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