[Jamie Butterworth]

Can anyone recomend a jam equipment supplier, can you recomend a site or warn me that a particular site is not very good as i have no experience on anything to do with jam includung the equipment so i wouldnt know if i was being over charged

[mumofstig]

what exactly do you want to buy Jamie?

[Jamie Butterworth]

Everything i need;

Jam Pan, funnel, labels, jars, everything basically

[Kleftiwallah]

Track down your local Wimmins Institute  (W.I.)  they will have their finger on the pulse.  Cheers,   Tony.

[mumofstig]

I like Lakeland's stuff.....but must admit I've just had a look and their Maslin pan (jam making pan) is a bit pricey.......they have some new ones on ebay for about £30 with free postage.

[gillie]

Lakeland http://www.lakeland.co.uk may not be the cheapest but will sell you all that stuff - but do you need it?

A really large saucepan will make perfectly good jam and while a jam funnel is useful it certainly is not a necessity.  Labels are just labels! get them from any stationer and get your family and friends to collect jam jars for you to re-use.  If you don't have enough lids buy a packet of cellophane jam covers.  Old fashioned ironmongers sell them and so do some supermarkets, at least in the jam making season.  They only cost pennies.

As a beginner you might like to buy a jam thermometer to let you know when the jam is ready to set but with a little experience you can soon do without it.

Gillie

[GrannieAnnie]

Ascott smallholding supplies sell it all too, but their maslin pan is about £9 more than I paid at a local shop here in boston.  

So like MoS said, check out Ebay too!

Just had a look and the maslin pan is down in price a bit!  

http://www.ascott.biz/acatalog/Jam_Making_Equipment.html

You can also print off your own labels.  I do!

[Yorkie]

There's a Lakeland shop in York so you could always try to persuade someone with a car that they want a day out ... 

I've got the Lakeland jam pan (though I got it in a sale from my local shop  that sells everything for quite a lot less  ) and it's great - but if you have a large casserole dish then it's not essential.

I treated myself to their canning set too when it was reduced - the tongs which grip the jars make it so much easier to move jars and lids around when just sterilised.  Again that's a luxury though.

One thing I wouldn't be without is the jam funnel.  It makes it soooo much easier to get stuff into jars without having to wipe off the spilt stickiness from the outside afterwards 

[Jamie Butterworth]

Thanks for all the replies, I have had a look on amazon and that looks fairly cheap aswell as ebay. But from what i can gather from the posts, i dont need one, just a big pan or a caserole dish?

I treated myself to their canning set too when it was reduced - the tongs which grip the jars make it so much easier to move jars and lids around when just sterilised.  Again that's a luxury though.

Sterilised, is this something else i need to look at doing or is that for if you are reusing jars?

[Yorkie]

I think you should sterilise all jars before putting anything in them.  I just put them and the lids in the oven for a short while at 100degC.  They're just a little warm when I get them out!

Wouldn't worry about the canning set - I wouldn't have treated myself if it hadn't been reduced a lot!  It consists of a few different shaped / size tongs and a slightly gimmicky magnetised tool for lifting lids up!!

[DD.]

I make do with the bottom of an old pressure cooker, any old jar I can lay my hands on, (Thank you Freecycle) & cut out plastic bags for seals.

I do go a bit posh, but not expensive, with the labels. El cheepo from Tesco (480 in a pack for less than a fiver) and overprint them like this:



I wouldn't be without my thermometer though, they are not expensive.

[Foghorn-Leghorn]

I don't have a jam funnel but found without having something to guide the stuff into the jars, I was spilling a lot of hot jam everywhere. 

My cheap and cheerful tip is to get a plastic funnel and just cut the thin bit of the funnel off and use the wide part that's left.  It just sits in the jar neck and lets you ladle your jam or chutney into the jar with far less mess (and less risk of burnt fingers!).

I also wear an oven glove on one hand to hold the warm jar when ladling jam with the other hand as spills really, really hurt!

It might also be worth looking in Peter Jones (yes the china shop) as they have a bakeware section and that's where I got my jelly bag from...

Kind regards, FL

[Jamie Butterworth]

Thanks everyone, i think ill invest in a thermoeter then

Thanks for tips foghorn-leghorn

[Jamie Butterworth]

Ive just had a look at how much asda charge for there smart price jam, for me to just use the jars it would be unbelievabley cheaper than buying online. In fact about 50% or even 60% cheaper. At 28p a jar

http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/search/searchcontainer.jsp?trailSize=1&searchString=jam&domainName=Products&headerVersion=v1&_requestid=221006

[wighty]

DD, I would love the recipe for home made DooDa, sounds really interesting and I do like to experiment! :blink: