Jam Making

September is usually a month when have a large glut of summer fruit making this a fantastic time for making jams, chutneys, cider, sauces and more. Today we take a look at jam making and what you can do in the garden.

Jam making is a wonderful activity for rainy day and there are a lot of great options for jams. At this time of year blackberries are everywhere but you can use any fruit for jam making including the most popular strawberries and raspberries, plums, greengages. Today we thought we’d share a simple jam making recipe for blackberries;

A jam making pan is the ideal way to make the jam but isn’t actually necessary – any wide stainless steel pan will do the job! This simple recipe makes it very easy to make any quantity of jam and you can adjust however you prefer.

• Put a plate in the fridge (for later)
• Sterilise your jam jars and lids in sterilising solution or by heating them gently in the oven after washing.
• Weigh out fruit and caster sugar in a ratio of 2 to 1 in flavour of fruit!
• Add 2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice which will help thicken your jam
• Bring your mixture to the boil and then allow it to simmer for half an hour.
• After half an hour take a spoonful of jam and place it on your cold plate in the fridge. If the jam has set after 5 minutes then it is ready to put in jars. If it hasn’t then keep heating for a further 5 minutes and test again.
• Add the jam to your containers and eat whenever you like!

You can make jam with almost any fruit and this recipe will work for most of your favourites. Also bear in mind that now is a fantastic time of year to make wine with blackberries and elderberries still in abundance. If you’re lucky enough to have apple trees then why don’t you try making apple juice or cider from your excess stock. If you are storing apples for the winter make sure to wrap them in paper and keep them separated from each other to ensure they don’t spoil.