Saturday, August 09, 2014

Natural Pectin

Part 1

I dont buy commercial pectin that is used in jams and jellies. Instead i use lemon seeds.
All citrus seeds are rich in pectin and will thicken any flavour of fruit preserves.
As you may have noticed i use a lot of lemons, they have so much to offer. Juice, peel, pith, flesh and seeds, they can be used in a large variety of sweet and savoury foods.






The seeds can be stored in the freezer for when you need to thicken up your curd, butters or jams. Store them in a small container and just grab as many as needed.

To use the seeds i put them in a small bag that i made out of a piece if net curtain with a draw string and place in your pot or bowl of simmering fruit.



You can also put them into a small piece of cheese cloth and tie with string. I dont like cheesecloth i think it is over rated and way too expensive. A cheep net curtain from a second hand store is a much better option.
When the fruit is done squeeze the bag over the pot, then you can empty and wash for the next use.

If you really want to see pectin at work put several in a small dish with a little water and leave over night, the next day the seeds will have a gel around them. You can use them like this, just drain off the extra water and place in a bag or cloth.

You can also make it from apples and other fruits. The white pith on any under ripe citrus fruit like yellow grapefruit it very high in pectin.
I have not tried making pectin with the pith or any other fruits so when i do ill right up the recipe to share.

Linked here Fabulously Frugal Thursday # 79
and here Say G'day Saturday #99
and here Homemaking party
and here R&R Wednesday # 64
and here From the Farm Blog Hop
and here Old Fashioned Friday # 80
and here Farmgirl Friday # 167
and here Fabulous Finds #18



9 comments:

Katy said...

Haha....I love how you said cheesecloth is overrated and expensive!!! :)

Thanks so much for visiting my blog via the blog hop and I hope you have a great weekend!!! :)

Warmly,
Katy

Nanna Chel said...

Hmmm, some good ideas there about freezing the lemon seeds. I hadn't thought of that before. Thanks heaps.

Janet Pesaturo said...

Very interesting! I never heard of making pectin from citrus seeds. Pinning.

Anonymous said...

This is a great little tip, I never knew that. I will bookmark this for later. T x

Joanne T Ferguson said...

G'day and thanks for stopping by and sharing your link at our #SayGdayParty! Great tip to know!
I hope you have stopped back to Say G'day to another person at the party and reply to my questions posed this week! Thank you!
Cheers! Joanne

Audrey said...

I use lemon seeds to make my lemon marmalade, but I never thought of saving them to use in other preserves. Thanks for the tip.

Nicole and Andrew said...

Thank you to everyone for dropping in this week.
You can never learn too many new things :o) but its hard to remember them all

Tania said...

Well I now know what I can do with all my citrus seeds. I presume they all would have pectin in them. I have lemon, mandarins, grapefruit and oranges. Going to save them from now on :)

Great tip, thanks for sharing :)

MommyonDemand said...

I never knew I could do this! And I agree cheesecloth is overrated! Thanks for sharing at Happiness is Homemade Link Party, you will be featured on Sunday so make sure to come back over. Can wait to see you latest projects at the next party!