Cost of making home made jam

thriftlady_2

I completely agree with everything adsk says:D You really will NEVER regret making your own preserves.

twink

hm blackcurrant jam makes a lovely hot drink if you have the cold with a splash of whisky

in_my_wellies

For real homemade jam redcurrant or blackcurrant bushes take up very little room and take no looking after. If yoy buy one bush, plant it and cut the branches down to about 15cm above the ground. Strip the leaves form half the lenght of the ranches you cut off and push them into some freshly dug soil, about 25cm deep. Firm in well and by next year all should have rooted.

When harvesting blackcurrants don't bend picking by the bush. Cut the stems laden with fruit off 15cm above ground and take them to the kitchen to pick. The bush will sprout from the bottom and will fruit on the new growth next year.

Redcurrants I just pick, cutting off long pieces of new growth and planting them when I need a new bush for someone. My single bush is over 40 years old and I made 9 pots of jelly from it this year, still leaving some over for the blackbirds.

peanutpie05

I've been considering making my own preserves for a while now ... but I really want ot have my own fruit bushes in my garden. I don't know where to start looking to buy fruit bushes ... some places seem to be so expensive and I don't know if I am getting good quality or not ... does anyone have any suggestions? (btw I am in Berkshire, just outside Reading). I'm looking for blackberry, blackcurrant, raspberry and blueberry bushes.

I do have an elderberry in my garden ... heaving with berries right now ... don't think I can do anything with them this year though (am pg and not in a great way) ... if anyone wants elderberries (or at least that's what my dad says they are) pm me:)

conradmum

These people are cheaper than normal:
https://www.hedging.co.uk
I've bought from them several times and the quality is fine, but the plants are small.
Other fruit bush suppliers are Chris Bowers and Ken Muir, but they are quite expensive. I would say always buy from a plant nursery, rather than a garden centre. They know what they're doing and are often cheaper even with p&p taken into account. You could try getting plants from friends but then you're taking a risk with getting virus-ridden plants.

lucylou

sorry I read the microwave book again last night and noticed it didn't say anything abou putting the lids with the jars in the microwave when sterilising them.I have and nothing happened.But please be careful as they are metal.As I said nothing happened in mine but again you never know.Sorry for the wrong information:o

VickyM_2

Can I highly recommend this book

Preserves: the complete book of Jams, jellies and pickles, by Catherine Atkinson (pb, £16.99 or cheaper on Amazon). Lots of information about everything related to preserves. So far this year I've made raspberry, gooseberry & blackcurrant jam and two types of marmalade! And now the blackberries are starting to ripen there's a recipe with blackberries, raspberries and juniper berries... yum...

Oh, and if you can't get enough of somethign right now (or its just way too hot to contemplate spending hours in the kitchen) just stick them in the freezer and add more when you can. You can make jam just as easily from frozen stuff, though you might need to add a lemon for extra pectin.

Grumpysally

I recently bought a few punnets of strawberries that had been reduced to 30p each. I froze them as I din't have enough quantity to make jam but with the intention of adding to them next time I saw some reduced. However, my son got to them before I did and put them into his home made smoothies instead!
Oh, also, if you pick blackeberries from hedgerows make sure you pick them from above dog height! : )

Grumpysally

Has anyone had any sucess making jam in ther bread machine? The two occasions I have tried it has been far too watery and Ive ended up pouring it out into a normal pan to boil it down.
Ive got a Breville AWT.

zippychick

thriftlady wrote: »

Jellies are easier than jams I think.

Pile all your fruit into a big pan. All you need to do is wash it and chuck any obviously bad fruit.You can leave cores, peels, small stalks etc on.

Add enough water to barely cover the fruit. Simmer until soft. For crabapples and quinces you need to simmer quite a long time to extract all the pectin, but currants and berries cook quicker.

Next you need a jelly bag or you can improvise with cheesecloth or tights (clean obviously). I really recommend getting a jelly bag and stand as once you've got it, it's really easy to knock out a batch of jelly without any fuss.

Pour the contents of the pan into the jelly bag and leave to drip overnight.If you squeeze the bag the jelly will be cloudy, but this won't affect the taste at all. I like my jellies to look like stained glass windows when they're lined up on the window sill:) so I don't squeeze.

Measure all your juice, and for every pint add a lb of sugar (very tart fruit might need an extra 4 oz).

Heat the juice and sugar gently in the big pan until the sugar is dissolved.

Raise the heat and bring to the boil and boil hard until setting point is reached. This will vary in time according to which fruit you use, but check every 5 mins on a cold saucer like you do for jam.

Pour into sterilised jars and stand back to admire your pots of jewels;)

I love making jellies because you don't have to do so much prep to the fruit and you don't need to follow a recipe. I recommend crab apple jelly and quince jelly which are a beautiful tawny colour. I also make damson, blackberry and hedgerow jellies (elderberry,blackberry and apple) these are all deep purple.
They are versatile too as you can use them with meat and as a sweet spread.

Just bumping this - I am making my first attempt today. Making apple & blackberry (2lb apples, 1.5 lb blackberries), and apple and chilli jelly - totally guessing - for almost 2lb of apples, I've added a large green chilli, and 3 finger chillis - not sure how hot to make that one. Keep your fingers crossed for me! :j