I am no longer a jam-making virgin!
I bought nearly four pounds of plums for 50p on Wednesday (they were a bit over ripe from the farm shop).
I have learnt several interesting things about jam making:
1. making jam with four pounds of fruit needs a lot of sugar (I ran out - so didn't put quite enough in!)
2. my largest saucepan isn't big enough to make jam with four pounds of fruit (it boiled over, so I had a lovely sweet sticky cooker!)
3. making jam with four pounds of fruit makes an awful lot of jam. I filled the six jars I'd been saving up for the purpose and still had some jam left over, which went in a big pickle jar. I will never eat that much jam, but at least now I have something to give my neighbour as a thank you for all the composting stuff!
4. home made jam is yummy. I'm eating it right now.
I'm going to try green tomato jam next week (Bob Flowerdew recommends it!)
Congratulations its an art that is not taught now.
My only tip is a presure cooker with out the lid. A heavy bottom sauspan is great for jam making.
If you go to a good cookshop you can get jam pans - they are big and wide and let the jam get to a rolling boil without rolling over your cooker as well!
The purchase I made most recently has been a jam thermometer - fantastic - stops me from overboiling jam "just in case" and ending up with pots of raspberry coulis instead (like the year before last).
And if you go to John Lewis or lakeland you can get a hanging muslin bag kit thing to make Jelly with.
Ten x (proud owner of entire cupboard full of jam/jelly)
Doodoodoodoodoodoo dum, congratulations, congratulations, you are a a4all jamming virgin no more.... okay, Motzart I ain't, but well done you! I love making jam, the colours are so shocking and you can mix and match alsorts of great flavours!
Ask your friends and neighbours if they wouldn't mind saving the odd jar for you, my lot save me 'pretty' jars, and I agree with Theresa and Ten, a good BIG heavy pan is definately the way to go. I have a thermometer which I use, but I also test on a cold saucer, just in case.
Have collected all of the medlars from my tree and am letting them soften with some apples so medlar jelly next week. Don't forget to freeze excess fruits and then you can make jam at your leisure when supplies run low, altho I need to make jam just to make more room in my freezer! I freeze all the odds and sods of fruit and then make a tutti fruitii jelly jam which number one daughter adores on bread.
Hoorah for Jam!
EJ - I was surprised by the plum colour - bright red, not dark like I'd thought.
I spent Wednesday early evening making jam and defrosting the freezer. I really enjoyed both activities. It's so weird because I realised that by being so conventional I was in fact being very unconventional. I don't know many people my age (outside of this board) who would enjoy jam making so much.
I also went blackberry picking on Wednesday, near the stables. I picked a few handfuls of berries, plus some strawbs out of the garden, which are all now in the freezer. There were quite a lot of red blackberries, so I'll pick them when they are ripe, plus the other strawbs that will ripen in my garden and make another batch of jammy jam.
If you are going blackberrying this year try making bramble jelly - like jam but without the pips! I made my first ever batch this year and it is gorgeous!