Summer Fruits

Summer holidays mean fruit picking and this year our local PYO is looking pretty good. All that sunshine we've been having and the soggy year last year seems to have provided a pretty good crop so far!

I spent a lovely hour in the late afternoon sunshine picking blackcurrants and strawberries to bring home for some summer jam making.

I picked a kilogram of each and once I'd got them home I washed them and took out all of the stems (I'll be honest I didn't pick all of the bits off the blackcurrants because I'm lazy and... someone told me it would simply add to the rustic taste....great advice!).

To make jam you need the same weight of fruit to preserving sugar and knowing I had 2kg of fruit I knew I'd need 2kg of sugar... However, when I came to weigh the fruit, just for the purposes of double checking, I didn't quite have enough... I've since heard this is a common mystery that occurs when living with other people, food just disappears....

The first step is to soften the fruit over a low heat in 125ml of lemon juice (if you're using 2kg of fruit/sugar). Once the fruit is soft and the amount of juice has more than doubled in the pan you can add the sugar. Keep stirring until all of the sugar has dissolved. Once it has, you can bring the fruit to the boil for around 15 - 20 minutes then test it to see whether it has set. If you don't have a jam thermometer there are a few other ways to test for the setting point. I recommend trying both the first time then in future you can use the one that worked the best for you. Here is a good video demonstration of the saucer test. The other method is the flake test.

I did these tests and thought my jam was set but once it had time to cool in the jar it was still a little runny. BUT TASTES AMAZING!

Jam making was actually much easier than I thought and I'm definitely going to do it again. It is so satisfying making something for yourself that you can then enjoy throughout the year (my batch made about 9 jars!) and I'm certain it tastes better than bought jam just because I made it myself!