Jam making help for first timer

shopndrop

Used the recipe posted by lowesy and made some plum and some damson jam. The plum didn't really set, but it is still yummy, but the damson did set. Got the bug now and want to try other fruit.

LameWolf

For what it's worth, Mr LW and I often make jam, and we never use "preserving" sugar, but if using low pectin fruit, like strawberries, we squeeze a lemon and add the juice, and also put the lemon pips in a cloth bag (made from an old shirt sleeve - very MSE:money:) and put that into the jam whilst it's a-bubbling.
HTH.

morganlefay

Buying sugar for jam is very confusing. There's what I think is called 'Preserving sugar' which is fine for damsons and things which have lots of pectin and then there's 'Jam sugar' which has added pectin for things like strawberry and fruit with low pectin. (Or I might have got the names the wrong way round) But it does say on the packet :'suitable for strawberries' or 'suitable for plums etc'. Sugar sold for making jam is supposed to dissolve quicker I think, but actually any sugar will do as long as you've sorted out the prctin question (If necessary I use lemon as suggested above) I used to get very hung up about whether it was set or not, but now I make masses of damson jam every year and we like it runny so that we can have it on yoghurt as a pud (delicious !) and I realised that as long as you don't burn your best pan jam isn't anything like as scary as I used to think. If it's too set you could put it in Jam tarts (oooh yum) and if it's too runny you can have it on yog as we do, or eat it on toast very carefully holding the bread horizontal when you eat it. There are some good, very basic books - I've got a Marguerite Patten one which will tell you everything you need to know. If you get addicted the real problem will be never having enough jars ! Good luck...

dogstarheaven

did my foraging of about a kilo of pears, victoria plums and crab apples yesterday and thought I'd buy my kit today. Realised that Lakeland sells the equip. individually and that J.Lewis does the kit at £30. So it's all not working out for me after realising that foraging means buying expensive equipment! so anyone who can help me find a decent place to buy a kit from please. I can't really afford £30 to get the strainer, funnel, wax circles and thermometer kit that J.Lewis is offering. Can I ask a couple of questions pls?

Is a food thermometer ok to use rather than a jam one as I'd like one that can test the temp of meats and cakes etc.,? I suppose I can use the saucer method, but as it's my first time at jam-making, I'd really don't want to go wrong!:cool: what with all the effort it took to forage the fruits yesterday, climbing trees and getting scratched!:mad:

Instead of buying wax circles, can I make my own version instead out of parchment paper, or is the wax really essential?

I've got 7 kilner jars (freegled yesterday!:D) and 10 bought onion pickled jars that I shall be filling up. Not sure whether my amounts will be enough. Also, not sure how much sugar I'd need to buy. Oh, that reminds me -

Where's best place to buy lots of bags of sugar?

Hope I've remembered all that I need to ask of you thrifty foodies out there:D if you're able to help/advise, then I'd appreciate it greatly.

torbrex

I have been making jam for 15 years and have never used most of the stuff you are asking about
I bought a jelly pan for about £3 and saved all sorts of jars over the years, they just get re-used, sugar is bought as & when I see it on offer (Poundland 1.5K), never used wax circles, strainer, funnel or thermometer.

Experience has taught me that the sugar to fruit ratio is best started at 1:1 then change it to suit your own taste.

Good luck

Penelope_Penguin

I've never bought anything special for jam making (apart from wax and cellophane discs for showing ).

I use a pressure cooker pan - it's light and has 2 handles, so easy to manouevre. I test for set on a cold plate. Once the jam is done, I ladel into a pyrex jug and pour carefully from there into the jars

milliemonster

Blimey, have to agree with torbrex, the whole point of jammaking is for it to be a frugal way of using up overripe fruit or using up your free foraged goodies, I have never used a thermometer, funnel etc. I use a large pasta pan I got from asda once that was a fiver I think. For wax circles you can use the plastic inserts from cereal boxes cut up, strainer???? you can get muslin from boyes if you need this for about £1 a meter which a meter is all you would need. Jars, just save what you already have and ask friends and relatives to save theirs for you.

