I went to use my CERTO liquid pectin dated July 24 for raspberry jam and was wondering if I could still use it. I researched it, and came to this site. What great information from many different years! Thank you so very much! CERTO here I come tomorrow.

 

I make Lilikoi Jelly and always use Certo. Recently, one of my Certo boxes was expired by 1 year!! - Because I needed jelly for that afternoon. All the packets were liquidy and looked the same when opened. The jelly came out perfect. Now I'm out of Certo and discovered the price has doubled in the year since I bought any..making homemade jelly very expensive. I'm looking into substituting powdered pectin.. and see a lot of low sugar versions that need freezing, but I'd like the recipe I have that is OK unrefrigerated until opened.

 

I'm just making blueberry/cherry/cranberry jam today. That's interesting that you had a good result even though it was expired. My best turn out is while using the Certo dry crystals and Rogers Lantic sugar. Lantic sugar is just sugar, pectin crystals and citric acid. I usually make two batches at a time. I kilo of berries, 800 to 900 grams of sugar, 1 pack of Certo crystals and about 200 grams of Lantic sugar for each batch. Oh yeah...I juice a lemon and split it up between the batches. I also grate the lemon skin into it.
The dry crystals are cheaper than the liquid Certo. I get the dry for $2.99 and the liquid costs $4.99.

 

I realize this post is a dozen years old but I like to add a few points. Dry pectin will last much longer than liquid. I think the liquid can become less effective over time. You can still try it past the expiry date but look at it first (liquid). It could become cloudy or spoiled and it's not worth ruining the flavor of your jam over a sketchy $3 dollar package of pectin.
Also, if your jam doesn't set you can always process it again. Simply empty the jars back into a large sauce pan, bring it to a boil and add more sugar and pectin and pour it back into sterilised (the same) bottles. I would use new seals.
I've done this before and my jam thickened up perfectly. Or you can use it as syrup like someone mentioned on a previous reply.

 

10+ years old with discoloration? Pitch it.

 

I opened several sealed jars of low or no sugar ball pectin that was 10 years expired. It taste fine but all the pectin wasn’t a uniform color. Is that a problem if it still tastes fine.

 

I used some some pectin yesterday to make blackberry jam that expired in 2001 (22 years ago). Figured it was worth a shot. I had both dry and liquid with about the same dates that had been in my basement for years. Honestly the jam is a bit runny, but tastes fine.

 

I have the fruit thawing to make several batches of jam today. I made sure I had plenty of sugar and thought I had enough sure-jell. Well I do, if I count the expired boxes. Sigh
So I just did a search on google for expired pectin, sure jell. What I have is the dry kind, not liquid. Expiration is 2002. Yup, 10 yrs old. I am thinking of using a box of jello also in the batch to help set it up better.

So have you used expired, and how much expired was it ?

I priced sure jell yesterday in Walmart

Heck, 10 years is nothing compared to the box I found today at my parents' house- it says Jan 20 1995! It's going in the trash- too much time and effort goes into making strawberry jam for me to risk it!

 

So glad I found this forum!! I almost threw away my sealed sure-jell powder because best buy was 5 MONTHS ago. I’m feeling reassured it will be fine!! Peach Jelly, here we come!!! 🍑

 

I have pectin from 2012 that was just given to me. Thanks for all the answers folks. I will try it

 

Did it smell funny when you opened it? And yes, welcome!

 

I would call the company and see what they say. They'll probably send you coupons for free product. And welcome to FV!!

 

I have some sure jell pectin that does not expire until 2023, but I made strawberry jam the other day and it had a strange chemical taste. Can pectin be altered by heat or something? It was in the garage for a while (although I think only for the winter..). I'm confused. I have 4 other boxes with the same dates but I'm afraid to use them.

 

How did the fruit- cooked or fresh, taste before you added the pectin? Have you made the recipe before? Store-bought and non-organic strawberries are allegedly highly treated with chemical (fungicides?)s to keep them fresh looking because they bruise and rot easily.

 

I don't worry too much about best-before dates if an item passes the look-and-sniff tests. But I'm discarding the seven sachets of Certo I found in the back of a top cupboard. The best-before date is 35 years ago. Clearly I've managed to make jams and chutneys for many years without Certo.

 

you can decide it's sauce, or you can try again!
I use pomona pectin, other's like sur jel, andsome like the liquid sur jel.
You can always use this as an experiment with the options.
Usually when something doesn't set for me, if it still tastes good, I just relabel it as "sauce" and move on.

