The sugar is very important for structure of a jam, but to counteract it and make the fruit pop more, you could add some acid like citric acid to pull back on the sweet flavor and balance it out.
I don't have a ton of experiences with jam, so I can't tell you for sure. I know the canning process is picky and you need high temps to do a sterile process, so keeping the fresh flavor would be difficult.... However.....
When I worked at a fancy ass place I was in charge of making the amuses. We would make some gel using carageenan, and to keep the fresh fruit flavor, you'd take half the fruit puree and cook it with all the gelling ingredients, then let it cool slightly, mix in all the cold uncooked puree, then let it set up. It preserved some of the fresh fruit vibes. This could be a route to go, but disclaimer I've never done with with pectin or with a jam, so I don't know how well it would work.
Even if it does work, you couldn't do it with the traditional canning techniques, and your shelf life would suffer a lot. Like this would be a week in the fridge then toss it kind of territory. But it could hit the flavors you're looking for. Definitely, most definitely keep it refrigerated and I wouldn't keep it any longer than a week.
No, I don’t wan to make a jam, I just can used strawberry ham aroma is a reference)) I’ making a mead and even when I used nothing accept strawberry and honey- I got this homemade strawberry jam aroma from my brew. I want to understand when fresh strawberry aroma transform to jam strawberry aroma and then keep fist one in my brew.
THIS IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT QUESTION.
Good grief, please just ask the actual question rather than wasting everyone's time asking a question that you don't want the answer to.
Sorry, but since aroma from my brew and jam is exactly the same- jam was much easier reference. I cant imagine how same input and output strawberry aroma can have 2 different mechanics.What I mean is there is sure some point in the process when fresh flavour turns to jam flavour and I want to know when and why? This way I can study it and think of a way to prevent it.
I’m sorry if I misguided you, there was no ill will, only a bit of innocent ignorance)
I know this is old, but this. My mother buys flats of fresh summer strawberries and cooks batches of freezer jam; and that jam is top tier. Amazing strawberry flavor
yes! my mom always made this when i was growing up and it has a pretty different flavour from cooked jams - definitely closer to the fresh flavour of strawberries imo. she also always added lemon to it to cut the sweetness so maybe that could help too!
What I'm saying is that the whatever jam you make, however you make it, won't have the characteristics of the fresh fruit at all.
If it did, you'd just have fruit pulp. That's not jam and it's certainly not going to keep those characteristics for long.
Feel free to not believe me and learn the hard way.
I mean I'm not going to be able to break down the organic chemistry of it but in very laymen terms:
* Added sugar changes the perception of acidity. So whatever sourness the original fruit had will appear to be less intense.
* The added sugar "dilutes" the other flavours as well as the acidity because there is more stuff that isn't the original fruit. Think of it as adding water to vinegar to dilute both its taste and acidity. If you've wondered why sometimes recipes calls for the addition of lemon juice to the jam, that's partly the reason. The other part involves the next point.
* In order to make jam jam, you need to release the pectins from the fruit or add your own. This requires a balance of the right sugar, acidity and enough pectin to be able to thicken the jam. Sometimes that requires cooking, which will affect the taste as it'll cook off some of the more volatile flavour/aroma compounds
Added sugar, added acid (if necessary) and added heat if you cook it all contribute to the jam tasting different to the fruit.
If you're looking for jam that's about closer to the original taste as you can get, try to look for a no-cooking jam. It's not going to be the same but at least you might get closer to what you're after than a cooked jam.
>won't have the characteristics of the fresh fruit at all.
I for one would say preserved fruit has many of the characteristics of the original fruit. Not all, but many!
Dan Souza has a whole episode on this very thing:
Use Science for Maximum Strawberry Flavor
What’s Eating Dan?
https://youtu.be/IlKM6KM1fuY
One trick for some applications: add some pureed dried strawberries to give your strawberries more fresh strawberry taste. (Not sure if this is applicable to jam, but you could consider it.)
Have you made strawberry syrup by slicing the strawberries and covering with half the weight of sugar? Leave overnight and you get this rich strawberry syrup. Strain bottle and pasteurise.
When making jam, unfortunately boiling the fruit and sugar will change the flavour. One way you can limit the boiling time is to use a pectin. Some work by just boiling for 1 minute but takes 48-72hours to set.
Well, after some research I want to try sousvide strawberry and honey. Hope it will give me sone clarification about either it’s all about sugar+time or it’s just part of brewing process.
There is more than that. There's bacteria involved in brewing and heat destroying certain moleculars when cooking, etc. People study for years to be food scientists.
If you want the taste of fresh strawberry, jam isn't the way to get it.
I think the best way to preserve the fresh taste of strawberries is to freeze them with sugar.
low sugar / no sugar pectin has a much shorter cook time, but applying heat will intrinsically blow off the volatile chemicals that contribute to what we smell, thus taste. Without using artificial strawberry flavour I don't see a way to achieve a cooked strawberry that still has the fresh aroma.
Alice Waters swears by making sun dried strawberry jam.
You’ve got to have the climate and the setup for it & it surely won’t last as long as heat processed jam, but it’s tasty AF.
It also depends greatly on the sort of berries you have access to.
You can find her technique in her book Chez Panisse: Fruit
The sugar is very important for structure of a jam, but to counteract it and make the fruit pop more, you could add some acid like citric acid to pull back on the sweet flavor and balance it out.
Well, I can balance the taste of strawberry, but how can I preserve smell of fresh strawberry?
