Strawberry safety check -- can I omit the pectin?

10 years ago

I've been making strawberry preserves using the Ball pectin calculator on freshpreserving.com and bwb 10 minutes. Here it is:

6 2/3 cups mashed strawberries
1 2/3 cups water
7 1/2 tbs Ball low/no sugar pectin
1/2 cup honey

Is there any reason -- from a safety standpoint -- that I can't omit the pectin all together and just essentially end up with something liked stewed strawberries? Or food process the strawberries into a liquid and use only half the pectin so that the end product would be very runny?

I would like to have something like that for pouring over pancakes or ice cream or mixing into smoothies. Thanks for your thoughts! I appreciate your collective wisdom and my number one concern remains safety. And BTW, my pear butter turned out terrific thanks to your suggestions and thoughts.

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Comments (4)

digdirt2
10 years ago
There is no safety issue, just a set issue. Strawberries are notorious for not setting well on their own due to their low level of natural pectin so you may find it to be quite runny.

Dave
heavens123
Original Author
10 years ago
Yes, that's exactly what I want -- very runny. I don't mind at all since I'll be mixing the puree into drinks and the mashed strawberries will be poured over things. If it's not a safety issue with just strawberries, honey and water, then I'll give it a try.
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annie1992
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
It's not a safety risk, fruit can be processed with just water and no sugar or other additional ingredients at all. I used to can a strawberry lemonade concentrate and you reminded me that I really should do that again!

As Dave mentioned, strawberries are notorious for not setting, so your final product should be plenty thin enough to mix into drinks or used as a thin sauce.

Annie
heavens123
Original Author
10 years ago
That would be great, thanks. I just wasn't sure about the honey. When I make the regular preserves with the recipe I listed, I have never not had a very, very firm set, so I am totally puzzled that they are notorious for not setting. I wish I had that problem! I'm going to try just strawberries, water and honey and bwb for 10 minutes. That should be excellent on pancakes or in drinks. Nice and runny.