[andreadon]

i picked about a zillion raspbs. 
too many to eat, so i persuaded new oh that he could make some jam.
he's never done it before, so was a bit worried and made me help him - he picked out and weighed all the raspbs on his own, and followed the instructions (marguerite patten - you can't go wrong with her!), stirred it all, checked the thermometer etc etc.
all i did was supervise and clean/warm the jars!
when it was all cooked, he spooned it into 2 jars and I sealed them down.
there was enough left over for some jam on toast, so we ate it there all warm and lovely.
yum yum.
I'm very proud of him, but also rather upset that his was all successful and whenever I make jam, I end up with solid blocks of fruit flavoured concrete!

I checked the remaining spare bit this morning and it's set perfectly!
clever boy! 

[Debz]

Beginner's luck?   

[Trillium]

I suspect the secret is in following the basic instructions  Jam tends not to take kindly to too much improvisation.

[chrissie B]

he must have the jammy finger , but thats great saves you getting all hot and sweaty over the jam pan , friends of ours brought me some marmalade of which i love but just is never good when i do it , it was just how i like it tangy with thich shreads in it
chrissie b

[Spana]

Hi andreadon, if you want to make some jam yourself go and buy a bag of SilverSpoon Jam Sugar with added pectin.  It makes wonderful strawberry or raspberry jam and you only have to boil it for 4minutes, no longer and it sets everytime.  Because it needs such a short cooking time the colour stays bright and the flavour of the fruit is not lost trying to get a set. There is a recipe on the packet and you dont need to buy lemons for extra acid.
It says on the packet that its good for strawberries, rasps, blackberries, blueberries,cherries, pears, peaches, rhubarb & loganberries in fact all the fruits that are a nightmare to set

[andreadon]

thanks spana, that's a good tip!

(although I think I'll make him do the jam from now on....) 

[nicchick]

It's just that we are all different. My son has made excellent flapjacks from age 5 and I can't, ditto scones. I knew a cookery writer and she said she could do meringues and her sister could do mayonnaise. So I'm going with the jammy finger...
I can make excellent bread, pastry and cakes.

[andreadon]

 
he decided that he wanted to make cherry jam.  so we did it last night
i told him that it would take longer than the raspberry, so off we went.

i got busy making the pasta for tea, then when that was ready to dish up, i turned around and he'd finished the jam.
i said that was strange, it hadn't been boiling long - he said it had reached jam set point and he'd stirred it and checked it again.

well, you can guess that it hadn't set - i reckon the thermometer was too close to the gas flame and that altered the temperature.
oh dear. 
he's not fussed though; says he's going to eat it with a spoon!

i was thinking about heating up small batched of it in the microwave like microwave jam in the hope that it will set upon re-boiling.

??

[HLS]

If you don't want to try setting it, you could always use it as a dessert - in pies, or with yoghurt etc.

[Val H]

You could always tip it back into the pan, re-heat and stir in some silver spoon dried pectin. Don't forget to thoroughly wash and re-sterilize the jars though.

[Foxy]

thanks spana, that's a good tip!

(although I think I'll make him do the jam from now on....) 

brilliant tip! going to have go a raspberrry jam later, and have the same problem as andreadon, a wee bit sticky.... :blink:

[andreadon]

You could always tip it back into the pan, re-heat and stir in some silver spoon dried pectin. Don't forget to thoroughly wash and re-sterilize the jars though.

thanks val! knew i could rely on you!
there is cherry jam all over the kitchen now! (it expanded a little bit in the microwave)
I think I'll try reheating it.
 

[Trig]

I've always used the juice of one lemon to 3lb of raspberries and 3lb of silver spoon ordinary granulated sugar and it's set fine.  Jam sugar always seems so expensive to me.

Just made a few hundred jars of strawberry and raspberry jam in the past week or so and not found the need for any pectin.

Had some raspberries left over so made some fabulous raspberry vinegar . . . .

[andreadon]

come on trig - we need the recipe for that!
it looks (and sounds) yummy!)