A good ole jam session

Hello, and welcome back to the Vandemonian Homesteader. Regardless of where you are, I hope you are doing well. Today I thought I would step back into the kitchen, share a simple recipe, and talk a bit about jam.

As a kid, I loved a good jam sandwich and still do. It’s a brilliant snack, fresh bread and a big spoonful of jam, or you could go one better and get yourself a hot buttered crumpet, put some jam on top, and you’re in heaven. Fruits of the Forest is my favourite, and It’s essentially a fancy name for a mixed berry jam. Making jam is easy, and because of this, it is a great way to preserve any excess fruit or berries you may have. Making it yourself is also a great way to create unique flavours by adding different herbs and spices or tweaking the fruit combinations to your liking. It also ensures your finished product is free of harmful additives like sodium benzoate. Having a few jars in the back of the pantry can be handy as it can be used in a variety of dishes. It also makes for a brilliant last-minute gift. I will share a recipe later in this post, but first, here’s a very brief history of jam and some things I think you should know before you start cooking.

Jam over the years

People have made jam in one form or another for as far back as the fourth century. Initially, it was made by cooking fruit with honey. Considering the price and difficulty in acquiring sugar, for most of its history, jam was only available to royalty and the wealthy. Because of this, for most of history jam making was a pretty small-scale industry. That was until the Victorians came along. By combining cheap sugar from the Americas with their newfound love of machinery, they industrialised jam-making and made it a product everybody could now afford and enjoy. Countless flavours and varieties sprung up worldwide as it became a quick and cheap way to preserve fresh fruit and berries. More recently, in the seventies and eighties, jam makers found corn syrup cheaper than sugar, so they decided to use it instead. Since then, we have learnt about the harmful effects of corn syrup. And because of this, many manufacturers are currently changing back to sugar.

Jam 101

As easy as it is to make, you should understand some elements of jam making to ensure your finished product is perfect every time.

A basic jam recipe should contain only three ingredients, fruit, sugar and lemon juice. The fruit and sugar should be on a 1:1 ratio. Yes, you read that right, one-to-one, and I know that’s a lot of sugar. You see, sugar acts as a preservative. If left in a sealed container, the jam will last up to twelve months if left unopened. Hence the whole preserving fruit aspect I mentioned earlier. So in this situation, sugar is a necessary evil. Some recipes call for less sugar, but changing the fruit to sugar ratio too much risks ruining your jam. Too much sugar and the jam will crystalise once it cools. Not enough, and the fruit won’t be preserved and will spoil.  

Depending on what fruit you’re using, you may also need to add pectin to help your jam solidify. Pectin is found in fruits, vegetables and plants. And some fruits will have more than others. Remembering this would help, as failure to do so will make your jam look more like a sauce. You can add pectin if you think you need more. You can get it as a powder from your local supermarket or increase the lemon juice you add to your recipe. Increasing the amount of lemon juice, you use will change how the finished product tastes.

Certain fruits will need to cook longer than others. Generally, with jam, you can just heat the berries, add the sugar and lemon juice and let it simmer. But if you want to use something less delicate than berries, you must cook it longer. For example, if you make an apple and berry jam, you will first need to cut the apple to similar sizes to the berries and then cook the apples until they are about half to three-quarters done before adding the berries and sugar.

Sterilised air-tight storage containers are also necessary. If you plan to make a large batch and store your jam in the pantry until needed, you should invest in some mason jars. I made a small batch, so I simply reused a sauce jar from dinner the day before, thoroughly cleaned it, and boiled it to sterilise it. When reusing old jars, make sure the rims are undamaged and that any lids are free of discolouration. Anything you intend to store the jam in needs to be clean, sterilised and dry before you can use it; otherwise, bacteria can infect your jam and cause it to expire. The easiest way to sterilise your jars is to boil them and let them air dry somewhere clean and out of the way.

Mixed berry jam recipe

Ingredients

• 3 cups of mixed berries
• 3 cups of sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 1tsp of finely cut lemon rind

Directions

1. Place some light-coloured saucers in the freezer a few hours before you start.
2. Wash berries and check for mould. Add them to a pot and set the heat to high.
3. Once the berries start breaking down, add the sugar and lemon juice (I added the lemon rind a couple of minutes and a few stirs before I added the sugar and juice)
4. Stir everything and turn the heat down so that the jam is simmering.
5. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Now to check if your jam is done, place a small amount onto one of the plates you froze earlier. Let it sit for a minute, then push it with your spoon or finger. If the jam wrinkles up as you push it, it is done. If not, keep it cooking for another five minutes before trying again.
7. Once you pass the wrinkle test, carefully spoon or pour your jam into the sterilised jar, ensuring to leave roughly two to three centimetres from the top of the jar. As the jam cools, it will contract, so don’t worry if you fill it up too much. Put the lids on the jars and set them aside to cool. Once the jars have cooled, date and label them and then store them wherever you like.

And there you have it, jam and jam making. I hope you found it jam-packed full of helpful information. Next week’s post will be a little earlier than usual as the Vandemonian homesteader is turning one. And I am surprised it’s been a year already, so I thought I would quickly look back over the year, share my thoughts and discuss what I have planned for the coming year. So until then, have yourself a good one, and I will catch you later.