Sugar I usually get from farmfoods, its normally on offer at 2 bags for £1 although at the moment its not, but is still only 59p per bag.

You really don't need all that fancy stuff, unless you want to of course!

~~Diane~~

I've never used any special equipment, my nan taught me to put a couple of saucers in the freezer, and test the jam that way, when it wrinkles when slightly pushed it is ready. That method never let her down and has never let me down. Wax discs and cellophane tops can be bought cheap enough from ebay, I think Wilkinsons sells them also.

I don't even use a jam pan just an old pressure cooker pan. Jars are washed and reused.

seraphina

I use my pressure cooker saucepan and the cold saucer test and never have a problem yet! If I were to buy one thing, it would be the wide mouth funnel to get the stuff into the jars - I always make a mess.

The nice thing about jam is that even if you think you've messed it up, unless you burn everything to a cinder, it's very difficult to make fruit and that much sugar taste rank! Sometimes your jam will be soft set, sometimes it will set like a stone, that's all part of the fun!

If you're recycling old supermarket jam jars, the chances are you don't need wax circles. If the inside of the lid is coated with plastic (any jam jar and any tomato pasta sauce jar certainly will be) then I don't use wax circles. I think these are only needed to stop any contact between jam and metal lid, which could cause the metal to corrode.

Get stuck in and have fun!!

dogstarheaven

milliemonster wrote: »

Blimey, have to agree with torbrex, the whole point of jammaking is for it to be a frugal way of using up overripe fruit or using up your free foraged goodies, I have never used a thermometer, funnel etc. I use a large pasta pan I got from asda once that was a fiver I think. For wax circles you can use the plastic inserts from cereal boxes cut up, strainer???? you can get muslin from boyes if you need this for about £1 a meter which a meter is all you would need. Jars, just save what you already have and ask friends and relatives to save theirs for you.

Sugar I usually get from farmfoods, its normally on offer at 2 bags for £1 although at the moment its not, but is still only 59p per bag.

You really don't need all that fancy stuff, unless you want to of course!

want to multi-quote all your suggestions but can only do one!

thanks for all your replies.. is it all that simple then, jam-making???:cool: as a newbie, i really don't wanna make any mistakes as it took a lot of effort and scratches to get the fruit yesterday. Thankfully, there's a Boyes in Notts., so I'll frequent that later today.

am so pleased that Farmfoods does sugar cheap, so I'll get a couple of bags of that, tho' with 6kg of mixed fruit (as explained prev.) will that mean I need the same in sugar then? Probably need a big rucksack then to carry it all today!:cool:

Torbrex: Do you remember how much the 1.5kg Sugar was in Poundland please? Just wondering if it works out cheaper than buying it from Farmfoods....;)

Milliemonster: Unfortuanately, I don't buy boxed cereal, so can I buy the plastic from somewhere else as an alt. to waxed circles?

Thanks for the jug idea instead of a funnel (why i didn't think of that, duh!)

From the freegle collection yesterday, not only I got 7 Kilner jars (various sizes) but a big pot. Not quite a jam kettle, but twas a bonus anyhow:p... was gonna use my big aluminium stockpot...

Just thought to mention this and need your advice...

the plums which I gathered yesterday (one out of 2 trees with the thorny spikes on the big branches) were quite ripe, well most of them were too over. so with about a pound of them and some decent firmish ones from another tree, a pound's worth.. can these last for a few extra days or so in case I don't get round to using them today?

I don't know what combo's I can make with my pears, plums and crab apples? i do have stemmed and fresh ginger and all the spices (pickling and spicey spices) in my cupboard.. so, it doesn't have to be just jam-making. I'm up for chutneys as well... I've also got a kilo of cherry toms off a friend last night too (have 2kg of green ones atm that are slowly ripening on my bedroom windowsill. tho' it would be great if they ripen to a proper red, rather than insipid orangey - help?)

Didn't notice any preserve making equip on the Wilko's site, but I'll check my local one to see what equip they have...

I'll update you with further enq. if need be and my results too! wish me luck!!??