 

My cucumber jam did not set. Dry fruit pectin was old. Can it be re done?

 

Can't wait to hear if it works! I have some pomona pectin that is a few years "expired" though it seems to be a "best by" date rather than expiration. I plan to just keep using it. I like syrup anyway.

 

Soo I’m about to try using a box that expired 18 years ago... 6/9/02. It’s really fitting actually. I want to use my beet water leftover from pickling beets. It’s a faux grape jelly recipie supposedly from the depression era. Have several boxes of expired sure jell that my neighbor gave to me a while back... fingers crossed

 

New here. Found you guys after a google search on expired pectin. Mine is not a decade old :vs_laugh:, only one year past date. I figure I'm good to go since expiration dates have little meaning here. :vs_box: Now, I am wondering something else. I am (first time) making cherry preserves. Recipe called for 1 box of pectin, then had 3.5 ounce in parenthesis. So, I added two boxes. Later, I wondered if I should've only added 1, which is 1.75 ounce. Recipe has 6 cups of cherries. Hope I haven't messed things up. Thanks to any input on this.

 

Nice to see a old thread surface

I am getting ready to make jam again. Not sure how much , but probably at least 60 pints. Then I won't have to make it again for awhile. We just turned our outside wood boiler on for the winter yesterday. It also heats our hot water in the winter. So I can use all the hot water I need to , and not worry about the electric bill.
Plan is to make strawberry, red raspberry, blueberry, grape, rhubarb, black raspberry ( blackcaps), and some apple jelly. I freeze during the summer and then come fall, I have the berries ready to work with. I stocked up on sugar recently. I did buy some bulk pection to try. $ 2.99 and it is enough for 3 batches. I also have some I paid .99 for 1 box/batch. No sense paying Walmart $ 2.99 for a box to make 1 batch. And if I run out, I know I still have some expired pectin I can use
I also got some jello yesterday as backup plan. I thought 50 cents a box was a good price. Raspberry, blackberry and strawberry flavors.

 

This is almost unbelievable but today I was making some jalapeno jelly and needed some pectin. When mom gave me hers, I told her it expired 19 years ago. She said it doesn't go bad....I was skeptical so looked online and found this forum. Well, I used that powdered MCP pectin and sure enough, it jelled up quite nicely! The jelly is absolutely delicious. SO long story short...it still works great after 19 years. (actually 19 and 1/2 years!)

 

I agree. I don't think I'd worry about pectin.

The worst expired product I've ever tried to use was toothpaste that was years out of date. Does toothpaste get old? Yes. Apparently it does ... eventually.

 

Use that expired liquid pectin if it looks good!

Duplicate post.

 

I picked red raspberries this morning and chose to use liquid pectin Certo that expired 3 years ago! Today is August 14, 2015 and the pectin expired September 20, 2012. I knew it was a gamble but I was up for it... I feel lucky today. Most importantly, I am too FRUGAL (or cheap) to go buy new pectin. I wanted to use what I had on hand.

Anyways, I made extra care to measure everything precisely: the sugar and the exact amount of crushed berries and I gave it a go. It worked out perfectly! Right now the jam is sitting on the counter setting up as I type. I am so excited that it worked. This pectin was sealed in a foil package and was clear and flowed nicely when I added it to the recipe. So, it seems this liquid pectin can be used much longer than the expiry date suggests. I just wanted to contribute my experience for future readers of this blog.

 

So have you used expired, and how much expired was it ?

I priced sure jell yesterday in Walmart

I have used expired.........quite often, never had a problem. Think it might have been newer than 10 years exp. though. (good to see someone as bad, or worse, then I am---:laugh

The price and using the exp. is exactly why I will do it...........would rather have 'runny jam' than toss something. I think part of the key---if there is one---is keeping it in a cool, dry spot. Mine is in the basement---always cool---and dry.

Jos........have made jam with green tomatoes.......and using jello.......for any flavor it seems a little milder but friends that "think" they HATE tomatoes ate it........and then I told them what they were eating. Have tried cherry, rasp., strawberry......my favorite was rasp...........my least fav. was cherry. I think the cherry was too mild for my taste. But still decent. It is great fun to experiment.

Have you tried the jam using bananas? I think it is really good and lots seem to love it on waffles. My first batch was a little sweet but got it down now.

 

I just found out about this making jam with jello thingie last year. I have made rhubarb jam with strawberry jello. I hear you can also make "raspberry" jam with green tomatos ground up and raspberry jello.
I would love to hear any more stories about it.