More practical musings – hints and tips on making strawberry jam.
Sunshine for the rest of the year
So I’m preparing strawberries for jam, the third evening this week. It
is the most productive week of the year as far as our strawberries are
concerned. The best are already sold, fresh in punnets and the seconds,
some with scarcely a blemish, others hideously deformed but still
flavoursome, are piled in heaps waiting to be hulled, halved, weighed
and jammed.
Just taking part in this process, I feel a bond back through the
centuries with all the women, who preserved, jammed, pickled,
prolonging the goodness and abundance of the seasonal produce to last
the whole year through. In the days before fridges, freezers,
supermarkets, intercontinental fast transport, each household would
have relied on itself to survive the winter without diseases caused by
vitamin deficiency and lack of sunshine. Making jam wasn’t just a
luxury sweet, it was a way of preserving the summer sunshine a little
longer, of giving your children some vitamins to keep them strong, when
the only things growing in the garden were cabbage or Brussels sprouts!
I wonder if those children ate them without fuss? Your preserves would
have been eked out to last until spring brought new fresh growth with
it.
Our jam supplies usually just last through until the next strawberry
season. I’m generous to start with, giving it away as presents to
friends, selling it at the market for our school, then, strawberry
season over, I count the jars and begin to get more parsimonious. After
all bought jam is now unheard of in the family, I’m the only one who
eats marmalade, which fills the winter jam gap, so the strawberry and
apricot jam has got to last, come what may.
My strawberry jam recipe for success? ( and please note that this is
just how I make it… I’m not an expert and don’t even have a jam
thermometer, but I guess they didn’t in the old days either. These are
just hints and tips gathered from making my own mistakes and from the
advice of my sister-in-law.)
Extremely simple ingredients, but results vary wildly from the runny
(running right off your toast runny) to the thick (spoon stands up in
it) for no apparent reason – well the length of time cooking together
with the amount of pectin are the reasons but you can’t always tell
about the pectin in advance. Strawberries are very low in pectin, which
is what makes jam set and the riper they are the less there is. If they
are wet that also dilutes the pectin (let them dry on kitchen towel or
a dishcloth before preparing). So something needs to be added. I
usually add lemon juice, which doesn’t affect the flavour, you can also
buy pectin in packets. The more lemon juice you use , the more likely
it is to set firm – I like mine a bit runny, so tend to juggle the
lemon juice a bit.
1 kg prepared strawberries
750g sugar
25ml-50ml lemon juice or more if it doesn’t set!
Use a large thick based pan. The strawberries should only come to about
half way up or they will boil merrily over, coating your stove with
sticky foam. Let the strawberries soak with the sugar overnight. This
brings out the juice and keeps the fruit firmer so it doesn’t dissolve
into a mush when cooked. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring
occasionally to make sure the sugar dissolves before it boils. Then add
the lemon juice. Boil at a moderate pace, without stirring, for at
least half an hour before testing.
The main thing is to keep your jam under observation after the first
half hour of boiling and sniff( to make sure it’s not burning on the
bottom of the pan), test every 5 minutes with a drop on a cold plate.
Let it cool for a couple of minutes. If it starts feeling syrupy and
makes a string to your finger when you dip it, then that’s a good
runny, syrupy jam. If a skin forms and wrinkles when you push your
finger through the drop of jam then it’s a firmer set. If after an hour
it still doesn’t get to either of those stages you might have to add
more lemon juice and boil it up again for another twenty minutes or so
then start testing all over again. You can tell if it is getting there
as the bubbles start looking more syrupy, a slower rolling boil.
Have your jars ready. 1kg of fruit makes about three medium sized jars.
I usually sterilise mine by pouring boiling water into clean, dry jars
up to the top (they must be dry though, if there are drops of cold
water in they can crack). Then when the jam is ready, pour out the hot
water and ladle in the jam, right to the top, put on a circle of either
waxed or baking paper and then the lid. Tighten the lid now while it’s
hot for a good seal. The spills of jam are easier to wipe off while
it’s still hot too, hold with a cloth though, hot is really HOT!
If all this is sounding a bit laborious, you can always try waiting for
the apricot season. Apricots are far less temperamental, have plenty of
pectin and set more easily…. But hey.. strawberries are worth the
effort and it’s mainly patience you need, not technique. There is a
huge satisfaction from seeing the jars lined up on the shelf, to see
you through the winter. Good luck!
Copyright Kit Heathcock
