Pectin is a vegan gelling agent. But how can it be used and what should you consider? The answers and more information about pectin can be found here.
pectin in plants
Pectin is a gelling agent that is used in many foods. Similar to agar agar
Chemically, pectin is a polysaccharide. Basically there is no such thing as pectin. It is a component of almost all plants and stabilizes the cells of the plants and regulates the water. It comes in different forms.
Fruit in particular has a particularly high proportion of pectin. For example, the pectin content of cherries is 0.4 percent. Apricots contain one and apples even up to 1.5 percent.
Pectin as a gelatine substitute
Pectin is widely used in the food industry. The ability to gel is responsible for the consistency of jams, jellies and preserves. It can be used as a plant-based substitute for gelatin in vegan foods.
If you want to make jam yourself, you can use pectin in the form of preserving sugar. It consists essentially of sugar and pectin. The advantage of jam sugar is that it is very easy to use. According to the manufacturer’s instructions, you add a certain amount of preserving sugar to a certain amount of fruit.
Because you also dose the pectin via the amount of sugar, you have to use the specified dosage of gelling sugar in order to achieve the desired result. So you can’t sweeten freely according to your taste. There is another disadvantage of jam sugar: Depending on the supplier, it may contain other substances such as citric acid or preservatives in addition to sugar and pectin.
Pure pectin – an alternative to jam sugar
If you don’t want any additives or preservatives in your homemade jam, you can also buy pure pectin as a powder. It is then highly concentrated and you should dose it precisely so that your jam gets the desired consistency. You can sweeten the jam to your taste with sugar or even better cane sugar.
You can even make your own pectin yourself. This is not so hard:
Cut apples into small pieces and boil them with water in a 2:1 ratio for about 45 minutes.
Allow the resulting mush to drain in a cloth overnight. But you mustn’t squeeze it out.
Reduce the liquid by half the next day.
Add one part of your homemade pectin to four parts of fruit to make jam.
