Hey girlies/guys,

I am wanting to give my guests little pots of jam as favours but I wuold like it to be homemade...
Now heres the catch I have never made jam before and all the homemade ones you can buy are not cheap!

Has anyone ever made jam before and is it difficult?

xxx

Ive never made it before but i wouldnt have thought itd be that difficult.. have you tried g00gling it for how to make it? X

I've made jam before... I never follow a real recipe but loads online... you just have to be careful to not overheat and burn it.

Most recipes use equal amounts of fruit to sugar.

I use apples for pectin and usually use 1/2 the amount of sugar to weight of fruit, especially if it's sweet or high sugar content fruit such as strawberries. I normally put 1 large apple per Kg of fruit for pectin.


First, put a few saucers in the freezer (this is to test the jam before jarring it.)
Prepare your jam jars - careful when using recycled as they can crack - make sure they're thoroughly sterilised
Basically, wash and chop fruit or just take off stalks if its strawberries after washing. Put in a LARGE pan with the sugar and gently heat so it doesn't burn. The fruit should dissolve with the sugar and smush up naturally so keep stirring with a non-metallic but probably wooden is best spoon.

When you think it looks right, the jam will be runny but sticky! Take an ice cold saucer out of the freezer and drop a small amount of the jam on to the plate. Leave for a minute or two then try and draw your finger across the surface of the jam drops, if it wrinkles or has the ideal jam consistency, jar up the jam immediately. Make sure the Jam is red hot when it goes in the jars and even warm the jars with some freshly boiled hot water - not quite boiling though cos the jars may crack. (make sure you have tea towels to handle the jars as they will be hot!) Seal each jam jar with the lids straight away as you go so that they seal securely for sanitization. You shouldn't need to put greaseproof circles on top of the jam mixture if you go for this method. As the jam cools, it will suck the lid on just like the safety seals on the ones you see in shops keeping it free from extra bugs and air entering. This is why it's important to make sure the jars are sterile and the jam goes in hot!

Cool out of the fridge initially and then store in the fridge to make sure its thoroughly cooled and the lids are on securely.

Then clean down the jars, label up and you're good to go!