~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.