Readers React:More Pectin, Plus Prickly Pears
There are some great COMMENTS about yesterday's post on pectin.
Tom makes the argument for using commercial pectin:
Why use commercial pectin? There are a couple reasons I can think of: 1) to gel something that would not otherwise gel on it's own (pineapple), 2) to more firmly gel things that gel poorly, 3) to provide a texture that is familiar to many people, and (most importantly) 4) to make jams or jellies with certain fruits where the loss of the volatile flavor compounds by exteneded boiling is too heartbreaking to contemplate. Peak-season peaches, plant-ripened Michigan strawberries (or their tiny wild cousins that are *amazing*), or the tiny super-fragrant jewel-red plums of early september you can sometimes find at the market that almost smell like perfume are all fruits where boiling them a second longer than absolutely necessary is virtually criminal! Many times, you can get away with as little as five minutes for the fruit, and one minute for liquid pectin, and then the remaining volatiles get captured in jars before processing. Commercial pectin can be a workhorse for some, or just an occasional valuable tool for other situations.
And Nicole in Twentynine Palms, California, captured my heart by saying that after watching the coyotes and birds eat the fruits of her prickly pear cactus, ABOVE, she decided to make PRICKLY PEAR MARMALADE. That's the true spirit of saving the season, and if I can persuade her to share the recipe, I'll post it here.
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