Saturday, July 16, 2011

Strawberry Jam

Winter is strawberry season in Queensland- the weather is cool enough to grow them, and so June and July are the best months for strawberries, as they are so fresh.  The rest of their year we have to endure strawberries shipped up from Tasmania and Vitoria, and they never taste as good, because they are not so fresh.  We bought a couple of big punnets at the markets to decorate a birthday cake for my mum, but the cake idea was nixed when we went out for her birthday, rather than dining in. As a result, we had strawberries sitting in the fridge. So we decided to make jam.

Jam is surprisingly easy to make, I had always thought it was a difficult and time consuming process, but it isn't in small quantities.

To make strawberry jam you need strawberries, sugar (we use jam sugar with added pectin), some lemon juice and some nice clean jars to put it in.


Start by taking the top off the strawberries, and cutting them into pieces (halves or quarters).


Once you have chopped the strawberries, weigh them.  Jam is the art of combining specific quantities of fruit with equal amounts of sugar.  I am not giving quantities, because this isn't a complex formula.

In this case, we had about 500 grams of strawberries, which means that we will use about 500 grams of sugar.

The next step is put the fruit in a pan, at a medium heat and start cooking it.  At the same time, it's a good idea to put a small saucer in the freezer- it will be needed later.
The fruit needs to be cooked until it is mushy and liquid- I tend to put it on at a medium heat and stir fairly regularly. It takes 20-30 minutes usually (varies according to the amount of fruit).  Greg tends to start at a higher heat, which is faster, but watch out for burning.

As it cooks, the water comes of the fruit, making the liquidy, sticky substance.  Once the fruit is hot it can be jammed, the longer you cook it, the less fruit pieces will exist.  I tend to like some actual pieces of fruit in my jam, so add sugar sooner rather than later.  Some may like smoother jam, in which case you may need to cook longer. Once you have it at the consistency you like it's time to add sugar.

The amount of sugar should be approximately equal to the amount of fruit.

As I said above, we tend to use jam sugar, which comes with pectin added.  If you use normal sugar, it may take a little longer for the jam to set. Or you can use the pectin separately from the sugar. Alternatively, a little bit of lemon juice with the strawberries may help.

Add the sugar to the fruit.

At this point the jam needs to be brought to a boil, so crank up the heat a little.  It will need regular stirring, but watch out for the bubbling fruit.  Once it has started to boil, the heat can be turned down and keep the jam at simmer point, keep stirring occasionally.

It doesn't get as thick as jam while cooking, you do need to keep an eye on it.  When it starts to seem thicker (slower to drip off the spoon) it's time for the wrinkle test.  The saucer/plate in the freezer comes out, and a small amount of jam is put on the saucer. if it wrinkles when pushed gently by a finger, it's done.  If it doesn't, keep cooking.

Once it's ready, time to jar it up.  This is the other part of jam making that can be tricky.  We make jam for ourselves, and for friends and family.  We are careful, but do not make on an industrial scale, so our standards are more relaxed.  If you don't have jam jars, a bowl that handles heat is fine, but you need to store the jam in the fridge and consume fairly quickly.  Generally, if you are preserving for a long time, making sure the jars used are sterile is pretty important.  A good wash with soapy hot water goes a long way, and keeping the jars in the oven at a low heat just prior to bottling ensures that no nasty bugs are around.

So the jam is done, time to start putting it in the jars- we use a ladle with a pouring spout.

Once it is in the jars, and the lids are on, the last part is the vacuum sealing.  This is achieved by placing the closed jars in hot/boiling water.  We tend to put them in a sink full of boiled water- easier than trying to do it on the stove, and produces the same result.  Make sure that the jars are covered by the water, and let them sit until there is a "pop".  That indicates that the jar has sealed. 

At this point the process of jam making is done, all that is left is the eating!

Saturday, June 25, 2011