Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Eating and Drinking => Cooking, Storing and Preserving => Topic started by: BobE on July 25, 2013, 11:59
-
I wrote to Mrs Bee asking about sugar quantities in Goosberry jam. I was hoping to reduce the sugar in order to create a more tart jam. Mrs Bee replied and I include it here as it is very useful. I thought perhaps others might find her answer useful as well. I also have put in some pictures of my Goosberry jam.
This is Mrs Bee's reply to my question...
I would always use equal quantities of sugar to fruit. If you use less than it can make it difficult to keep for any length of time.
It is the pectin in the fruit that will make the set and to release the pectin you need to simmer the fruit gently. Don't boil the fruit to soften or it can destroy the pectin. Once the fruit is cooked then you add the sugar and boil hard for 5-10 minutes until you get a set. It is the hard boiling with the sugar that gives you the set
Gooseberries are a tart fruit and will take that amount of sugar without seeming too sweet.
If you haven't eaten home made jam before you will notice that the jam you make seems much less sweet than shop bought jam.
If I were you I would stick to equal quantities of sugar to gooseberries. It would be awful to have it go wrong and loose all your lovely goosgogs.
I make a gooseberry jam, and a gooseberry and ginger and gooseberry and elderflower which is my favourite.
5 lb goosgogs
5 lb sugar
10 fl oz water
10 tabs elderflower cordial
Simmer the gooseberries slowly in the water until very soft.
Add the sugar and simmer until all the sugar is fully disolved.
Add a small knob of butter or a teaspoon of sunflower oil and bring to a rolling boil for about 5 -10 minutes.
Take the pan off the heat to test it for a set.
I put a teaspoonful on a saucer and put it in the fridge a go and have a cuppa.
If you have a set, add the elderflower cordial bring back to the heat and pot it up
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs Bee then sent me some more info which I can share......
Pictures of my efforts follow.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Did you know that you can make jam from frozen fruit?
And it cuts down the simmering/softening time.
Also some jams that are low in pectin such as strawberries, blackberries etc benefit from adding 4oz of grated bramley cooking apple per 1lb of fruit. Works a dream, you get a good set without diluting the taste of the main fruit of your jam.
Most commercial pectins use apples and I just think why pay someone to process and add sulphites to a natural ingredient when you can use the unadulterated apple.
If you want a really good book on all aspects of preserving my bible is 'GOod Housekeeping, Complete Book of Preserving'. There are 4 copies on AMazon at about £5 each. The cover has lots of jars and bottles of preserves on the front. This is the book I go back to again and again. It covers every aspect of preserving and has pictures. The Christmas mincemeats are brilliant. You will never buy shop bought again!
The other book that is my second bible is Best kept Secrets of the Women's institute' Jams, Pickles and Chutneys' by Midge Thomas. Very well laid out and easy to read. Recipes by the seasons.
And one other I have been using for donkey's years and have just got a new copy from Amazon because the other copy was falling to bits and written all over is Home Preserves by Jackie Burrows.St Michael Cookery Library. I sent my old copy to someone on this forum who was starting out. I love this book because it has lovely recipes and lots of pictures.
I got all these from Amazon.Hope this helps. Good luck with the preserving.I am really jealous that you have lots of blackcurrants.
A neighbour on our plot was really fed up this week. When she went to pick her goosegogs someone had beaten her to it and nicked the lot! COuldn't have been wild life as she has all her fruit in a walk in fruit cage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for all of this Mrs Bee. As a first time jam maker It was nice to read from an expert.
edit to clarify quote and normalise text size
-
My Jam photo. ( The dog lost interest). The Jam is 3.4kg Gooseberrys (Took forever topping and tailing)
I enjoyed the entire process.
-
Awww Bob you have matching lids to mine hehe
Well done you, my new 120 jars have just arrived :D
-
Awww Bob you have matching lids to mine hehe
Well done you, my new 120 jars have just arrived :D
We must think alike. :)
120!! Which ones did you get, I need another set for my blackcurrants, still not quite ripe yet.
Bob
-
I'm just about to light the gas under a pan of gooseberries and wasn't sure how much or when to add my elderflower cordial.
Thanks for that Bob :)
-
I'm just about to light the gas under a pan of gooseberries and wasn't sure how much or when to add my elderflower cordial.
Thanks for that Bob :)
Its Mrs Bee, so very very helpful, and shes a proffesional. So really good info.
Aunty, I hope it works out, any chance of a pic at the end of the build? (Pic of the Jam, not you, not that we would mind that. Ermm stops now.)
