# Clear jel vs corn starch?



## Ohio dreamer

I know corn starch is a no-no in caning. The recipe for apple pie filling I want to make uses corn starch....do I substitute the clear jel 1:1?


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## FishOil

I use a cup and a half of Clear Jel per 7 quarts of apples.



FishOil


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## jersey girl

I would like to try some recipes with clear jel. Do you know of a website that has good ones? 
Thanks
Joanie


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## judylou

No it is not a 1:1 substitution. NCHFP gives you the conversion chart for using Clear Jel in pie filling recipes.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_02/canpie.html


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## Ohio dreamer

Judylou, is using less clear jel then a recipe calls for ok? I find the extension office recipes are thicker then I care for.


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## judylou

> Judylou, is using less clear jel then a recipe calls for ok? I find the extension office recipes are thicker then I care for.


Sure you can use less. You can even leave it out all together. Many, myself included, choose to can their pie fillings as fillings but without any thickener, including Clear Jel, and then add the thickener they prefer right when making the pie.

I much prefer either cornstarch or tapioca depending on the fruit so I leave out the Clear Jel and add my cornstarch to my filling just before dumping it into the pie shell. Easy and quick to do.


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## mare

what fruit do you use tapioca with--i must be hugry but that sounds real good


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## judylou

I use tapioca in any of the extra juicy, really acid fruit pies, like cherry and blueberry and especially pineapple pie. It thickens better than cornstarch in the presence of acid and it absorbs more of the juice so the pie has more flavor but not the soggy bottom crust you often find with juicy fruits. 

Just don't use it in a lattice crust pie or you get hard bits where the fruit is exposed to the heat. Two-crust pies only.


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## Ohio dreamer

Thanks! I think I'll go ahead and just lower the quantity of clear jel. I like to make 7-14 qts of pie filling for those...."I need something NOW" situations I find myself in way too often. The bulk of my apples are canned in water so I can determine later what they will become.

Interesting on the tapioca. I have never tried that, will have to give it a try next year if we get we berries in like we plan. I've always steered away from recipes that use it as I can't get my mind off tapioca pudding - and I don't want "soft gritty stuff", as I called it as a kid, in my pie filling.


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## mare

judylou said:


> I use tapioca in any of the extra juicy, really acid fruit pies, like cherry and blueberry and especially pineapple pie. It thickens better than cornstarch in the presence of acid and it absorbs more of the juice so the pie has more flavor but not the soggy bottom crust you often find with juicy fruits.
> 
> thanks i will have to try that with all my frozen fruit. wow pineapple pie?? that sounds awesome, will have to look up the recipe...but am envisioning pineapple and brown sugar.


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## VT Chicklit

Ohio dreamer said:


> I know corn starch is a no-no in caning. The recipe for apple pie filling I want to make uses corn starch....do I substitute the clear jel 1:1?



Why is corn starch a no no in canning? This is something that I had never heard.


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## judylou

> Why is corn starch a no no in canning? This is something that I had never heard.


It is the same reason that all dairy products and oils are prohibited. Just like flour, pasta, rice, and any other so-called "thickeners" corn starch is prohibited in home canning because it both retards the heat penetration need to kill bacteria, but it also binds to bacteria and insulates them from the heat so the heat can't kill them. Clear Jel is the only approved thickener.


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