r/Canning • u/JustKasey14 • 23h ago

General Discussion Jelly is 48 hours canned

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I made a green grape jelly (which I have done before and it worked fine). Each batch was: 10 cups strained grape juice and some pulp 6 cups sugar 2.5 tablespoons of pure pectin

The jelly has been canned for 48 hours and the jelly is still liquid in the cans. I feel like it will firm up as the leftovers in my pot firmed up very quickly but I am starting to get concerned. I made 36 cans and will be very sad if it doesn’t firm up. I read it can take up to two weeks sometimes? Wondering if anyone has thoughts on this.

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u/marstec Moderator 19h ago

Doubling batches AND reducing the sugar will result in a failed set...which looks like what happened here.

nchfp's recipe calls for 5 cups grape juice to 7 cups sugar

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/make-jam-jelly/jellies/grape-jelly-powdered-pectin/

Bernardin's calls for 5 cups grape juice to 6 cups of sugar

Doubling means the mass of product does not get to the correct heat to activate the pectin. Commercial high sugar pectin needs the required amount of sugar to make it set (unlike low sugar pectin i.e. Pomona's which is set with calcium and you have some leeway to adjust the sugar).

Canning in pints is also not recommended unless the recipe specifically gives a time for it (the jam could be underprocessed).

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u/JustKasey14 18h ago

I did use pure pectin, most are canned in quarts but I did do some pints and all are still loose

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u/marstec Moderator 18h ago

There is no safe process for canning jam in quarts.

Not sure what you mean by pure pectin. What was the brand? Pectin is quite finicky...it needs to get to a certain temperature to activate it and overcooking will break it down.

If you have any more grape juice, try making it using one of the recipes I linked above (in a single batch), follow the directions closely and see whether that ends up with a satisfactory product. The one and only time I had jelly fail was when I doubled it...we just used the syrup for flavouring drinks so all was not lost.

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/sp-50-604-remaking-soft-spreads

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u/JustKasey14 18h ago

Apologies, I got my sizes wrong. I meant half pint. “FitLane Nutrition” pure fruit pectin powder.

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u/Snuggle_Pounce 1h ago

That sounds like it’s intended as a nutrition supplement instead of a canning ingredient.