Bob
-
I ordered from c.wynne as they work ot 2p a jar less than wares of knutsford.
All here and waiting to be filled up, shame i cant find another jam and chutney cupboard.
-
I ordered from c.wynne as they work ot 2p a jar less than wares of knutsford.
All here and waiting to be filled up, shame i cant find another jam and chutney cupboard.
Under another bed. :D
-
I ordered from c.wynne as they work ot 2p a jar less than wares of knutsford.
All here and waiting to be filled up, shame i cant find another jam and chutney cupboard.
Under another bed. :D
My kids under bed storage is full of rubbish ::) every so often i do the sweep.
-
In the loft?
-
Nice recipe - I'm about to start on the haul of gooseberries from Mum's bushes, adding elderflower sounds lovely.
I do always reduce the amount of sugar by about a quarter/third as I don't like sweet jam - not so far had any failures in setting or keeping with that.
-
In the loft?
What in HIS man roof ::) bob you have no idea whats in there. I currently cant even see the sides
-
Well done Bob they look great. It sounds like you are well and truly hooked. :D
If you are about to make blackcurrant jam you may like to add 2 teaspoons of port or creme de cassis to each jar before you pour in the hot jam.
Or if you really want to go upmarket replace the water in the recipe with pinot noir. ;) 8)
I don't know about being a professional, a professional idiot more like. Especially after working in a humid 33C kitchen. No wonder me ankles were like footballs :(
How much are you paying for your jars. I use Pattesons as I found them he cheapest and it is free delivery too.
-
I used Wares of Knutsford Ltdhttp://www.waresofknutsford.co.uk/ (http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?action=seored;u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.waresofknutsford.co.uk%2F)
Your Order Contains...
24 x 324ml Bonne Maman Jars with Gold tops £18.50 GBP
Periwinkle Line with Butterfly Inspired by Nature Range at Words of Art. £2.30 GBP
Waxed Circles/Discs - 0.9kg (2lb)£2.55 GBP
Shipping:£5.95 GBP
Grand Total: £29.30 GBP
Tax Included in Total:£4.88 GBP
I do like those jars.
-
Jars work out at 43p all included vat and lids and p and p from wares
And all in 41p at c.wynne.
I sat down and worked it all out the other day.
-
Yes but do you need 120 jam jars?. Im doing 10-14 in a batch.
-
Have you considered e-bay, Bob :
LINK (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-lb-GLASS-JAM-JARS-X-56-COMPLETE-GOLD-LIDS-NEW-/270932926678?pt=UK_HomeGarden_Kitchen_FoodStorage_GL&hash=item3f14dc60d6)
-
But Aunti, they just dont look as good as my Bonne Maman jars.
(http://i.ebayimg.com/t/1-lb-GLASS-JAM-JARS-X-56-COMPLETE-WITH-GOLD-LIDS-NEW-/07/!BygjNSwEWk~$(KGrHqF,!isEw4+sl9TWBMSDlr,PDQ~~_1.JPG)
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511DNBD1N0L._SX385_.jpg)
No comparison is there???
-
Yes but do you need 120 jam jars?. Im doing 10-14 in a batch.
Do i need 120 silly Bob of course i do when most chutneys take 8 jars and i am doing two batches a day.
-
But Aunti, they just dont look as good as my Bonne Maman jars.
::) I eat jam not jars, me dear :lol:
-
No-one sees them in the cupboard, so I use recycled jars.
The jams/chutneys/jellies taste just good whatever they are stored in ;)
It's a different matter if you are selling them or giving them away as presents, though!
-
No-one sees them in the cupboard, so I use recycled jars.
The jams/chutneys/jellies taste just good whatever they are stored in ;)
It's a different matter if you are selling them or giving them away as presents, though!
Its the stackability of recycyled jars :lol: hubby threatened to take the door off my cupboard as he said hes sick of seeing it left open so i can just " look" at my lovely jars.
-
No-one sees them in the cupboard, so I use recycled jars.
The jams/chutneys/jellies taste just good whatever they are stored in ;)
It's a different matter if you are selling them or giving them away as presents, though!
Me too :)
-
1 lb GLASS JAM JARS X 56 COMPLETE WITH GOLD LIDS NEW £17.75[/b]
That is a good price Aunty. But I only need 24 to finish of this years harvest.
Bob
-
All the chat has been removed from this thread and can be found here now............
http://chat.allotment-garden.org/index.php?topic=108208.msg1215863#msg1215863