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| My first attempt at jam! |
I made jam!
Just like my great-grandmother, Violet May, I boiled up fruit and sugar, and preserved it in boiling hot jars.
So, the jam itself is not overly complex. The recipe I used had a ratio of 1:1 fruit and sugar. The sugar even had the pectin already added. One less thing to worry about.
Basically you boil the fruit, smoosh it, strain it if it has seeds, boil it some more and then test it. You take a cold surface (like a plate from the freezer) and if the jam sets on it, and looks like jam, you've made jam!
I used blueberries because I already had some in the freezer and I didn't feel like straining raspberry or blackberry seeds. The recipe I based my jam on is here.
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| Boiling the fruit and sugar. |
The bottling / preserving process was by far the most complex part of the procedure. There are various ways to do it. I had two web pages and instructions on the jar of boxes to combine and it got a bit hectic. The oven was involved, and jars boiling in large pots and things like that. If you're interested there are plenty of web pages telling you how to do this.
But the jarring did work in the end. Ball Mason jars have lids that pop once they seal. Sometimes they don't pop but still seal. After they're taken out of the water bath you have to leave them for 12 hours before touching them. This is insanely difficult if you are as impatient as me.
I got three out of four jars to seal - pretty good for a first attempt. The unsealed jar I was able to fix by repeating the water bath.
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| Berry close-up. |
I actually made these as Christmas gifts for my family, thanks to an idea from a close friend of mine. I think my family appreciated receiving a homemade gift - made with love!
As far as sourcing jars goes, I got on eBay and found these beautiful Ball Mason jars. I'm a bit slow... I didn't realise that these were like, trendy, until I opened my Donna Hay cookbook. She has a picture of them lined up with various types of food in them.
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| Limited edition Ball Mason jars in blue. |
The ones I got are limited edition blue ones. I had a few spare and one is now designated as a vase and I use another one at work for a pencil holder. They're very beautiful and I can see why they're so popular.
I'm itching for an excuse to buy some more so perhaps I will buy some just in case I get the jam-making urge again...
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| Extra special Christmas presents! |
