The Science of Pectin

By Fine Cooking Editors

By David Joachim and Andrew Schloss

From Fine Cooking #136, pp. 34-35

Pectin, a fiber that’s naturally abundant in

such fruits as cranberries and quince, is
the secret to beautifully gelled jams and
jellies. Here’s a closer look at how it works
and how to guarantee success when
making fruit preserves at home.

What is pectin?
Pectin is the glue of the plant world.
Consisting of long chains of
polysaccharide molecules that bond
together to form a gummy paste, pectin
helps hold together the walls of plant cells,
much as mortar holds up the bricks in a
house. The pectin content in fruits varies
depending on the type of fruit and the
fruit’s ripeness.

You can also buy liquid or powdered

pectin, which is made by extracting pectin
from fruits. This commercial pectin can be
used to thicken preserves made with low-
pectin fruits, such as strawberries or
peaches, or to make jellies from thin fruit
juices. Food manufacturers use
commercial pectin to make gummy
candies and to improve the mouth-feel of
low-fat yogurts and baked goods.

Are there different types of pectin?

Yes. There are two main types of
commercial pectin on the market: HM
(high methoxyl) and LM (low methoxyl).
HM pectin is the most widely available,
even though it isn’t always labeled as
such. More often, you’ll see labels for the
two subsets of HM pectin: rapid set and
slow set.

Rapid-set pectin works best when you

want to suspend solid ingredients within a
jelly, while slow set works best for clear
jellies made from clarified fruit juices such
as grape juice. Pull out the LM pectin
when you want to make low-sugar and no-
sugar jams and jellies or to make no-cook
freezer preserves. LM pectin is often
labeled “light” or for “low sugar or no
sugar recipes.”

How does pectin thicken preserves?

It depends on the type of commercial
pectin you use. The pectin molecules in
raw, uncut fruit have an alkaline negative
charge, which causes them to repel each
other and to bond with water. When fruit
is chopped and cooked to make preserves,
acids in the fruit are released. This acid
neutralizes some of the negative charges,
allowing the pectin molecules to repel
each other less. In the case of preserves
thickened with HM pectin, added sugar
attracts water molecules, bringing the
pectin chains closer together to form a
loose, fluid matrix. As the mixture cools, it
gels into a firmer mesh-like network that
cradles and supports the liquid and
dissolved sugar. To most of us, that
firmed-up network is called jelly, but in
chemistry, it’s called a sugar-acid-pectin
gel because sugar and acid are required to
bond and gel the molecules in HM pectin.

When you use LM pectin, sugar and acid

don’t bind the pectin molecules together.
Calcium does, which is why chemists call
that type of gel a calcium gel. LM pectin
packages often come with a pack of
calcium powder that is added separately
from the pectin to activate the gel.

What can go wrong with pectin-

thickened preserves?
Using commercial pectin to thicken fruit
preserves is pretty straightforward. You
chop, mash, purée, or juice the fruit, add
your pectin and other ingredients, and
bring the mixture to a boil. Let it cool, and
the mixture gels. But if you don’t have the
ratios of acid, sugar, or calcium and pectin
exactly right, your preserves may be
thinner or thicker than you like. Because
pectin cooks pretty quickly and won’t
thicken if reheated, these problems
usually can’t be fixed, but knowing what
may have happened will help you avoid
missteps the next time.

Preserves are too stiff. Usually, this

happens when you use too much
commercial pectin for the type of fruit
you’re cooking. Different fruits contain
different amounts of natural pectin, so
you’ll need to add different amounts of
commercial pectin to achieve the right
consistency. For example, strawberries
require two times more pectin to form a
gel than tart apples, such as Granny
Smiths. Some high-pectin fruits, like
cranberries, may not need any added
pectin at all.

Also, cooking preserves at too high a

temperature or for too long at a low
temperature can boil away too much
water, which throws off the ratio of pectin
to liquid and overthickens the mixture.

Preserves are too runny. There are

several reasons this can happen:

Too little acid. Low-acid fruits, such

as peaches and pears, usually require a
little added citrus juice to gel properly
when using HM pectin.
Too little pectin. Low-pectin fruits,
like apricots, often require some added
pectin to gel properly.
Too little sugar. If using HM pectin
without enough sugar, the sugar-acid-
pectin matrix can be too loose to hold
the liquid.
Wrong type of pectin. Low-sugar
preserves made with HM pectin will not
form a supportive matrix. But you can
make sugary preserves with LM pectin
as long as calcium is present to activate
the gel.
Undercooking. With HM pectin, the
sugar-acid-pectin matrix has to boil for
a full minute in order to set; if it
doesn’t, a gel won’t form.
 Overcooking. Boiling preserves
beyond the gel point (longer than a few
minutes) or uneven heat distribution
from lack of stirring or a pot that’s too
small can all cause pectin to break
down.

Preserves are lumpy. This happens

when pectin isn’t evenly dispersed in the
mixture, either because the powdered
pectin isn’t fully dissolved before it’s
heated with the fruit or because the
preserves aren’t stirred adequately during
cooking. To prevent lumpy preserves, you
can use a blender to rapidly mix the pectin
into the liquid before heating the mixture,
or you can mix powdered pectin with
other soluble powders like sugar before
whisking them into the liquid ingredients.

Preserves are weepy. Preserves that

leak water as they cool or during storage
contain too much acid, which can make a
pectin gel unstable.

High- vs. low-pectin fruit

Pectin levels peak as fruits ripen and
become plump and firm. But in overripe
fruit, the pectin begins to break down, and
the fruit becomes very soft and eventually
rots. Use ripe fruit to get the most pectin
from it.

If you’re preserving a low-pectin fruit or

fruit juice, a general rule is to add 4 tsp.
powdered pectin or 2 Tbs. liquid pectin to
gel 2 cups of liquid or finely chopped fruit.
Keep in mind that fruit naturally high in
pectin tends to be acidic as well, which
helps the fruit gel on its own when
cooked.

High Low Pectin

Pectin

• Chile • Apricots
peppers • Blueberries
• Citrus • Cherries
peels (not • Citrus flesh (not
flesh) peels)
• Concord • Figs
grapes • Melons
• •
Cranberries Peaches/nectarines
• Currants • Pineapples
• • Raspberries
Gooseberries • Rhubarb
• Quince • Strawberries
• Sour plums
• Tart apples
• Tomatillos
• Tomatoes

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