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Food Additives. Why is Pectin in Jam? Citric acid? Why are some ...

Under the current FDA and USDA food labeling laws, certain additives have to be listed and some not depending on what is deemed safe levels and what are known allergens. There is a wide spectrum from safe additives such as say pectin or citric acid in jam to additives that have mixed opinions on their safety such as Senomyx, which can get away with just being called and “artificial flavor.”

In the world of jam, pectin and citric acid are the primary additives. They are quite harmless but the question is what are they doing in my jam? Neither are used to flavor the jam, but are used like other substances in food to preserve or cause the food the have a certain texture.

A million years ago. Ok. Let’s back up. Maybe a few hundred years ago someone threw some fruit in a pot, some sugar and tried to make jam. It turned out as runny and thin as water.

What is the secret to thicken jam? Pectin!

The same goes for making gravy. You just roasted that Thanksgiving turkey (sorry all you vegetarians!) and got all these drippings. What do you reach for to thicken it? Well, flour or arrowroot powder.

Pectin does the same thing. Of course we don’t know. We never have touched the stuff.

In the world of jam, pectin is everywhere. It is the easy way to make anything thick as a jello mold. This explains why when you are in the supermarket all the jams are so thick you can shake the jar and nothing moves inside. It is frozen. It is as thick as set concrete. You gotta cut it with a knife. A jack hammer. Yuck.

We have never used pectin since we are purists and try to add as little to our products as necessary.

Pectin is derived from other fruits – primarily the skin of apples and pears. It is a naturally-occurring element in some fruits that can be extracted. Pectin can be made from scratch or you can buy it in the store in powder form. Essentially, pectin does the same as flour to sauce. It thickens it. It is basically the same as gelatin, but is not derived from animals.

Pectin usually requires sugar to create the proper chemical reaction to thicken whatever it is added to. Citric acid is also an important element for this ‘chemical magic’ to happen. This explains why you see one or both ingredients listed on commercial jam.

Well, over here at welovejam.com we shun added thickeners. Even those you can make yourself. Why?

Go buy a bag of pectin in the store and taste the powder. Is this something you would sprinkle on your fresh fruit before serving it to company? Didn’t think so. Or what about citiric acid (lemon juice generally) would you spritz it on your ice cream? What we are trying to say is everything, just about everything you add has a taste, contributes to a texture or reaction to other ingredients. In essence, it alters the fruit you are using to make your jam. So when you see a strawberry jam that contains citric acid, it really should be called Strawberry Lemon jam. And if you were to take the citric acid out of the strawberry jam it would taste more like strawberries and not as tart. The addition of pectin and citric acid to thicken jams requires the addition of more sugar to compensate. Seems silly to us.

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