I've been busy in the kitchen this week making jam. You might think it’s a rum time of year to be making jam, but this isn’t fruit I’ve grown, it’s from the bargain section of Tesco’s. Maybe it’s something innately primitive, but I just love a bargain. Anyway, faced with three baskets of plums, I decided to turn them into jam. The advantage of making jam in the microwave is that you haven’t got a lot of burnt pans to clean and it’s very quick.
Here’s a recipe that I think is fairly bomb-proof.
First of all, you need a biggish microwave to take a biggish bowl. The bowl has to be sturdy, as the jam will get very hot. Pyrex is fine, but I use an old-fashioned mixing bowl, a pottery one with a glazed inside. I’d be iffy about using plastic.
Check if your fruit has enough pectin in it. Pectin is the natural “glue” that makes jam set. Here’s a link that should tell you the pectin content of your fruit.
http://susan-morris.suite101.com/natural-pectin-content-of-berry-and-tree-fruits-a106156
If it’s low in pectin, you can add a lemon. Cut it into quarters and add it to the mix – but not yet!
You need:
A microwave – mine’s 850
Oven gloves – the bowl is very hot so be careful!
Two saucers or small plates
A bowl
1 1lb of fruit
1 1lb (or maybe just a bit less) of granulated sugar
A lemon
About two or three clean jars with lids.
Okay, here goes:
Put two saucers in the freezer. You’ll need them for testing the jam.
Chop the fruit, remove stones and stalks etc, and weigh it.
With a tidgy bit of water give it about 6 minutes at full power.
Take the bowl out of the microwave and add the same weight (or perhaps just a bit less) of sugar.
If necessary, add the quartered lemon.
Microwave at full power for 20-22 minutes, giving it a stir every now and then.
Now you have to test it. Take the cold saucer and spoon a bit of jam onto it. Leave it a minute or so, then see if it’s set. If it is set, the surface should wrinkle when it’s touched. If it’s not set, give the jam another 3 or 4 minutes. That’s where the second saucer comes in!
Then warm and sterilize the jars. The easiest way to do this is to put about a tablespoon of water in each jar and microwave the jars for a minute.
Then empty out the now hot water and spoon the jam into the warm jars. Put the lids on and bingo! Home made jam.
That sounds delicious...and not hard to make. Some jam recipes are quite scary and seem to require a degree in chemistry. Only trouble for me personally: I love plums and can eat them the way some people eat cherries, or chocolates, continuously till they are all gone. IIf there were good sweet plums in my kitchen they'd never stay there long enough to become jam! We made raspberrey jam last autumn, using a pan and an old recipe from my "modern" Mrs. Beeton (dating from the 1960s I think!) It was surprisingly easy, and tastes great.
ReplyDeleteWhat always put me off jam-making was the scary heat the stuff has to get to on top of the stove. Doing it this way, in small amounts, is a lot less threatening - and it really does taste good!
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