Made jam, first time ever

[David B]

Feeling fairly pleased with myself. 4.5 lb. It's a bit too sweet, perhaps, though I followed the recipe. And those cellophane covers I spent a while tracking down turned out to be useless, because the jars I used were too narrow in the mouth, being non standard sized Hartley's ones.

Never mind, though - it's helped use my Dad's surfeit of gooseberries, and has been a good rehearsal for fireweed jelly.

To avoid mould, I might stick a couple of jars in the freezer.

David (is feeling very pleased with himself:cool:)

[Valheru]

Fireweed jelly?

That sounds mildly...err.. illegal! :)

[David B]

Fireweed jelly?

That sounds mildly...err.. illegal! :)

Fraid not.

Arctish mentioned that she had made some back on TR, and posted her recipe here some time ago.

David

[DMB]

Well done, David!

I have so much jam I find it difficult to give away.

My son has more or less taken over the jam making from me. His jam is very good.

[willynilly]

Sounds yummy, congrats.

[Cath B]

Save some for me :)

[Cath B]

By the way, some folk from the mining community hereabouts call fireweed bingweed because it grows on coal bings.

[premjan]

Indian gooseberry is high in vitamin C and is often made into a tasty pickle. Also has a peculiar flavor.

[Cath B]

And those cellophane covers I spent a while tracking down turned out to be useless, because the jars I used were too narrow in the mouth, being non standard sized Hartley's ones.



Didn't you get rubber bands with them?

You're supposed to use them to ohold the cellophane in place at the top of the jar.

[David B]

And those cellophane covers I spent a while tracking down turned out to be useless, because the jars I used were too narrow in the mouth, being non standard sized Hartley's ones.



Didn't you get rubber bands with them?

You're supposed to use them to ohold the cellophane in place at the top of the jar.

I mean the little ones that sit on top of the jam, in contact with it.

David

[Cath B]

And those cellophane covers I spent a while tracking down turned out to be useless, because the jars I used were too narrow in the mouth, being non standard sized Hartley's ones.



Didn't you get rubber bands with them?

You're supposed to use them to ohold the cellophane in place at the top of the jar.

I mean the little ones that sit on top of the jam, in contact with it.

David

You just let the edges sit over the top.

I've sometimes toyed with the idea of covering the jam with a layer of wax, but I'm not sure how to go about it.

I've just googled the history of jam making (nothing on it in the UScentric wiki entry) and read somewhere or other that there are records of quince and medlar jams from Tudor England.

Bob made quince jelly (did you try some?) and so did I in an earlier year.

The medlars are good this year so I'll maybe give that a shot.

[David B]

Give it a go.

Google tells me that a lot of people don't like it much though. There are a few different recipes. There is also a medlar pudding.

http://www.absoluteaxarquia.com/food/persimon.html

David

[Cath B]

Good link!

[Cath B]

Dave, did you ever watch or help when Mum made jam?

Although I cook a fair few things we never ate as children I love the sense of continuity of making pastry, cakes and jam etc. pretty much the way Mum did, using recipes and my own ideas as an addition to that basic knowledge.

The fact that Mum spurned a lot of post WWII fads such as stock cubes makes the sense of historic continuity all the stronger.

[David B]

Dave, did you ever watch or help when Mum made jam?

Although I cook a fair few things we never ate as children I love the sense of continuity of making pastry, cakes and jam etc. pretty much the way Mum did, using recipes and my own ideas as an addition to that basic knowledge.

The fact that Mum spurned a lot of post WWII fads such as stock cubes makes the sense of historic continuity all the stronger.

I did watch a few times, but was also out a lot. I was remembering watching her as I was making mine yesterday, and wishing my memories were clearer.

I also remember the cooking of brawn, tripe, the picking of onions and tripe, and cakes and pastry, but wasn't paying enough attention for it to be really useful.

David

[miss djax]

congrats david!! i'd love to make some jam this year :)

[Cath B]

Dave, did you ever watch or help when Mum made jam?

Although I cook a fair few things we never ate as children I love the sense of continuity of making pastry, cakes and jam etc. pretty much the way Mum did, using recipes and my own ideas as an addition to that basic knowledge.

The fact that Mum spurned a lot of post WWII fads such as stock cubes makes the sense of historic continuity all the stronger.

I did watch a few times, but was also out a lot. I was remembering watching her as I was making mine yesterday, and wishing my memories were clearer.

