Jams and preserves
Making jam, and the number that decides what you may call it
Updated
On this page10
Almost everything else you make and sell is defined by what you say it is. A jam is defined by a ratio and a percentage, both of them federal, and the two of them decide the recipe, the label and the price before you have picked a jar.
Getting started
Before there is fruit on the stove.
Is a jam business for youWhat it costs to startWhat the time actually costsThe first season, month by monthWhat to buy before the first batchSourcing fruitYour kitchen, or a licensed oneWhat your state allowsTurning a recipe into a productWorking with boiling sugarNaming it, and the words the standard owns
The set
Four things in balance, and the law is two of them.
The four things that have to be in balanceThe ratio the standard sets65 percent soluble solidsSugar is not there for sweetnessToo little acid and it never sets, too much and it weepsJelly wants underripe fruit, jam wants ripeWhether to add pectinWhy commercial juice will not setThe pectin is in the parts you were going to throw awayWhat else the standard lets you put in
Making a batch
The day it gets made.
Washing, crushing and cuttingExtracting juice for jellyCooking it to the point it will setSkimming the foamFilling hot, and why a funnelA quarter inch, measuredWiping the rim and adjusting the lidsTime in the canner, by altitudeSterile jars, and the trade you make either wayCooling, and not moving it
Testing the set
The measurement the batch turns on.
What goes wrong
Named failures, with the cause for each.
Jars and lids
Where the container decision lives.
What size jar for a pound of jamWhy glass, and when plastic is not an optionTwo-piece lids, and why the flat is single useHow full to fill itFilling without a machineKeeping it clean while you goLabels that stay on a sticky jarTamper evidenceShipping it by the caseHow it looks on a shelfSingle serve, and the formats buyers ask forSelling the fruit instead
Selling it
A standard of identity, and the state layer above it.
Jam, jelly or preserve, and what to call it if it is none of themWhat the label must carryCottage food and jamUS grades, and whether to use oneWhat to chargeSelling at marketSelling wholesaleSelling online and shipping glassWho inspects you, and whenInsuranceWhen stock goes offFermented fruit products, and why they are a different business
Growing the operation
What breaks first.
Tools and directories
Things to use rather than read.
Beyond the jar
The obvious second products.
Written from 21 CFR 150, the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning and published extension guidance. Every page names its source.