Any tips on making jam????

[seeds]

I watched river cottage,the strawberry fest was quite a good idea considering that strawberry are such wonderful fruits

[taskey]

i watched it too and the jam making looked as if i could attempt it. he also did the butter at the last minute thing too.

Tracy

[The Green Angel]

Hi Seeds
Just making Raspberry Jam right now with 2 kilos of Rasberries off the lottie! It's boiling up a treat and making the house smell lovely...the trick is to cook the rasperries gently first to release their pectin for about 5 mins or until they are softened and the juice runs out, stir in the sugar and dissolve, then boil for anywhere between 5-20 mins checking every 2 mins for a set after 5 minutes. You could add a little lemon juice which is a lot cheaper than using special jam sugar. Don't be frightened of it, you need to boil it vigorously. Use unsalted butter which dissolves the scum and saves you wasting any of that precious jam by skimming it off. Leave it to cool for about 5 mins or so - this is so you get the fruit evenly distributed. Good luck, it's much easier than you think!

[rana]

Has anyone tried unusual additions to their jam. I watched HFW adding geranium leaves to strawberry jam which sounds intriguing. Any other reccommendations???????????

[seasprout]

Has anyone tried unusual additions to their jam. I watched HFW adding geranium leaves to strawberry jam which sounds intriguing. Any other recommendations???????????

Think I'd like to taste that one before trying it. I know he has funny tastes that bloke. I remember from his earlier days fried placenta.!

[bobleponge]

I dont know if this would work, but I'm going to try chopped mint leaves to my strawb jam when I get home. I love strawbs and mint when fresh, so hoping it will work in jam.
Think I'd give placenta and strawb jam a miss though!!

[seasprout]

I dont know if this would work, but I'm going to try chopped mint leaves to my strawb jam when I get home. I love strawbs and mint when fresh, so hoping it will work in jam.
Think I'd give placenta and strawb jam a miss though!!

Let us know what that's like....

Looking for variations on the Jam recipie.!

I have soo many strawbs at the mo..used another Kilo tonight making Hughes Strawberry and Gooseberry Jam, bit hot at the mo. Used four 1LB jars.

Might need to open up the back garden as a PYO to use them up.

[Hilary B]

There is no such thing as too many strawberries!
Try rich strawberry ice-cream (you'll never buy strawberry ice cream again).
1lb strawbs, mashed
4oz sugar (castor dissloves nicely)
1x 10fl ox tub double cream.
Mix thoroughly
put in ice-cream machine
switch on.technique for making without an ice-cream machine given on a different thread. (in Season to Taste I think)

[Florence Fennel]

Made HFW jam on Saturday without the geranium leaves. First time for me and I was worried that it would be strawberry sauce, but it's jam! Fantastic. Now I need more jars. It did take a hell of a long time to reach setting point though, but I think this was because I only had granulated sugar not the sugar with extra pectin. I was also scared that the jam was going to come over the top of the pan at the rolling boil, should I have kept stirring at this point, because I didn't. I can see the point of having a thick bottom (on the pan).

[bobleponge]

I generally stir pretty often, as otherwise a sticky bottom can easily occur (said without even the trace of a smile).
If you only have granulated sugar, try a bit of lemon juice, or some black/red/white currants for pectin. Doesnt normally take mine too long to reach setting point once its at a rolling boil.
Congats on making your jam, great use of strawbs, and it normally keeps for ages too.

[Florence Fennel]

I generally stir pretty often, as otherwise a sticky bottom can easily occur (said without even the trace of a smile).
If you only have granulated sugar, try a bit of lemon juice, or some black/red/white currants for pectin. Doesnt normally take mine too long to reach setting point once its at a rolling boil.
Congats on making your jam, great use of strawbs, and it normally keeps for ages too.

Thanks Bob, picked another 3 lbs of strawberries last night, so I'm on the scrounge for jars from people at work today. I did add lemon juice, so that must have saved it. I did buy preserving sugar, but didn't use it as it specified on the packet "for fruits high in pectin", trust me to get the wrong thing. I'll have to buy some more fruit trees now to use up the sugar!

[Hilary B]

Thanks Bob, picked another 3 lbs of strawberries last night, so I'm on the scrounge for jars from people at work today. I did add lemon juice, so that must have saved it. I did buy preserving sugar, but didn't use it as it specified on the packet "for fruits high in pectin", trust me to get the wrong thing. I'll have to buy some more fruit trees now to use up the sugar!

'Preserving sugar' is better for jam making than gran, in fact the difference is subtle, but it behaves better in jam making (less liable to stick I think).
'Jam sugar' has added pectin. I've never used it. The occasional 'poor set' is not that drastic anyway, and lemon-juice often saves the day.

[derekmat1]

Jam making

Hi, i have a few rasberry plants and they are swarming with fruit, so we were thinking of making some jam this year, any advice or tips???

Get some Jam sugar from shop two pounds of rasberries to two pounds of jam sugar.
squash fruit add sugar boil for 4 minutes pour into hot sterilised pots and seal
will keep for 12 months once open store in fridge

[seeds]

I love the comments and tips

[Lizzie]

Can I make rhubarb jam the same way?