jam making...
- Thread starter eme
- Start date
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
eme said:anyone know how to? would it be a good idea / possible to make some at a craft club meet up?
Possible but we'd need a big kitchen.... I wanted to do a sushi master class... but kind of fell down on the kitchen thing... although actually if I bring my rice cookers and loads of precooked rice we could do it (not in a kitchen).
Anyway, sorry, complete derail... I'm definitely up for jam making!!
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
easy g said:
What the blazes is that?
Going to have a look now!
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
easy g said:
actually £29.99
it was part of Aug 1st offers but I saw one in one of our stores this week...
ooh.. well done, just had a look and couldn't see it.
*must desist from buying yet another kitchen gadget*
*must desist from buying yet another kitchen gadget*
eme
turn a frown upside down!
zenie said:
yum!
hmm surely it might be possible to do it in a normal kitchen? I bet it'd be ok here... just have to be organised! one lot in the living room making nice labels, the other lot spooning hot fruit into jars and then with the pop of a cava cork, all change...
It's just I have no idea how to make it...
rubbershoes
not the only raver in the village
surely it's best to learn how to make something before going out and spending cash on a gadget to make it easier. I'm not the jam maker in our house but don't think it's that tricky, just a bit time-consuming
and 27 litres you'd need a barrow load of fruit
and 27 litres
you'd need a barrow load of fruit
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
rubbershoes said:
Yes.. that would be the sensible approach, not one for the kitchen gadget addict.
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
eme said:yum!
hmm surely it might be possible to do it in a normal kitchen? I bet it'd be ok here... just have to be organised! one lot in the living room making nice labels, the other lot spooning hot fruit into jars and then with the pop of a cava cork, all change...
It's just I have no idea how to make it...
Eme.. I think it just involves large quantities of sugar, fruit and very hot bubbling... I'm sure we could do it. Great idea! We could have a pot luck jam making session.... all bring some fruit with us and away we go!
I think to make simple jam, you just boil the fruit in water with sugar added to taste, and keep it simmering until it reduces enough to be the right consistency. Pour the mixture into a jar while still warm, then let it cool and there you have jam. In a jar.
I'm sure proper jam making is more complicated than that, but I made blackberry jam that way, and it was delish.
I'm sure proper jam making is more complicated than that, but I made blackberry jam that way, and it was delish.
madzone
Physically unfavourable
No no nozenie said:The trouble is it takes a long long time - I think it takes my Mum a day to do on the cooker.
Not sure it would fit in an evening.
If you use jam sugar with added pectin it takes 4 minutes but if you use sugar without pectin it takes 12 minutes. Maybe your mum just wanted to hide in the kitchen
madzone
Physically unfavourable
I think the electric preservers are more for 'bottling' things like they do on the continent. You put stuff in a sterile jar and seal it, then bring the jar to boiling point and maintain it for a while. The contents are preserved and vacuum sealed.
For jam you just need a big pan with a heavy bottom and some tate & lyle. And of course some fruit
For jam you just need a big pan with a heavy bottom and some tate & lyle. And of course some fruit
Zinedine*
Well-Known Member
i have a quick Instant Jam recipe. I think it only keeps for a week though, but it is well nice!
Ingredients
250g raspberries
250g caster sugar
1 x 250ml jar
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Bung the raspberries and sugar into two separate bowls;
bung the bowls into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are really hot. Take them out of the oven mix them together. Then bung in a jar. It is worth it especially if you have guests over- or just eat a lot of jam!
Ingredients
250g raspberries
250g caster sugar
1 x 250ml jar
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C
Bung the raspberries and sugar into two separate bowls;
bung the bowls into the oven for 20-25 minutes until they are really hot. Take them out of the oven mix them together. Then bung in a jar. It is worth it especially if you have guests over- or just eat a lot of jam!
eme
turn a frown upside down!
all sounds good - the bit that scares me is putting the jars in the oven to sterilise them!! have visions of shattered glass and dropping them cos they're too hot etc...
so shall we 'set' (ahahahahhha - sorry) a date... maybe thurs sep 8 / 15th?
don't think we have another S&B before the october one do we?
have visions of shattered glass and dropping them cos they're too hot etc... so shall we 'set' (ahahahahhha - sorry) a date... maybe thurs sep 8 / 15th?
don't think we have another S&B before the october one do we?
gaijingirl
Well-Known Member
I am.. but my diary is packed underneath my tent in my bike panniers which will shortly be accompanying me to Shambala!!! (had to mention it again!!)
