Jam Failure Turned Delicious Homemade Ice Cream
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Hi, my name is Ruby and I’m terrible at making jam.
Yes, I said it.
When I hear people telling new canners to make some jam to get started canning I cringe internally. Â Mostly because making jam is HARD and takes a lot of time and patience. Â If it came easily to you I’m so dang happy for you, but for me…. it’s big difficult. Â I feel like telling someone new to start with jam is setting them up for frustration and failure since it’s so temperamental and requires special ingredients that may not be easily sourced if you don’t exactly know what you’re looking for (ahem… pectin). Â Â
Not only is pectin my mortal enemy, but I could add a dump truck load of it to my jam and it would somehow end up thinner than when I started.  Don’t ask me how, it’s a talent I’m not willing to share.  And, yes, I’ve used every brand, every kind of powder and liquid pectin, commercial pectin, naturally obtained pectin, boiled the devil out of it, added too much sugar, added no sugar, used honey, stood on my head, and even tried stirring it with my toes to no avail.  So when someone says to start your canning adventures with making jam, to you I say, GOOD LUCK! May the odds be ever in your favor.
(A Professionally Curated List of)
Things I’ve Done Wrong That Made My Jam Not Set Up
- Uneven heating
- Added pectin too early
- Forgot the powdered pectin
- Using Pomonas, forgot the calcium chloride
- Using Pomonas, mixed the calcium chloride wrong/added at wrong time
- Forgot to mix pectin into the sugar mixture
- Didn’t add enough liquid pectin
- Didn’t boil it hard enough
- Didn’t understand the sheeting test or the frozen plate test
- Homemade strawberry jam – burnt the strawberries to my enamel pot because I’m dumb?
- Was short a cup sugar and figured it would be fine… it wasn’t
- Didn’t know there was a temperature for gelling point
- Didn’t read the pectin box
- Tried using sugar pectin with honey
- Forgot the lemon juice
- Tried tripling a jam recipe
The most recent and last batch I made deserves a paragraph. Â I recently came into lots of cheap strawberries and cockily figured I could absolutely throw some jam together real quick. Â I cut up strawberries, added them to my enamel cast iron pan, added a healthy squirt of lemon juice, and a gob of honey. Â Heated that up til they got soft, blended them with my immersion blender, and then brought it to a full rolling boil. Â
What I didn’t realize is that somewhere along the beginning some strawberries had burnt to the bottom of the pan (distracted mom life) and when it started boiling I scraped the bottom with my wood spatula only to see big black crusty floaties start coming to the top as I stirred.  Wouldn’t ya know that’s my life.  I still jarred the jam and am hoping for the best… maybe like a burnt camper pie flavor profile (**facepalm** LOL).  Once I tried to wash the pan, it was so burnt on there.  So burnt that it’s still actually on that pan and I made that jam over a month ago.  I’ve tried just about everything short of soaking in lye to get it off with no success. This is me.
Have we learned that I’m the problem?
And that’s only things I can remember I’ve done… there’s way more.
I’ve creatively used or followed remake directions on a lot of jams over the years. Way too much hard work just to screw up as much as I do. I will never learn. You give me fruit, I’ll give you the end result of runny fruit sauce. Every time. I will say, one time I made corn cob jelly (which is ahhmazing by the way) and used pectin that expired 7 years previous to me using it and wouldn’t you know, that jelly set up to perfection. Of course it did. Which…. expiration dates my rear enddduhhhh. Apparently I get better results when I have carefully aged pectin.
One great piece of advice I have learned along the way is to cook homemade jam to a specific temperature. To the gel point. I use a candy thermometer and boil that fruit over high heat until it hits 215-220 degrees F and it now sets up every time, even with zero sugar and I never use pectin. Since pectin hates me, I cut out the middle man and kicked it to the curb. Voila! Boiled fruit jam sets every time!
All my failures hatched a recipe idea in my brain; a great way to use my failed homemade jams. This is the perfect recipe to make a really nice fruity ice cream when you don’t have fresh fruit on hand that is a simple, dump the jar, add it to the rest, and churn it. The jam sweetens the ice cream perfectly and you don’t have to mess with finding good, ripe fruit, making the sauce for the ice cream quick, cooling it, and then adding. It’s right there at room temperature begging you to use it! So, whenever I have a batch of jam that has a soft set or a completely liquid set, I get excited cause I know I’m gonna be making ice cream and nobody’s going to be mad about it.
A gal can only have so much fruit “syrup” or ice cream topping to use. And, let’s face it, it ain’t syrup, it’s runny jam or runny jelly if you’re an overachiever. Slap that failed jam with some egg yolks and raw cream and GOAT MILK and we’ve got ourselves a deal. I’m also highly opinionated on what milk is the best milk to use and that is goat milk. A hill I will die on. And if you tell me “but Ruby, I don’t like goat milk because it tastes like a buck or it tastes like a goat” I will then ask you why you’re licking goats and also let you know that you’re not handing the milk properly or you’re basing your opinion off of the heinous store bought stuff… an abomination we won’t even acknowledge exists. Same with the goat cheese in the stores…. PUKE EMOJI.
