Can’t get a hold of commercially made pectin? If you have a good quantity of apples you can make your own.

To manufacture your own pectin start with 10 pounds of tart apples (green apples work the best) and a large kettle. Wash them and cut off any rot or insect damage. Remove stems. Quarter each fruit from top to bottom (but do not remove the cores or seeds). 

Place all of your cut up apples in your large pot or kettle, cover with water and bring to a boil over moderate flame. Then cover kettle and simmer until the apples are soft (about half an hour). Drain fruit in jelly bag overnight and collect juice (there should be about 3 quarts, so have another large container ready). 

The next day set this collected liquid in a heavy bottom pot on medium heat. Reduce it down to make 1 1/2 to 2 cups pectin. Stir occasionally so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.

How to Use Your Homemade Pectin

Follow your recipe of choice for the fruit you want to process into jam. For some reason I always imagine peaches, although I’ve never made peach jam (some day!). 

Cook your fruit on the stovetop until it’s soft. Add you sugar, bring to a boil, then cook the fruit and sugar together for one full minute. Add your homemade pectin. No additional cooking is required. Put your newly made jam into canning jars and process in a hot water bath.

A Bit of Chemistry

For all you science nerds out there, here’s the chemical structure of pectin:

In the making of jams and jellies the sugar that’s added to the fruit and pectin is an important part of the chemistry. The sugars, when cooked, will help “activate” the pectin, making it turn into a gel once cooled.

Pectin can also be used as a thickener in savory sauces, but the activator there is actually calcium. So a touch of dairy needs to be used in savory sauces that use pectin.