It’s jam today! Or actually over the summer and early autumn to be precise. Nothing like homemade jam if you have a glut of fruit, though as a matter of fact the idea that you need enormous quantities of fruit to make jamming it worthwhile is a complete myth.
As little as a pound of fruit will usually yield at least two decent jars of jam. Plus, with a preserve of such high sugar content there’s no need to boil the jars to seal them.
Jams go back to ancient times when Greeks and Romans cooked fruit with honey. The use of sugar in preserving comes from Persia, where sugarcane was available. And in the 17th century France jams were a royal luxury treat!
Traditional strawberries, apples and peaches plus foraged brambles and rose hip – so many things can be jammed!
Some say it’s the best, and strawberry jam is certainly the most popular. From just a kilo of strawberries and a bag of jamming sugar you can get four jars of delicious strawberry jam. The addition of lemon juice and black pepper hugely enhances the flavour.
Delicious homemade raspberry jam, easy to make even in small quantities: equal amounts of fruit and sugar cooked to setting temperature of 105C. Also, don't believe in sugar free jams: they won't set and won't keep.
Fragrant blueberry jam made in a small batch with a sprig of rosemary and a little balsamic vinegar is the flavour made in heaven. This will be your all-time best homemade jar of jam.
Peach jam with a hint of vanilla, easy to make and very flavoursome. Roughly chopped peaches make wonderfully chunky jam, and there’s absolutely no need to remove the skins.
Apricot jam recipe, for spooning on toast and for using as a filling in chocolate cakes. This is a quick and easy apricot jam recipe with a touch of spice. Apricots have only an average pectin content so best add some pectin powder or use preserving sugar.
Like all jams, making cherry jam is easy and you can cook a small quantity even with ordinary sugar. My cherry jam recipe has a secret ingredient that enhances the flavour, and it uses ordinary cherries but if you get hold of Morello cherries, it will be a special treat.
Come August, it’s time for bramble jelly, old fashioned seedless jam made from wild blackberries. Pick your brambles and get jamming – and there’s no need for special equipment.
Rose hip jam made from gorgeously bright wild rose fruit picked in September tastes a little like apricot jam, and is rich in Vitamin C.
Apple marmalade, thick and gorgeous spiced apple preserve with natural pectin. If it’s never jam today, perhaps we can have some marmalade, eh?
And I couldn’t leave out redcurrant jelly which is awesome with roast lamb, turkey pie and venison steaks. And this is a super speedy recipe which still makes crystal clear jelly!