Jam help needed

[Carrie]

I recently made some courgette and pineapple jam from some courgettes that had got out of hand - my first jam making experience and it was delicious if a little runny. Anyway as I had some more marrow sized courgettes on my hands I decided to make another batch yesterday. It looked perfect when I put it in the jars but then I went out for the day and when I came home I found that it had crystallised as it cooled down and is completely solid. Is there anything I can do to turn it back into edible jam?

[Carrie]

[realfood]

I suspect that the proportion of sugar may be too high. How did you change the recipe from your previous batch?

[Carrie]

I had about half the quantity of courgettes so halved the amount of sugar that I put in - the original recipe was 4lb prepared courgettes, 3lb sugar and 1lb pineapple.

[jennym]

The reason your jam crystallised is that the sugar was not dissolved completely before you cooked the jam.
If you put the jam back into the pan, with just a little water, say, 200ml, then heat very gently, stirring all the time, the sugar will dissolve properly. If you use a stainless steel ladle, you will hear it grate around the bottom of the pan if sugar cystals are still present, and if you look at a spoonful carefully you may see the crystals in it. Make sure it is properly dissolved, then bring the mixture back up to jam setting temperature (104 - 105.5 degrees C).
When using pineapple next time, you need to cook it separately, bringing it to boiling and simmering for at least 10 minutes before adding anything else to it. This helps but does not guarantee that jam using pineapple will set.

[Carrie]

Thanks Jenny, have now got lovely clear jam again!

[killerflies]

Any chance I could get your Courgette and Pineapple Jam recepie!!?

Would greatly appreciate it!