I also remember the cooking of brawn, tripe, the picking of onions and tripe, and cakes and pastry, but wasn't paying enough attention for it to be really useful.

David

I presume you mean pickling onions.

I used to keep as far out of the way as I could when that and cooking/pickling beetroot was going on as I was ultrasensitive to the smell.

Mum told me that she used to cook tripe because our grandmother liked it but, being a lot younger than you, I can't remember it at all.

But Eleanor and I learnt a lot about cake making by helping Mum and, as we grew older, cooking our own and asking for help and advice when we needed it.

I got very much into jam making in the couple of years before going to Uni (when normal girls were buying clothes, applying make-up, going to discos and picking up guys :D) and picked up a lot more from Mum then than when I was a child.

Jam making is rather hazardous for young children to be ultra hands on.

Like other siblings you and I have our overlapping memories but with their individual flavours.

[Hevvin Machine]

My Dad used to make wonderful "freezer jam". The trick was you heated up the water and sugar, added the pectin, then while it was hot you squished it into fresh mashed berries. Then you put it all into the freezer. After a few days you could take out tubs, let them thaw, and it was the best jam ever. I think the secret was that the berries themselves never got cooked, so they didn't lose any of their flavor. UM UM!
Hev

[Christina]

I've never tried to make jam before. Is the sugar essential to the recipe for anything other than the taste? Fruit is sweet enough for me but I like that spreadable fruit with nothing added to it. I'm guessing it's just the fruit and some pectin but I'll have to look at the label next time.

[hecaterin]

Sugar is totally essential. It's the preservative. All those "spreadable fruit" and "no added sugar" spread type things use concentrated fruit juice, i.e. slightly different forms of sugar. Or else they're not really jam. (I've seen some recipes involving gelatine that you have to keep refrigerated.)

Also, you can do the paraffin disk on top of the jam just by melting down ordinary food-grade paraffin. And it may be useful, but it's unnecessary. I've kept ordinary jars of home made marmalade, jam and chutney in a top cupboard for years without mould problems. Marmalade and chutney tends to age well. Some jams not so well.

I use ordinary glass jars with plastic lids - heat the jars, rinse lids in boiling water, put in the jam while it's still hot, put on the lid, and that's it. The high temperature seal is the key. You need to be more careful once they've been opened.

[DMB]

My son has been staying with us in France for the past week and he went and picked a whole lot of fruit and made jam from it. So now we have jars and jars of excellent greengage, plum and mara des bois jam.

If you don't have an adequate concentration of sugar, the jam doesn't set. You need enough sugar so that when you boil the fruit/sugar mixture you reach a temperature of 132 oC. (use a sugar thermometer for best results). If you get to that temperature and maintain a rolling boil for two minutes, it's normally OK. Without enough sugar, you don't reach the crucial temperature.

[Christina]

Thanks for explaining that. Neither of us eat it very often but it would be fun to try to make a small batch to use in holiday baking.

[DMB]

The secret of keeping it tasty and not nauseatingly sweet is not to add much if any water but to add lemon juice. It helps it to set and gives it a bit of "bite". If I am making something like damson jam, I cook the fruit first without sugar, remove the stones, and only then add sugar, dissolve it thoroughly over a low heat, and then bring it to the boil as fast as possible. The longer the fruit boils with the added sugar, the less fruity the jam tastes. With soft fruit like raspberries or strawberries, you don't precook the fruit. You just mash up the fruit, add no water but add a bit of lemon juice, and then add the sugar. With strawberries you must add pectin in one form or another. My son saved the plum and greengage stones and put them in muslin bags so that he could add them to the pot while boiling the strawberry jam. That gave plenty of pectin.

[Cath B]

Sloe and quince make great distinctive jellies that are quite sharp.

I'm hoping to try my hand with medlars from the garden this year.

[Cath B]

My son has been staying with us in France for the past week and he went and picked a whole lot of fruit and made jam from it. So now we have jars and jars of excellent greengage, plum and mara des bois jam.


Makes me think of this book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greengage-Summer-Rumer-Godden/dp/033032778X) by Rumer Godden (http://www.rumergodden.com/)

On and off, all that hot French August, we made ourselves ill from eating the greengages . . .'

[hecaterin]

I have taken to using commercial pectin ("jamsetta") for my strawberry jam, though I used to use lemons as the source. I think the flavour is better without the lemon. Though plum and apricot benefit from lemon, IMO.