Jam making help for first timer

HopeElizzy

Now I do feel daft Thriftlady!!:rotfl:
Preserve says it all really doesn't it:rolleyes:
Thanks for the advice and guidance it's much appreciated.:T

SoScrooge

hawk wrote:

Just basically make it as any jam but skin the plums first

Hi Hawk

I made my plum jam last night this way

I boiled quatered plums (stoned but with skins on) adding 2tbs of water until soft.

Then added almost equal part of jam sugar and boiled for about 20 minutes.

The concoction was very tasty and sweet, but did not set much.

I reckon the sugar made it too runny.

Any ideas, old stylers?

Cheers

dormy

I'm not sure if you had enough pectin? I add the juice of a lemon to mine.

MrsTinks

I'd say add some more pectin and reboil it Either lemon juice or some apples... Even lime juice. Or you can buy pectin in the supermarket next to the sugar

I'm doing my first batch of blackberry jam tonight hopefully Spent so long trying to find jars and tips on whether to do a wax disc etc etc it just didn't get done at the weekend
Have 4 beautiful jars from Ikea and some Beetroot jars from Asda (20p each) so OH is having beetroot on everything whether he likes it or not :rotfl:

MrsTinks

BTW has anyone made jam and not used waxdisks or any substitute and how did you all get on with it? I've read that if you've been fastidious with sterilising then the jam should hopefully not mould even without a wax disk but it's basically to minimise the surface area exposed to air which is when your jam will grow mould...

newleaf

SoScrooge wrote:

Hi Hawk

I made my plum jam last night this way

I boiled quatered plums (stoned but with skins on) adding 2tbs of water until soft.

Then added almost equal part of jam sugar and boiled for about 20 minutes.

The concoction was very tasty and sweet, but did not set much.

I reckon the sugar made it too runny.

Any ideas, old stylers?

Cheers

You really shouldn't need jam sugar or extra pectin with Plums. I wonder if you are expecting too much? HM jams don't set as solid as commercial ones which have allsorts of gunk in them to make them more solid. You only want it to be setting to a thick gloopy consistency really. If it sets like rubber it means you've over boiled it. If it's really runny, then either the pulp wasn't sufficiently reduced before you added the sugar, or you didn't boil it hard/long enough. 20 minutes should be plenty, so maybe the first applies?

HopeElizzy

newleaf wrote:

You really shouldn't need jam sugar or extra pectin with Plums.

Do you know whether freezing makes a difference to the plums? I have been given so many plums I had to freeze some. Do you think this will affect the pectin content?

Sorry for all the questions!:beer:

newleaf

I believe freezing does affect pectin content (lowers it) so if you are using frozen fruit it may be necessary to add some lemon juice. The flavour should not be affected.

HopeElizzy

:beer: Thanks Newleaf you're a:starmod:

Christina_F

Does anyone have a easy recipe for blackberry jam? We picked 3 lb last week and froze them. Want to go again this weekend but use them to make jam