squeeze pulp too much.
For second extraction, transfer the pulp in the bag to a saucepan. Add water identical to the proportion in the first extraction. Boil gently again for 15 minutes. Strain.

10. Testing the Juice for Pectin
To 1 teaspoon each of the fruit extract in separate cups, add 1 tablespoon methyl alcohol. Stir gently with a fork but do not break up the precipitate that forms. Leave it for 2 minutes. Lift the precipitated mass of pectin. This jelly-like clot can be lifted with a fork for fruit extracts rich in pectin. Record this pectin clot in the tabulation as three +++; if it forms into two or three lumps the pectin content is medium and is recorded with two ++; if it breaks into small pieces record this as one + or 0 if it is just makes the alcohol cloudy.
NOTE: The total pectin obtained in the two extraction processes equals approximately ¾ of the pectin in the fruit.

11. IMPORTANT!
Don’t squeeze the jelly bag so as not to have a cloudy jelly.
Keep the jam and jelly boiling hard. Slow cooking destroys the pectin. Rapid boiling helps ensure your jam or jelly will set up nicely.
Sometimes jelly does not set. The fruit could have been too ripe, or perhaps you made a double batch trying to save time, or maybe you did not add enough acid, or you cut back a little on the sugar. Maybe you overcooked the fruit during the juice extraction phase and this reduced the pectin levels.

12. Foam is the syrup with air incorporated into it
Foam is the syrup with air incorporated into it. As the jam boils, air bubbles move up through the syrup and past the fruit to the top of the cooking pot. If you don’t skim it off and just pour the entire mixture in the jars and seal them, over time the air bubbles collapse and increase the headspace. With al this air inside, your jam can mold and spoil.
You can actually heat the foam that arises during jam and jelly making in the microwave or over low heat on the stove and watch it turn back into syrup. You can then save this reconstituted jam in the refrigerator to use within a few days.
Call it a syrup and serve on top of ice cream or pound cake.
Bigger piece of fruits are notorious for rising, so be sure to mash or chop your fruit into small enough pieces before you begin. Fruit that is too ripe has a tendency to cause this problem. It’s lower in pectin also. Choose ripe fruit but not fruit that’s even a shade past its prime.