iona46! You rebel, you!! LOL
I am one who doesn't mind re-posts!

Try mixing the clear jel with the sugar before you add it to the fruit/liquid.

And you ARE using NON-instant Clearjel, right? The instant type is not safe for canning and I find it lumps no matter what I try to do. Not a fan.

I finally made it to my extension office last week and bought a 5# bag of Clearjel myself. As I was walking out of the office, I happened to look down at the gallon ziploc in my hands and realized it looked like a big bag of (who knows what) white powder!!! The label was on the opposite side, so it appeared unmarked! I thought, Great! It looks like I've a kilo of drugs here! Thank goodness there WAS a label!

Deanna

Ahhh the "white powder" police will be after Deanna now! Wonder what the penalty is for a kilo of Clear Jel? ;)

Just make a roux with it just as you would with flour or cornstarch and stir it in the hot filling. I assume you know that you can can the pie fillings without it, right? Just add your thickener of choice at pie prep time.

Dave

OK, I got my laugh for the day. I had the exact same question after I bought my big bag of clear jel to can up pie fillings. I gave it away after the Willie Lump Lump experience. Now I do what Dave suggested. It just wasn't worth the effort to me. I hope the friend I gave it to isn't cursing me now.

I had saved a PDF file from Washington State University with good instructions and recipes for using Clear Jel for home canned pie fillings. I linked to it below - hope that helps.

I have no idea why I saved it - my family claims my pies are a waste of perfectly good fruit - I do agree with them :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Canning Pie Fillings Using Clear Jel

Thanks for the responses!

Deanna it just says clear jel on the bag and doesn't specify it as being instant, but reading the link that malna posted, it sounds as if it shouldn't thicken before it is heated, yet mine did thicken before I heated it.

I did mix it with the sugar on the second try and then added the rest of the ingredients. Still had a few lumps, but I kept stirring and managed to get those to dissolve, but like I said, it thickened before I heated it.

So how do you know if it is instant? Would it say it on the bag? I am assuming it would.

If your got thick before it was heated/cooking then it is the instant type. You are right that it should be indicated as such on the bag but it all depends on where you got it - that supplier maybe buying it in bulk and dividing it up without being aware of the difference.

You can tell for sure by taking a tsp. of it and stirring it into a cup of tap water if it begins to gel it is instant clear gel.

Dave

Ever hear of a 'slurry'?? If you watch any of the TV cooking shows, they all seem to make a liquid (water, wine, juiice, etc.) and cornstarch or Clear Jel mixture. This slurry is simply stirred at room temps in a drinking glass. You use a spoon to stir it. Then slowly pour in some while the product you plan to thicken is simmering, while your stirring it. Watch for thickening and after a minute it should start to do that. If not, add a little more of the slurry, and stor it in again and check for thickening. If it needs even more, you can add even more of the liquid and Clear Jel mixture, again, called a SLURRY. and you should never see lumps. The ONLY time I use flour that is mixed with a liquid is when I use Wondra flour that will dissolve in liquid, whereas regular flour clumps up unless you start with a very thick paste and slowly add liquid.

Think of the slurry as a rue and because fats and oils will not dissolve starches or flour, they only coat the dry thickeners, so that can be mixed into heated liquids witout clumping. A rue and a slurry are similar, as rue is a fat or oil, and slurry is juices or water.

I ordered it from Kitchen Krafts, and I have emailed them about it. It clearly states on the bag that it is for canning, but I checked the site again and they have instant clear jel listed also, but the picture is different and you can see that it says "instant" on that bag on the site. I would certainly hope they aren't trying to pull a fast one, but in this day and age, I wouldn't doubt it. I find that I don't even trust the major manufacturers anymore with anything. You will not catch me buying a brand name anymore.

I've only made about 6 pints of the apple pie filling with it, but have many more apples to go. Do you think it is going to make a difference or cause a problem?

If you have instant Clear Jel, it would thicken as soon as you attempt to make a 'slurry' with some and added to cold water. If its lumpy in the canned filling, it will cause the lumps to harden a bit once baked in a pie.

If you got it from Kitchen Krafts then I wouldn't worry about it as they are quite reputable. It is right type, not instant, and you just need some experience working with it is all. It is just like making gravy and you know how to do that. ;)

When you make the pie if there are any lumps of it in the jar of filling just pick them out and pitch them. No big deal.

Dave

Anyone know how to thin my first patch of cherry pie filling? I already bottled it and realized I left out a cup of water, cause I doubled the batch, now it's super thick.