Jam making help for first timer

recovering_spendaholic

mardatha wrote: »

Is over 20 miles to the PYO places and the husband wont take me, so in desperation I want to try Sainsburys frozen berries !

I often use Sainsburys frozen berries - the summer fruits mix is nice but can be very "pippy" so what I do is thaw it and cook it in the pan with a little sugar until it is mushy and then seive it to get out the pips and then make jam with it in my usual way (same amount of jam sugar as original weight of fruit). It makes the most lovely seedless jam! The raspberries also make wonderful jam and I don't need to seive that one.

There is also a lovely Delia recipe for apricot jam using dried apricots:
http://www.deliaonline.com/community/yourrecipes/preserves/Dried-Apricot-Preserve.html

Good luck! And the frozen fruit is on offer in Sainsburys for 3 for £5 at the moment.

mardatha

Oh thats terrific thank you. Just been up to Sainsb but didnt get fruit cos I have LISTS and have to stick to them LOL - I'm a woman onna mission and I need my lists
But it's going on next week's list though - and I LOVE apricot jam too...

PollyFlinders_3

Hi Scotsaver - as long as you sterilize all your jam jars properly, jam will keep, unopened, for several years. I have used a couple of jars this year that were made in 2005 and they were absolutely fine. I wouldn't normally keep them for quite that long, but found some forgotten ones lurking and hate to throw anything away. And any pickles or chutneys will also last for years if properly sterilized jars are used.

mardatha

Does anybody sterilise the jars in a gas oven ? What number and for how long ? Am terrified they all explode in my oven lol!

kms26

I am going to make some jam tonight but i also want to make some marmalade. I have 10 Oranges how much sugar would i need to that. Thanks in advance

recovering_spendaholic

Ooh! This thread inspired me to go to the farm shop and get some fruit this afternoon and I have just finished washing up after making 7lbs of Strawberry, 2lbs of raspberry, 2lbs of blackcurrant and 3lbs of apricot jam! The strawberries were a bargain at £1.50 a kilo, apricots were £1.96 a kilo, raspberries were £1.75 a lb and blackcurrants were £3 a kilo. The fruit I bought cost me £7.40 - expensive against growing your own but still.....

zarazara

mardatha wrote: »

Is it possible to make jam with just one punnet of fruit ? And is it possible to use frozen berries ? I am desperate to try making jam

Yes its possible. I did this about 3 weeks ago. Bought a punnett of strawberries and apacket of mixed frozen summer fruits. This was before we discobered the PYO farm.
I made a note of the fruit weights. put equal weight of sugar to it and the juice of a lemon [approx, I used Jif bottle lemon juice.]
it turned out well.
Out of interest, if I ever ake jam which is runny and dosent set properly I just call it "Conserve" LOL
It wont keep as well as jam, so put it in a cool place and use it with 3 months.

purpleheather2810

scotsaver wrote: »

Does anyone know how long home-made Jam will keep? I've only ever made one or two jars at a time in the past but now I have an Allotment I've been making jars and jars of Jam in the last couple of weeks, keeping some for ourselves and been giving some to Friends but will still have loads left so wondered how long it can be stored for?;)

Years We are still happily eating jam from 2006-07. Sometimes you might find that a clear jelly such as crabapple might discolour a little but it is still perfectly fine to eat Fill yer boots!

purpleheather2810

mardatha wrote: »

Does anybody sterilise the jars in a gas oven ? What number and for how long ? Am terrified they all explode in my oven lol!

Just gas mark 1 for about 10 mins should do it .

mardatha

thanks purpleheather !