Sunday 31 July 2011

~Jamtastic 2~

My daughter, L, is watering a family's allotment in the village whilst they're away on holiday - with the bonus of picking any fruit and veg that are ready. She came home with some blackberries and raspberries, which I supplemented with some English cherries from the greengrocers and made Summer Fruit Jam. If I'm just making a couple of jars I tend to use a book I bought years ago called Luxurious Jam by Sonia Allison which gives recipes for small quantity jam making in the microwave.


Reasons to make microwave jam;
  • Safe control, no boiling over
  • No need to stand over it like a jam slave
  • Fruit colour stays bright
  • No scum on your jam
  • Less mess
  • Less energy use
I don't always follow the recipes slavishly, just use the quantities and timings and tweak them a bit. So easy.

Summer Fruit Jam
1lb fruit (blackberries, raspberries and cherries)
1lb granulated sugar
Destone and chop cherries, mash the berries and then put the fruit and sugar in a large glass/ceramic bowl and leave for 1 hour. Based on a 750-800Watt microwave, heat on high for 5 minutes. Stir. Heat on medium for 27 mins, stirring 3 times during cooking. Check for setting point (put a bit on a cold plate, if it wrinkles when pushed with a finger, it's set) And that's it!  It makes 2-3 jars.  

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for the good wishes on your earlier post - I'm feeling much better. I love your jar covers and labels - so cute. I make small quantities of jam in my breadmaker- it must be very similar to using the microwave as there is no scum or boiling over with that either.

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  2. Aaah, yes, before my breadmaker went 'kaput' I remember someone telling me you could use them for jam...I wouldn't do my chutney in the microwave (as I do large batches of that). I must admit though, I do worry that my lovely Nana Emily is watching me from her fluffy cloud and tut-tutting that I make jam occasionally in the microwave!

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