Now that you’re educated on the proper milk you should be using…..
Let’s talk ice cream maker, churn, machine – You know what I mean
I use a cuisinart ice cream churn that has an insert you freeze in your freezer. Once the liquid isn’t sloshin’ around in there, it’s ready to use. I just store mine in the freezer so I don’t have to think about freezing them because most of the time I think about making ice cream right when I want to make it… zero forethought. I snagged my ice cream machine at a garage sale several years ago and its served me very well! My husband is an ice cream lovin’ man that can demolish a quart of homemade ice cream rather swiftly. And it’s a habit I happily indulge for him because HOMEMADE is the BEST. For my little ice cream churn, I don’t have to mess around with ice and salt and all that since it’s just a frozen insert. You put the insert on top of the motor that rotates it, place the churn paddle inside, top it with the lid, turn on the appliance, and then pour in the ice cream base with it running. It takes about 25 minutes to churn it into a soft serve consistency and then I freeze it. Lots of licking of the paddle and insert afterward too. Gotta test out the goods right? My kids are excellent quality control inspectors for ice cream!
Can I Use Regular Jam?
Of course. If you happen to be perfect and successful jam makers, first off ROUND OF APPLAUSE, but secondly, you can absolutely use jam for this ice cream recipe. I call it failed jam ice cream because I normally don’t use my set up jam for it since I have so much runny jam. Simply add your set jam to the ice cream and blend it with an immersion blender to fully incorporate it and break it apart in case it’s mega thiccccc.
Cook or No Cook the Custard?
This is an always your choice thing. The recipe I give is for no cook custard, meaning raw egg yolks, raw milk, and raw cream going straight into my ice cream maker. This is because that’s what my family enjoys and what I want for them as we have found that is the most nutritious for us in its most unadulterated state and it’s exponentially less work.
If you would prefer to temper your egg yolks and cook them, do that. You just won’t find instructions for it in my printable recipe.
To temper your eggs, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until fluffy and pale. In a sauce pan, add cream and heat on medium low with the salt until it starts to steam. Slowly pour to hot cream into the egg yolks while whisking constantly. Then add the entire mixture back to the sauce pan and continue to heat over medium heat while stirring constantly. Cook til thickened and when you coat the back of a spoon and then run your finger down the middle, it doesn’t run back together. The cooking time here will be about 3 minutes. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer just in case any egg yolks scrambled, add the jam and extract and whisk to combine. Refrigerate for about 4 hours to cool completely with a piece of plastic wrap touching the top of the ice cream base to prevent a skin from forming. (The skin isn’t the end of the world, I just don’t like it. I’ve heard from some folks that they actually enjoy the skin and the texture??). After the base is cool, churn as normal.
My Favorite Jams for Ice Cream
- Peach Raspberry (10/10 stars)
- Blackberry Jam
- Strawberry Syrup…. I mean jam (strawberry never sets up for me unless I burn it)
- Orange jam
Equipment You Might Want
- Mixing Bowl
- Immersion Blender
- Ice Cream Maker
- Ice Cream Container
- Ice Cream Scoop
Ingredients
- 1 pint failed jam
- egg yolks
- raw, unrefined sugar
- cream
- vanilla extract
- salt
When life gives you runny jam that didn’t set up, you make ice cream!
Step 1: Mix the Base
To a mixing bowl, add:
- 4 farm fresh egg yolks
- 1 pint failed jam
- 2 cups fresh raw cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Depending on how sweet your jam is the amount of sugar can be adjusted; add up to 1/2 cup raw, unrefined sugar. I tend to make low sugar and sugar free jam, so I add a bit of sugar to my ice cream. Adjust this to your own taste and preferences. If you made a full sugar jam, you may not need to add any extra sugar.
Step 2: Churn
Using an ice cream churn of choice, add the ice cream base and allow to churn according to manufacturer’s instructions.
Step 3: Freeze
Once churned, transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container and allow to freeze for several hours before serving; for best results 24 hours is best.
Notes:
- If you prefer a harder ice cream, feel free to sub half the cream with whole milk (better be goat milk). You can also sub entirely with whole goat milk which is crazy creamy on its own.
- If you want to use set jam that you didn’t fail, you can, just buzz it really well with the immersion blender to break it apart and mix it in.
Ingredients
- 4 farm fresh chicken egg yolks
- 2 cups cream
- 1/2 cup raw sugar adjusted to sugar content of jam, use all or none, your preference
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 pint failed jam/fruit sauce
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl or a blender, add egg yolks, cream, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and fruit sauce/failed jam. Whisk or blend to combine.
- Pour into ice cream churn and churn according to manufacturers instructions.
- Transfer to ice cream container and freeze.
Notes
- If you prefer a harder ice cream, feel free to sub half the cream with whole milk (better be goat milk). You can also sub entirely with whole goat milk which is crazy creamy on its own.
- If you want to use set jam that you didn’t fail, you can, just buzz it really well with the immersion blender to break it apart and mix it in.
