| Strawberry jamming Again | | | | a dishcloth before preparing). So |
| More practical musings ? hints and tips | | | | something needs to be added. I usually |
| on making strawberry jam. | | | | add lemon juice, which doesn?t affect |
| Sunshine for the rest of the year | | | | the flavour, you can also buy pectin in |
| So I?m preparing strawberries for jam, | | | | packets. The more lemon juice you use , |
| the third evening this week. It is the | | | | the more likely it is to set firm ? I |
| most productive week of the year as far | | | | like mine a bit runny, so tend to juggle |
| as our strawberries are concerned. The | | | | the lemon juice a bit. |
| best are already sold, fresh in punnets | | | | 1 kg prepared strawberries |
| and the seconds, some with scarcely a | | | | 750g sugar |
| blemish, others hideously deformed but | | | | 25ml-50ml lemon juice or more if it |
| still flavoursome, are piled in heaps | | | | doesn?t set! |
| waiting to be hulled, halved, weighed | | | | Use a large thick based pan. The |
| and jammed. | | | | strawberries should only come to about |
| Just taking part in this process, I feel | | | | half way up or they will boil merrily |
| a bond back through the centuries with | | | | over, coating your stove with sticky |
| all the women, who preserved, jammed, | | | | foam. Let the strawberries soak with the |
| pickled, prolonging the goodness and | | | | sugar overnight. This brings out the |
| abundance of the seasonal produce to | | | | juice and keeps the fruit firmer so it |
| last the whole year through. In the days | | | | doesn?t dissolve into a mush when |
| before fridges, freezers, supermarkets, | | | | cooked. Bring slowly to the boil, |
| intercontinental fast transport, each | | | | stirring occasionally to make sure the |
| household would have relied on itself to | | | | sugar dissolves before it boils. Then |
| survive the winter without diseases | | | | add the lemon juice. Boil at a moderate |
| caused by vitamin deficiency and lack of | | | | pace, without stirring, for at least |
| sunshine. Making jam wasn?t just a | | | | half an hour before testing. |
| luxury sweet, it was a way of preserving | | | | The main thing is to keep your jam under |
| the summer sunshine a little longer, of | | | | observation after the first half hour of |
| giving your children some vitamins to | | | | boiling and sniff( to make sure it?s not |
| keep them strong, when the only things | | | | burning on the bottom of the pan), test |
| growing in the garden were cabbage or | | | | every 5 minutes with a drop on a cold |
| Brussels sprouts! I wonder if those | | | | plate. Let it cool for a couple of |
| children ate them without fuss? Your | | | | minutes. If it starts feeling syrupy and |
| preserves would have been eked out to | | | | makes a string to your finger when you |
| last until spring brought new fresh | | | | dip it, then that?s a good runny, syrupy |
| growth with it. | | | | jam. If a skin forms and wrinkles when |
| Our jam supplies usually just last | | | | you push your finger through the drop of |
| through until the next strawberry | | | | jam then it?s a firmer set. If after an |
| season. I?m generous to start with, | | | | hour it still doesn?t get to either of |
| giving it away as presents to friends, | | | | those stages you might have to add more |
| selling it at the market for our school, | | | | lemon juice and boil it up again for |
| then, strawberry season over, I count | | | | another twenty minutes or so then start |
| the jars and begin to get more | | | | testing all over again. You can tell if |
| parsimonious. After all bought jam is | | | | it is getting there as the bubbles start |
| now unheard of in the family, I?m the | | | | looking more syrupy, a slower rolling |
| only one who eats marmalade, which fills | | | | boil. |
| the winter jam gap, so the strawberry | | | | Have your jars ready. 1kg of fruit makes |
| and apricot jam has got to last, come | | | | about three medium sized jars. I usually |
| what may. | | | | sterilise mine by pouring boiling water |
| My strawberry jam recipe for success? ( | | | | into clean, dry jars up to the top (they |
| and please note that this is just how I | | | | must be dry though, if there are drops |
| make it? I?m not an expert and don?t | | | | of cold water in they can crack). Then |
| even have a jam thermometer, but I guess | | | | when the jam is ready, pour out the hot |
| they didn?t in the old days either. | | | | water and ladle in the jam, right to the |
| These are just hints and tips gathered | | | | top, put on a circle of either waxed or |
| from making my own mistakes and from the | | | | baking paper and then the lid. Tighten |
| advice of my sister-in-law.) | | | | the lid now while it?s hot for a good |
| Extremely simple ingredients, but | | | | seal. The spills of jam are easier to |
| results vary wildly from the runny | | | | wipe off while it?s still hot too, hold |
| (running right off your toast runny) to | | | | with a cloth though, hot is really HOT! |
| the thick (spoon stands up in it) for no | | | | If all this is sounding a bit laborious, |
| apparent reason ? well the length of | | | | you can always try waiting for the |
| time cooking together with the amount of | | | | apricot season. Apricots are far less |
| pectin are the reasons but you can?t | | | | temperamental, have plenty of pectin and |
| always tell about the pectin in advance. | | | | set more easily?. But hey.. strawberries |
| Strawberries are very low in pectin, | | | | are worth the effort and it?s mainly |
| which is what makes jam set and the | | | | patience you need, not technique. There |
| riper they are the less there is. If | | | | is a huge satisfaction from seeing the |
| they are wet that also dilutes the | | | | jars lined up on the shelf, to see you |
| pectin (let them dry on kitchen towel or | | | | through the winter. Good luck! |