Source
r/AskCulinary•
AConzrow

Pectin in apple cider

I was gifted a box of assorted hot peppers and I decided to make hot pepper jelly with them. I read online about pectin and canning but I didn't have all the stuff on hand so I decided I needed another method.

I chopped up the peppers, threw them in a small saucepan, added apple cider vinegar, apple cider and sugar. I cooked this down until it was a thick syrup. I put it in a jar, cooled it down and put it in the fridge. I checked it this morning and it came out great! Slightly thick and quite spicy.

My question is what caused it to get thick and jelly? Does apple cider contain pectin? I know you need an acidic environment with a large percentage of solids in order to get pectin to gel, so did I accidentally stumble into a pectin jelly? Or does all the sugar and reducing make it like a really thick simple syrup with hot peppers?

Posted Oct 17, 2013, 6:20 PM UTC

3715
pagingjimmypage•

It's most likely a combination of the sugar reducing to a syrup and the pectin from the peppers themselves. How many peppers did you cook down?

9
AConzrowOP•

Maybe 20 peppers ranging from jalapenos to habaneros and a few that I didn't recognize. Good thinking, I didn't think about the effect of the peppers as well.

I'm gonna make another batch but weigh out what I use this time so I can write it down.

5
darkwolf7•

Yes, I think apple cider is apple juice before everything(including pectin) is removed. Given that you didn't use any additional pectin though, I would think the thickness is mainly from the sugar, with a bit of pectin from the chili and cider.

4
cmal•

Depends on what we are talking about, really. Odds are if it isn't fresh, it has very little pectin as it needs to be pasteurized.

2
theboylilikoi•

I'm almost sure that there was no pectin in the apple cider. Apple cider is the pressed juice from raw apples and to get the pectin out of the apple pulp you kind of have to heat it.

However, I bet the pectin in the peppers, the acidic environment, and the hydroscopic nature of sugar (also the fact that there wasn't much water to begin with) were what caused it to get thick. Pectin definitely works best in acidic environments (3.2 ph is optimal) and in high sugar environments (60-65 brix optimal for gelling).

2
Biffingston•

to get the pectin out of the apple pulp you kind of have to heat it.

Isn't cider often pasturized? And doesn't the press produce heat as well?

2
theboylilikoi•

The pressing doesn't extract enough pectin. Typically apply juice is a cold pressed juice, and even if it added heat, it's not equivalent to boiling it for ~30 minutes. And if it's pasteurized, they're going to pasteurize it AFTER they press it.

2
Biffingston•

Just a thought.. :)

2
purpleyam•

curious, as to what kind of peppers you used. pectin powder is not available where I live, and my alternative to it - agar agar, is also hard to find these days. I was gonna make hot pepper jam using bird's eye chili

1
AConzrowOP•

Jalapenos, habaneros, large italian frying peppers and a few others that I couldn't identify. It was a box of assorted peppers from a pepper festival or something.

2
Wisdom4Less•

Can I get this recipe?I would love to try this.

1
AConzrowOP•

I didn't really measure much but here goes what I remember.

  • Approx 20 various hot peppers, seeded and deveined, chopped fine
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup apple cider
  • 1/2 cup white sugar (depends on how hot your pepper mix is)
  • salt as needed

Put all ingredients into a saucepan, bring to a boil then down to a simmer. Let simmer for about 30-45 minutes or until thickened to your liking. Put in a glass jar, cool and then put in the refrigerator since it isn't jarred/ canned and not shelf stable. The key is to taste it while simmering so you can judge the sugar needed to balance the heat of the peppers.

1
happiersadist•

As an aside, you can check whether a liquid contains pectin by splashing some rubbing alcohol (isopropanol/isopropyl) into a small sample of it and then using a fork to fish around in it. If there's pectin, thick, gelled strands will form and sit on the tines of the fork. The more pectin the sample contains, the thicker and more cohesive the clump will be. A juice that will make a good jelly will have a reasonably solidly packed clump.

(You should throw the test sample out.)

1
AConzrowOP•

I'll try it out when I get home tonight and report back.

1
IAmYourTopGuy•

Acidity and high sugar concentrations increases the jelling abilities of pectin, and pectin can be naturally derived from all plant tissues, concentrations just vary depending on what the tissue is. Pectin is used by plants to link cell walls together, and the more rigid the tissue is, the more pectin is available which is why pectin is most concentrated in plant skin. Side note, commercial pectin is derived from citrus skin given the toughness of pith.

1