Grow Your Own Magazine

Made some Raspberry Jam at the weekend and had some in me sarnies for work today.AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

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The greatness comes not when things go always good for you,but the greatness comes when you are really tested,when you take,some knocks,some disappointments;because only if youv'e been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain.

Mmm, so much better than anything you can buy at the shops - We hardly every buy jam anymore. Good for you

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Got the recipe then?

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

According to my trusty Marguerite Patten 3000 recipe cook book

1lb Raspberries
1lb sugar

Heat the fruit until boiling point is reached (I understand, the slower the better)
Stir in the hot sugar - heated for a few minutes in the oven.
Boil rapidly until the jam is set. If the fruit is firm and fresh, this should only tale about 3 minutes of rapid boiling.

And that's - as they say, all there is to it

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Wonderful, isn't it. I love raspberies in any form, OH won't eat the jam as he hates the pips in his teeth.

Blimey thats a lot of sugar, haven't you got one with less and more fruit please? More like those nice French preserves you get.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

That level of sugar is normal in home-made jam. The ratio of sugar to jam is pretty constant across recipes, because the sugar is what makes it keep. However you set about it, you normally get about 5lbs jam from 3lbs sugar, but you can use extra fruit if you like (and some kinds of fruit you have to). That is why those French preserves have to be kept in the fridge after opening the jar...

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Flowers come in too many colours to see the world in black-and-white.

Yes I realise that. I thought scarey55 might have a French recipe, I don't mind having 'low sugar' jam, I'd prefer less sweet jam.

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

You could always try a fruit butter - I have never made it so I don't know how it sets but it certainly has less sugar. It won't keep as well as jam but then, I think you already know that.

According to my trusty Marguerite Patten book:

To make a fruit butter follow any of the directions for jam up to the point when the sugar is added.
Rub the fruit purée through a sieve.
Measure and add 8oz sugar to every lb or pint of pulp.
Boil until thickened.
Allow to cool.

This might be good for your OH as most of the pips stay in the sieve. Have you tried raspberry jelly though, that doesn't have any bits in at all and always my preferred way to have jam

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Thanks. BTW are you on commission?

Do you use a 'jelly bag' or some such?

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

No but..... there's a thought

I don't have a "real" jelly bag, I use a sort of net bag with a wooden jobbie to hold the fruit down - not making any sense am I? Hang on whilst I take a pic...

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

... Here you go,

Attached Thumbnails

   

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Very 'Heath Robinson'!

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Manda.

"Wouldn't it be nice
For maybe an hour
To not have a care."

Pass it through a sieve to get the pips out. A bit of a palaver i know but seedless jam is nice and stops the OH moaning abvout pips. Funny thing is he doesn't moan about srawberry jam bits

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Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful..William Morris

My rasps are starting to ripen now but not enough at a time to make jam with. Is it okay to either...

a) mix with strawbs and alpine strawbs for a sort of mixed red jam, or
b) freeze the rasps until I have enough?

Cheers.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

Shirley, I would say that it is OK to do either but...

If you want jelly rather than jam then strawberries don't work very well (they don't produce enough juice imho) and you may be better going down the freezer route.

Or... you could do what I did and make a strawberry and raspberry sorbet - won't last as long as jam but Mmmm

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A garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! (Thomas Edward Brown)

Cheers for that idea Scarey. They were headed for a smoothie tonight but we have just been plunged back into mid-winter so I will probably make a crumble instead!!

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

When I cleared the freezer out about this time last year I found a load of bags of soft fruit at the back from the previous year which I'd forgotten about. Not a lot of each but enough to make some mixed fruit jam which included some raspberries, blackberries, red currants, black currants, gooseberries and tayberries. It was lovely and the pre freezing and mixing made no difference to the taste at all. Not very keen on jellies myself as I like a bit of texture and really couldn't be bothered with all that extra faffing so can't comment on what a mixed fruit jelly would be like.

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

Mixed fruit jelly is gorgeous I always make some as the blackberries are starting to ripen with whatever bits of fruit are in the freezer - usually raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and maybe the odd bit of rhubarb or an early apple. We call it "Fruits of the Forest Jelly" and it always goes down well as Christmas presents

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Sarah

“Tell me one last thing,” said Harry. “Is this real? Or has this been happening inside my head?”
“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?”