Jam Making

The recent rains and warm sunshine have swelled the soft fruits in my garden.  I have picked loganberries, gooseberries, redcurrants etc and prepared them for jam making.  Most just need a wash in the colander but the gooseberries need topping and tailing!
It has been quite manic in my kitchen today as I prepared the fruits and made jam. I had three pans on the go at a time. 

Gooseberries simmering

 Although I have made jams and jellies for years I do not possess a preserving pan. I like to improvise! I use my largest saucepans and a large cast iron casserole. 
The gooseberries were put on to simmer first as they need longer to cook to soften the tough outer skin. The second pan contained raspberries and loganberries whilst the third had the redcurrants.  Redcurrants can be extremely fiddly to remove from the stalks but this is unnecessary as I make redcurrant jelly to serve with lamb or to add to various sauces etc. (Sometimes I 'paint' redcurrant jelly on a rack of lamb and then add herbs and breadcrumbs to make a herb crust - it is also nice to stir a spoonful into the gravy served with liver and onions).


Gooseberry
Raspberry & Loganberry



When the fruits were cooked I added the sugar and stirred well until it dissolved then brought it back to the boil and boiled until it reached setting point. I will write about that at another time. The redcurrant was treated differently to the other jams. The redcurrants were cooked on their stalks  then I strained them through muslin. I  will leave the juice to drip overnight. This process ensures a clear jelly. Tomorrow I will measure the juice and add sugar accordingly and bring to the boil until a set is obtained.  (1 pint of juice to 1lb sugar).

The jams have been put into a variety of recycled jars which I sterilised.  This evening I will make the labels and add the date then store them in a cool cupboard for use throughout the coming year.

Over the coming weeks the remaining fruits will be harvested and will be frozen to use in tarts, pies, crumbles etc.

Growing fruit is simple; they need little care, just an annual prune to cut back the growth - mostly this year's fruiting stems. The only cost in producing the jams and jellies is the sugar and electricity!

The flavour is out of this world, far superior to the best quality supermarket jams and jellies. Why not give it a go!

As if I hadn't done enough today, I also prepared some diced lamb and marinated it in a mixture of spices to make a Moroccan Lamb Tagine tomorrow. This is sitting in the fridge and the meat will take up the flavour of the spices before I cook it.  More about that tomorrow.