Making Jam (the easy way)

I recently, after talking to my Step Mom who lives in France, found a nice and easy way to make jam from most fruits, it is the local way from where they live in the Charante region.

The lane on which we live has an immense ammount of blackberry bushes, so at this time of the year we all traipse up the lane on a blackberry picking spree, so far this year I have picked over 6lbs worth, 3lbs went into making blackberry and apple jelly and the other on blackberry and apple jam, today I will explain the jam making.

Wash then weigh your fruit (I had 4lbs including the apples) and put it all in a large bowl, then weigh out the equivelent in sugar, I use normal granulated, pour the sugar over the fruit, cover with a clean, dry tea towel and leave overnight, this soaks out a good deal of juice from the fruit.

The next morning, pour the sugar and fruit into a large (at least 5L) pan, I have made the mistake of using a pan that was too small and it makes a HUGE mess!!!, bring it to the boil on a medium heat. When it is boiling well you may need to up the heat to get a good fast boil on it. When you put the pan on you will need to get your jars sterilised, I do this by put them upside down in the oven, staight onto the rack then turning the oven on to 140 degrees C, 275 F, Gas mark 1, leaving them in there until your jam is ready to be poured in. After about 15mins you will need to start checking the jam to see if it is reaching the setting point, there are two main ways to do this, the easy way is a jam/sweet thermometer, John Lewis do a great one at a reasonable price (I have one of these) it tells you the correct setting temp for all sorts of sweets and preserves, the other way is the good old fashioned way of dripping some onto a plate/saucer and popping it in the fridge for a couple of minutes then testing it using your finger, if the surface wrinkles it is just about ready. It takes roughly 20 minutes depending on your cooker.

When it is at the right temperature you will need to take it off the hot ring immediately, get your jars from the oven, place them on a tea towel and pour the jam into them, I have a funnel that I use only when making jam, I cut the narrow part off so that the fruit will still go through into the jar, fill the jars right to the top and put on a  Waxed Circle  (this helps it to keep for a long time in a cool dark cupboard), then get the lid on straight away.  Leave too cool, this will take a good few hours, but at the end of it you will have some gorgeous home made jam, that will last months, I presantly have 7 jars of jam and 6 of jelly in my cupboard much cheaper than buying from a supermarket as you have free fruit!!!

 

 

I have also made strawberry and blueberry jam in this way, and will make more next year as I now have a blueberry bush that will (hopefully) bear fruit next summer.

Enjoy making your own jam

Trish xxx 

Comments

[Diana]

Thanks looks super yummy!

[Jo]

That's it! I'm coming to your house for tea!