So
the strawberries are finally slowing down, the end of the season is in
sight… and do I feel relief that I will no longer be chained to the
kitchen counter, three nights a week, preparing strawberries for jam?
Am I sick of the sight of them, turning into one myself, in a word,
jaded? Surprisingly enough I’m not. Six weeks of making jam and I could
carry on longer.
I sneak into the larder to count the jars…have I sold too many? Will it
be enough for the family for the year and what about Christmas
presents? Two weeks ago I was merrily flogging it at the market, secure
in the knowledge I could make more. Now friends are ringing up asking
to buy jam and I’m grudgingly parting with it but the Scrooge hoarding
instinct is kicking in, a sure sign of the end of the season.
And I never did master the thick jam versus runny jam dilemma, the jam
decided for itself what it would become, not me. So I cannot yet claim
to be a professional jam maker, not when the jam is in charge of the
process. Further experiments will have to wait until next year, when at
the beginning of the new season I can afford to be lavish with the
strawberries and if a batch burns in the attempt to thicken it won’t be
a disaster, I’ll be able to use it for baking jam squares, where the
caramel overtones are a bonus.
Part of the magic of strawberries is their cheerful colour as well as
their scent. I’m going to miss the piles of fruit on the table, waiting
to be sorted for selling, in the fridge in punnets, to be delivered in
the morning, bowls of seconds for the family to eat and containers of
the rest for jam. The youngberries will be starting soon, like
blackberries, they have their own allure and make great summer
puddings, but they just don’t quite have that special something that
strawberries have…!
So what will I fill my jars with now? Well the good news is that
apricots are just starting to creep into the shops. Unfortunately we
only have one tree and this year it has very little fruit on it, we
need to plant some more trees but it will be a few years before they
produce properly.
So we check out the fruit in the shops. It’s a bit like playing the
stock market. We’re waiting for the price to come down, to buy loads
and jam them all, but if we wait too long and misjudge the timing the
price will shoot up again or there’ll be none left, it’s a short
season. So perhaps I’ll play it safe and buy a couple of kilos next
week and then hope to splurge the week after on 5 kilos as cheap as can
be, but I can’t risk being caught short of apricot jam. We’re on our
last jar of last year’s and there’ll be a family uprising if I don’t
get in next year’s supply.
The apricot jam recipe – very similar to the strawberry jam recipe but
less temperamental. The worst I’ve managed to do has been burn it and
even then it was usable in baking, just a slight caramel added flavour!
1 kg apricots halved and stoned
750g sugar
Pack fruit and sugar in a stainless steel or enamel pan and keep in
fridge overnight. Heat slowly, stirring occasionally until the sugar
has dissolved. Turn up the heat a bit and boil rapidly (stir
occasionally to prevent burning) for about 20-30 mins. Test a drop on a
cold plate. If, after 2 minutes, when you push your fingernail through
it, the skin wrinkles, it is done. If not test every 5 minutes till it
does. Pour into hot sterilised jam jars and seal immediately.
NB apricots have plenty of pectin, so you don’t need to add lemon juice to get the set.
For more tips on jam making and the strawberry jam recipe, look at my article Strawberry Jamming Again.
Copyright 2005 Kit Heathcock
A Flower Gallery
