Picking The Right Pectin

The Struggle:

Pectin seems to be an ingredient that goes by many names. While it’s all pectin at the end of the day there are a few key differences that set them apart from each other. Unfortunately when buying pectin from the grocery store they don’t give you all the little details. Does this pectin work with sugar and acidity or is it better in low sugar situations? Is it Rapid Set or Slow Set? Does it require calcium for gelling? And most importantly of all does it go by any other names? Often we get asked what the equivalent of apple pectin or yellow pectin is. This is information that is useful to people and we feel we should share it to make your life easier when choosing a pectin.

“What pectin is Apple Pectin, Yellow Pectin, and Fruit Pectin?” 

Defining Pectin Brand Names 

Recipes across the world will call for pectin, commonly they will ask for apple pectin, yellow pectin, and fruit pectin. This gets confusing when you try to switch pectin types or say you purchase a new brand. Can you substitute apple pectin for yellow or fruit pectin? Will my recipe work the same way or will I end up wasting money? Well I’m here to help you understand what all these different types of pectin do. 

First I’ll make this easy for everyone, come in close I’ll whisper the secret in your ear… They do the same thing! Yellow, apple, and fruit pectin are all HM pectin. HM pectin comes in two forms: rapid set and slow set. For everyday home use Rapid Set HM pectin is what you want. It can stand in for any of the three aforementioned pectins. But let’s say you make some baller jellies or jams and you need to start producing them commercially, then you would need to use Slow set HM pectin. Slow set is just as it says, it takes longer to set. This buys you time from the finishing of the jelly or jam to filling that final jar. If your recipe calls for one of these types of pectin, that recipe will contain sugar and acid. HM pectin requires both sugar and acid to gel. Now there may be some of you out there saying “Wait, I make sugar free jams!”. If you make sugar free jams you may use something called universal pectin. This pectin is an LM pectin, LM pectin needs calcium in order to gel. This is why it works well in low sugar jams. We carry 3 types of LM pectin. Traditional LM pectin, Amidated LM pectin, and pectin NH. The difference between amidated and regular LM pectin is amidated pectin can gel with a lower amount of calcium. As low as 10mg of calcium can be used to gel 1 gram of pectin. As we stated LM pectin requires calcium to gel, and Pectin NH contains the calcium needed to create a gel. So whatever the type of pectin you are using can easily be deciphered by the method of the recipe. If there is sugar and acidity in the recipe then use HM pectin. If you are making sugar free jam, use LM pectin or pectin NH. Whatever jelly or jam recipe you are making you can now easily figure out what ingredient to use and forget about having to decide what ingredient will work for you.