I'm really chuffed with my cherry jam

buxtonrabbitgreen

I made cherry jam with wild cherries I picked last week. I gave a jar to my sister and she just sent me a text to say it was beautiful and it's all gone. My first ever successful jam.

Seakay

Well done! Isn't foraging great?! I am very envious of you for finding cherries, though; I have never found anything quite so exotic!

dronid

Excellent, and congratulations - now how about giving us the recipie!

kazmeister

Well done. I made jam for the first time last week and its brilliant

queenpig

Hey, well done you! Send me some

Wish I knew where to even start to make jam lol, my DS loves jam

buxtonrabbitgreen

dronid wrote: »

Excellent, and congratulations - now how about giving us the recipie!

I googled for the recipie. It was a no recipie recpie.
Pit cherries till you get fed up with it, I did about 3lbs
cook with the grated juice and rind of a lemon
When it has turned to pulp about 20 mins, see how much pulp you have and add 3/4 the amount of sugar ie I had 2 jugs of pulp so added about 3/4 of a jug of granaulated sugar. Rolling boil till it reaches seting point. (starts to move slowly accross a saucer from the freezer. Put it in sterelized jars and keep in the fridge.

odds-n-sods

Queen, all you need are jars with sealable lids, fruit, sugar and pectin. It's not hard, but you do have to make sure everything you use is spotless and you have room to leave the jars for a few days before you put them away.

My strawberry jam recipe:

1/2 jar pectin
2 lb fruit - strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries
3 tbsp lemon juice
3 lb sugar

crush fruit. Put sugar and lemon juice into a large deep pan; add fruit. bring quickly to a full rolling boil, (when stirring doesn't stop the boiling) add a small knob of butter, and boil hard for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. take off the heat, stir in the pectin and let sit for a few minutes while you get the jars. Fill and seal. This usually makes 5 1/2 pints.

The jars need to be warm, sterile and dry. A dishwasher on rinse works well, or a sinkful of boiling water. Dry only just before you fill them. When you sela the jars you need to make sure that the lip of the jar is completely clean, no dribbles etc so it will seal well. I use mason jars, but htey are hard to get, so I recommend wax to seal, esp. if you are reusing pickle or mayo jars. Always check the jars periodically to make sure the jam is still OK.

Aril

For those wanting to make jam a tip recently passed onto me for increasing the amount of pectin is to use cranberry juice. Not sure of quantities as haven't done it but someone out there is bound to!
Aril

Seakay

I have only every used pectin in strawberry jam - a lot of fruit has adequate pectin naturally.

thriftlady_2

Strawberry jam is notoriously low in pectin, but blackcurrants are high in pectin. My mum's given me loads of them so blackcurrant jam is planned chez Thrift

balmaiden

Well done you,
There is just nothing so satisfying, in my opinion, than looking at your own home made jams and preserves all lined up in the cupboard. Except for perhaps hearing how much other people enjoyed them.

Must be some sort of primeval instinct of hunter gathering for your family!