But will check when I get back.. definitely up for this though.
But will check when I get back.. definitely up for this though.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
The best jam I have ever tasted in my entire life was made by Ruby Toogood, and I've eaten jam made by some seriously good jam-makers in the course of my life.
RubyToogood
RubyTwobikes
There's an October S&B?
I think it would be feasible to do a jam club - but it might be better to do a Saturday or Sunday afternoon rather than an evening, so that there's time to get back from A&E and scrape stuff off the ceiling before you go to bed. On which note I think drinking and jam-making don't mix, too much scope for bad accidents. Although a spot of alcohol in the jam before it goes in the pots... (not Baileys, ideally)
The thing about warming the jars is partly so that they don't crack when you put hot jam in them - to be on the safe side I only turn the oven on (to like 1/2 a degree) after I've put the jars in.
Also I think it'd only be possible to make one batch of jam really, otherwise it'd get complicated and time-consuming and there wouldn't be space (preserving pans are BIG). Preparing the fruit can take ages, eg peeling and chopping loads of apples, but blackberries for instance just need a wash and picking out the dodgy ones.
I'm not really a jam expert, I just follow the recipes, more or less. It's all about pectin (it says here) - pectin is like gelatine, it's the stuff that makes jam set, and some fruit like apples has lots of it and some doesn't, eg strawberries. So if you're making jam with fruit that doesn't have much pectin in you have to add another fruit that does. Lemon is a safe one that does so you can always just bung extra lemon juice in, which improves the flavour anyway IMO. The special jam-making sugar zenie mentioned is special because it contains extra pectin, but you only need that if you need the extra pectin. Anyway you don't really need to know all that if you just have a decent recipe to follow.
Then there's getting it to "setting point". There are various tests you can do to see if it's ready, eg the wrinkle test where you put some on a saucer and let it cool right down, then push your finger through it to see if it wrinkles (if it does it's supposedly ready). Personally I tend to do it in two stages, make the jam one day, then leave it in the pan overnight and bottle it the next day, so that I can check whether it's really the right consistency when cool.
I've actually still got loads of that batch that Mrs M had some of - it was blackberry apple and banana, and I overdid the banana I think, bit gloopy.
I think it would be feasible to do a jam club - but it might be better to do a Saturday or Sunday afternoon rather than an evening, so that there's time to get back from A&E and scrape stuff off the ceiling before you go to bed. On which note I think drinking and jam-making don't mix, too much scope for bad accidents. Although a spot of alcohol in the jam before it goes in the pots... (not Baileys, ideally)
The thing about warming the jars is partly so that they don't crack when you put hot jam in them - to be on the safe side I only turn the oven on (to like 1/2 a degree) after I've put the jars in.
Also I think it'd only be possible to make one batch of jam really, otherwise it'd get complicated and time-consuming and there wouldn't be space (preserving pans are BIG). Preparing the fruit can take ages, eg peeling and chopping loads of apples, but blackberries for instance just need a wash and picking out the dodgy ones.
I'm not really a jam expert, I just follow the recipes, more or less. It's all about pectin (it says here) - pectin is like gelatine, it's the stuff that makes jam set, and some fruit like apples has lots of it and some doesn't, eg strawberries. So if you're making jam with fruit that doesn't have much pectin in you have to add another fruit that does. Lemon is a safe one that does so you can always just bung extra lemon juice in, which improves the flavour anyway IMO. The special jam-making sugar zenie mentioned is special because it contains extra pectin, but you only need that if you need the extra pectin. Anyway you don't really need to know all that if you just have a decent recipe to follow.
Then there's getting it to "setting point". There are various tests you can do to see if it's ready, eg the wrinkle test where you put some on a saucer and let it cool right down, then push your finger through it to see if it wrinkles (if it does it's supposedly ready). Personally I tend to do it in two stages, make the jam one day, then leave it in the pan overnight and bottle it the next day, so that I can check whether it's really the right consistency when cool.
I've actually still got loads of that batch that Mrs M had some of - it was blackberry apple and banana, and I overdid the banana I think, bit gloopy.
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
I don't mind gloopy, it was just the most intensely fruity flavoursome jam I've eaten....
Mrs Magpie
On a bit of break...
Townswomen's Guild round here, mate, the WI is strictly rural.
