Homemade Jam

Anyone who knows me knows I love jam, on bread, in cakes, topped with cream on scones, or if I'm honest straight out the jar on a teaspoon. I always assumed making jam would be really hard and need loads of specialist equipment. I have vague memories as a child watching my mum make jam in a pan that looked like it would have fitted me in!

A friend offered to let me raid their fruit patch recently and I knew I had to grab some fresh berries and try making my own jam and I was beyond surprised by how easy it actually is. I used a non-stick pan with no issues and used a basic 1 to 1 ratio of berries and sugar and the jam is divine. I would absolutely recommend making sure you have at least double the amount of sterilized jars than you think you will need. I had to do an emergency dash to buy more and had jam stashed in everything I could find. I used a mixture of red and black currants but this recipe will work with whatever soft fruit you have to hand.

Ingredients:
1 part fruit
1 part granulated sugar

Method:
Pick over and wash your berries ensuring all the stems and any bugs and beasties have been removed. Carefully weigh out the berries and add them with the same weight of sugar to the biggest pan you have. Make sure the berries and sugar only half fill the pan at most or you will be scraping molten sugar off your cooker top as I learnt the hard way!

Place the pan over a low heat until all of the sugar is melted and the berries start to release their juice, this usually takes a few minutes. Once all the sugar is melted, bring the jam to a rolling boil where the bubbles can't be calmed by stirring them and maintain the boil for 10 -15 minutes until the mixture has reduced and starts to thicken.

Take a teaspoon of the mixture and place on a plate and leave to cool for a few minutes, taking the jam off the heat, then press the edge of the jam with your finger - if it wrinkles then the jam is ready and if your finger slides straight in the place the pan back on the heat for a little longer.

Once the jam has thickened, place the jam into jars, I used a funnel but spooning it in would work as well although would be messier. As soon as the jam is in the jars, pop the lids on tight to create a seal.

The jam will last around 6 months in theory but my jars lasted about 5 minutes.

Thank you for reading, when you make this please take a picture and tag me using #diaryofadefectivehousewife

Enjoy!