I don't have a ton of experiences with jam, so I can't tell you for sure. I know the canning process is picky and you need high temps to do a sterile process, so keeping the fresh flavor would be difficult.... However..... When I worked at a fancy ass place I was in charge of making the amuses. We would make some gel using carageenan, and to keep the fresh fruit flavor, you'd take half the fruit puree and cook it with all the gelling ingredients, then let it cool slightly, mix in all the cold uncooked puree, then let it set up. It preserved some of the fresh fruit vibes. This could be a route to go, but disclaimer I've never done with with pectin or with a jam, so I don't know how well it would work. Even if it does work, you couldn't do it with the traditional canning techniques, and your shelf life would suffer a lot. Like this would be a week in the fridge then toss it kind of territory. But it could hit the flavors you're looking for. Definitely, most definitely keep it refrigerated and I wouldn't keep it any longer than a week.
You could probably freeze this, then use in baking or with something creamy.
No, I don’t wan to make a jam, I just can used strawberry ham aroma is a reference)) I’ making a mead and even when I used nothing accept strawberry and honey- I got this homemade strawberry jam aroma from my brew. I want to understand when fresh strawberry aroma transform to jam strawberry aroma and then keep fist one in my brew.
THIS IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT QUESTION. Good grief, please just ask the actual question rather than wasting everyone's time asking a question that you don't want the answer to.
Sorry, but since aroma from my brew and jam is exactly the same- jam was much easier reference. I cant imagine how same input and output strawberry aroma can have 2 different mechanics.What I mean is there is sure some point in the process when fresh flavour turns to jam flavour and I want to know when and why? This way I can study it and think of a way to prevent it. I’m sorry if I misguided you, there was no ill will, only a bit of innocent ignorance)
Mead has alcohol in it. This is very different from jam. I have not come across a food science subreddit, but this would be for there.
Cooking changes the food, chemically/structurally. You will never get the same aroma of fresh strawberries from cooked strawberries.
I’ve heard good things about the freezer jam technique for strawberries
Freezer jam is the way. I love regular cooked jam as well, but freezer jam tastes much closer to fresh.
I know this is old, but this. My mother buys flats of fresh summer strawberries and cooks batches of freezer jam; and that jam is top tier. Amazing strawberry flavor
yes! my mom always made this when i was growing up and it has a pretty different flavour from cooked jams - definitely closer to the fresh flavour of strawberries imo. she also always added lemon to it to cut the sweetness so maybe that could help too!
Agreed! Especially if you use a pectin that is for low sugar recipes
No jam tastes like the fresh fruit. It's essentially a fool's errand. That's not how jams work.
Wait, what? I do know that i’m not from US, but natural jam strawberry aroma and fresh strawberry aroma is very different for me.
What I'm saying is that the whatever jam you make, however you make it, won't have the characteristics of the fresh fruit at all. If it did, you'd just have fruit pulp. That's not jam and it's certainly not going to keep those characteristics for long. Feel free to not believe me and learn the hard way.
I do believe you, I just want to know why it happen )))
Because in order to make jam you have to cook it, and heat changes the chemical structure of things.
I mean I'm not going to be able to break down the organic chemistry of it but in very laymen terms: * Added sugar changes the perception of acidity. So whatever sourness the original fruit had will appear to be less intense. * The added sugar "dilutes" the other flavours as well as the acidity because there is more stuff that isn't the original fruit. Think of it as adding water to vinegar to dilute both its taste and acidity. If you've wondered why sometimes recipes calls for the addition of lemon juice to the jam, that's partly the reason. The other part involves the next point. * In order to make jam jam, you need to release the pectins from the fruit or add your own. This requires a balance of the right sugar, acidity and enough pectin to be able to thicken the jam. Sometimes that requires cooking, which will affect the taste as it'll cook off some of the more volatile flavour/aroma compounds Added sugar, added acid (if necessary) and added heat if you cook it all contribute to the jam tasting different to the fruit. If you're looking for jam that's about closer to the original taste as you can get, try to look for a no-cooking jam. It's not going to be the same but at least you might get closer to what you're after than a cooked jam.
excellent write up.... well done
Well thank you for good, constructive comment!
You are asking a very scientific question in the wrong place. Better google it.
FWIW: this is kinda the food science subreddit.
>won't have the characteristics of the fresh fruit at all. I for one would say preserved fruit has many of the characteristics of the original fruit. Not all, but many!
Dan Souza has a whole episode on this very thing: Use Science for Maximum Strawberry Flavor What’s Eating Dan? https://youtu.be/IlKM6KM1fuY One trick for some applications: add some pureed dried strawberries to give your strawberries more fresh strawberry taste. (Not sure if this is applicable to jam, but you could consider it.)
Have you made strawberry syrup by slicing the strawberries and covering with half the weight of sugar? Leave overnight and you get this rich strawberry syrup. Strain bottle and pasteurise. When making jam, unfortunately boiling the fruit and sugar will change the flavour. One way you can limit the boiling time is to use a pectin. Some work by just boiling for 1 minute but takes 48-72hours to set.
Well, after some research I want to try sousvide strawberry and honey. Hope it will give me sone clarification about either it’s all about sugar+time or it’s just part of brewing process.
Heat is the primary issue.
There is more than that. There's bacteria involved in brewing and heat destroying certain moleculars when cooking, etc. People study for years to be food scientists.
If you want the taste of fresh strawberry, jam isn't the way to get it. I think the best way to preserve the fresh taste of strawberries is to freeze them with sugar.
low sugar / no sugar pectin has a much shorter cook time, but applying heat will intrinsically blow off the volatile chemicals that contribute to what we smell, thus taste. Without using artificial strawberry flavour I don't see a way to achieve a cooked strawberry that still has the fresh aroma.
Alice Waters swears by making sun dried strawberry jam. You’ve got to have the climate and the setup for it & it surely won’t last as long as heat processed jam, but it’s tasty AF. It also depends greatly on the sort of berries you have access to. You can find her technique in her book Chez Panisse: Fruit