Domestic goddesstry - maybe

Well, it's about time I went all Delia on yo'asses.

Cruising past the soft fruits in Waitrose (yeah, we're not that posh - we sloped in to renew the endless supply of ice lollies needed to keep The Tinker quiet) I spied some raspberries going dead cheap.

29p for 200g, marked down from £1.99

So, I pick me up 10 boxes and headed home for some jam making.


Now - your gonna say, why bother? Well, home made is better but only if you can source some reasonably priced fruit.

I've made jam quite a lot and here's some observations.

1. you don't need all the jam making equipment they say you do.
2. follow some rules and it's OK, really it is.
3. don't try and make it with house full of kids. Or The Tinker under your feet.
4. preparation is necessary, boring, but necessary.
5. wear an apron for goodness sake.
6. strawberry can be tricky for the novice jammer.

So here's my foolproof recipe/method for raspberry jam.

First of all. Get a pinny on. Weigh the fruit. Check there's no beasties crawling around in it.
You can do equal amounts of fruit to sugar (bog standard granulated is fine) but I like it a bit fruitier, me. I had 1.8kg of raspberries to 1.4kg sugar.
Put sugar and fruit in a big pan. It doesn't have to be a preserving pan. Be aware that this stuff boils up the sides and unless you want to be scraping it off your hob after then dig out a big one. Mix fruit and sugar up a bit. Leave.

Wash your jars. You need hot soapy water for this one. Scrub the lids. Now, for jars you can go posh like those kilner jars. You can get some ordinary ones (available from Lakeland) . Both pricey options. For the cheapskate like me you can cunningly save jars from the recycling or buy truckloads of Tesco value Mint Sauce (bargain at 25p each). They need to be emptied and washed out quite a bit and the lids will needs soaking in bicarb of soda to take the minty taste away. Try and use small jars if you're giving these as gifts, no one wants 2lbs of jam, even if it is nice. Rinse the jars in running water and put in a warm oven (warm not hot). You need to put the lids in too. Leave them in there until you need 'em. This is sterilising, people.

Find 3 saucers and put them in the freezer.

Make a cup of tea. Sit down and drink it. Have a biscuit, perhaps.

Stick pan on heat. Medium heat at first to dissolve the sugar crystals. After 5 mins and you've felt the back of a wooden spoon to check it's not gritty you can turn the heat up to high. Juice a lemon at this point and sling in the mixture. Boil it up, stirring every now and then. After 10 mins you can check for a 'set'. Get a cold saucer from the freezer and spoon a bit on to it. Leave it for 2 mins. Then prod the blob with your finger - if it wrinkles a bit when you push it then you can stop the heating and start bunging it in the jars from the oven. If it hasn't, then give it another 5 mins and test again. If you are nerdly enough to have a sugar thermometer then you need it to hit 115 degrees C.

Now, at some point during this you will notice a frothy ring around the pan edges and on the top of the mixture. It is SCUM. You can leave it on, you can scrape if off and some people even claim that if you mix a bit of butter in then it will disperse. Up to you.

Be warned that raspberry jam will be absolutely chocka with seeds. It will amaze you. You can strain them out entirely with a sieve (metal one, purlease, hot jam and all that), or leave them in, or strain out half. Up to you, again.

I did strain today but it's not a question of pouring it through a sieve. Oh no. This is the tiresome bit. You gotta push the red hot liquid through it. The tasty bits of the raspberries are around those pesky seeds. So, it's a bit of work. Decide if you can be bothered.

So, you've boiled it, strained it, tested it for a set and you're ready to jar up. You can use a jam funnel for this. I'd say this was an very useful bit of kit, and cheap as chips. If you get molten jam on the outside of the jars it's a feckin' nuisance to clean off. Cover the top of the hot jam in the jars with a wax disk (again, not necessary but useful) with the shiny side down. Screw the lids on whilst it is all still hot.

Use gloves for this. Screw them on tight. As the jars cool down you will hear satisfying click of the little buttons on the lids as they contract back.

Clean up the kitchen. This will invariably mean chipping sticky jam of various surfaces.

Make a cup of tea and marvel in your ability to make a mess  domestic goddesstry.