CraftyLight

My lovely jam, I made three jars, my husband's eaten one already!

As a birthday present last year, my friend-in-craft booked us both on a jam making course, which took place at our local adult learning centre last week. The top advice from the tutor was:-

Always use the best fruit you can afford to buy - cheap bruised fruit means watery tasteless jam
Before splashing out on any other kit buy a jam funnel!

Now I can attest to the latter because in the beginning of this year I made marmalade (without a funnel) and there was marmalade EVERYWHERE!

Making jam was surprisingly easy and the jam tasted absolutely heavenly, better than any jam I have ever tasted! Unfortunately I can't eat very much bread and what goes nicer with jam than a big slice of bread? Maybe a cream tea!? I shall have to get baking and make some scones, mmmm.

Below is the recipe for any who would like to try it and a link to the book they handed out at the end.

Strawberry Jam

Ingredients

2lb strawberries

1.5lbs jam sugar

1 lemon, juice only

small knob of butter

Preparation method

Place a saucer into the freezer to chill - you'll need this when you come to test the setting point of the jam.

Sterilise the jam jars - first wash the jars in soapy water and rinse in clean warm water. Allow them to drip-dry, upside down, on a rack in the oven set to 140C/275F/Gas 1. Leave them there for at least half an hour while you make the jam.

Hull the strawberries. Check for soft spots (which must be removed) and discard any berries with bruises or that are overripe.

Place the strawberries into either a preserving pan or very large saucepan, remembering that the mixture will rise as it boils, and add the sugar.

Stir over a gentle heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. This is important to ensure a sparkling clear jam!

Bring the strawberries up to the boil and add the lemon juice. When the strawberries have reached a rolling boil, set the timer for 8 minutes.

When the 8 minutes is up, remove the pan from the heat. Take your saucer from the freezer and place a drop of jam onto the cold plate. After a few seconds push the jam with your finger. If the jam surface wrinkles then it has reached setting point and is ready. If it slides about as a liquid, then it hasn't reached setting point and should be returned to the heat and boiled for 3 minutes before testing again.

When setting point has been reached, turn off the heat. Stir in the butter and skim off any scum on the surface of the jam with a large spoon.

Leave it aside to settle for 15 minutes ( this stops the fruit from floating to the top) then pour into the warm sterilised jars.

Seal immediately with waxed discs then cover with the lids or cellophane and elastic bands. Wait until jam is completely cool before labeling.