to think Delia and my mum were lying.

[trio38]

According to Delia AND my mum, cooking the fruit for strawberry jam will take approximately 15 mins, so AIBU to wonder why the fuck I'm standing here 40 minutes later waiting for the sodding strawberries to show signs of setting?

Jam is a bastard.

Did you put all of your spices out in little piles on a plate?

That will probably do it.

Pectin!

Spices? It's just strawberries and sugar surely. Have I failed already?

Strwberry jam is notorious for not setting.

You need Certo.

And when you ask for it in the shop, they will think that you are a mystery shopper because that seems to be what they always ask for!!

You need to add moths legs. They contain a natural gelling agent.

Add a sliced up apple, it naturally has pectin and will help it set

Df made strawberry jam with the dcs a couple of weeks ago which turned out perfectly.

I've just asked him and he said you put the fruit and sugar in at the same time, cook for around 8 minutes and it's done!

You're not still cooking the fruit after 40 minutes are you?

Lemon juice works for setting as well

In terms of setting - he said it takes overnight to set properly - a couple of hours out of the fridge then the rest in the fridge.

He said it wouldn't set in anywhere near 40 minutes, let alone 15!

Hmm, we have a hint of a wrinkle.

Yes, and the juice of one lemon per kg of fruit and kg of sugar (added whilst cooking)

Strawberries can be low in pectin, so strawberry jam is notorious for not setting.

Are you doing the drop a blob onto a cold plate, wait a minute then push it to see if it sets thing? You do know it doesn't set while it's hot?

Try adding some chopped apple if all else fails

are you using jam sugar?

When I attempted jam it took an hour before I thought it was done (thinking I knew better than the cookbook my Granddad swore by).
It ended up like superglue...
I decided to leave it to the professionals after that .

Yes, was doing the cold plate thing, which was why I thought it wasn't done. I suspect I've made strawberry toffee AND the bastards stuff's all over my slippers now.

The riper the strawberries, the less likely they are to set. Were they ripe, red mushy ones? In which case, you're stuffed. You'll be better off calling it a coulis or pouring it over ice-cream.

On the bright side, strawberry toffee sounds awesome.

Oh yeah, I made strawberry toffee last year

I have to red-hot me knife blade to carve the jam outta the jar.

The year before I made crabapple toffee.

Haven't bothered this year!

Jam ain't easy

I'm about to attempt blackcurrant jam and am nervous of the whole setting thing!

I made blackberry jam last year. You need a road drill to remove the stuff from the jar, so I'm hoping this time it will go better!

Blackcurrants set really easily

After last year and the blackberries, I'm not worried about them not setting, I'm worried about them setting so firmly you have to break the glass to access the jam!!!

Jam sugar is your friend. Too late now I'm afraid

Haha did this last week. Ended up with strawberry concrete.