Jam help

[LadyMercy]

I have just scorched a pan of strawberry jam. I seem to either:
a) watch it bubble for hours and hours and eventually get to setting point after much wasted time and frustration and
b) turning the heat up a little bit and suddenly it's burnt
I am so annoyed at the waste of fruit!

How long should strawberry jam take to reach setting point?

Can't help with that sorry but if you have a steel pan that has burnt bits on it use oven pride oven cleaner gel, just a little will do the trick. I use it as my maslin pan always seems to catch in the same spot.

I make jam in the bread machine if you have one it is just put it on and walk away. I am keen on getting and trying the new Lakeland jam making machine I love baking machines and jam fresh bread and jam for breakfast

Oh and my strawberry jam is always runny unless I use jam sugar then it is toffee like

It should only take about 20 mins to get to setting point.What recipe are you using and are you making sure the sugar is all dissolved before it boils?

Are you using a good thick based pan? You should be able to have a nice "rolling boil" without it sticking - assuming you stir it from time to time.

I recommend the Lakeland thermospatula - stirs and show the temperature of the jam at the same time so you know when it gets to 105c. It has transformed my jam making.

That is great help thank you! If I can get the pan cleaned up I can at least have another go

Matey - I'm using a recipe from Good Housekeeping which is strawberries, lemon juice and jam sugar.

I heated the strawberries gently for about 15 minutes, til they got all runny and juicy. Added the sugar and stirred until it dissolved. Then turned up the heat til it was bubbling well.
It then bubbled away for an hour and a half without getting to setting point! So I turned the heat up half a point on the cooker dial and 5 minutes later I felt the burnt stuff on the bottom of the plan with the spoon

Am off to look at the lakeland website....

I'm so glad you've asked this question. I've had exactly the same problem with burning jam. Mine didn't take so long to get to the setting point, but it did catch really suddenly.

I'm not a particular jam expert, but it is strange that it is taking so long to reach setting point and you're not obviously doing anything wrong. I can see that recipe in my GH cook book.

Does your pan have a wide top and a really good solid bottom?

Do get a thermospatula. I suspect the jam is at setting point much sooner than you think.

I make jam in the microwave, from a foolproof magazine recipe.
It's on the BBC Good Food website: look for Summer fruits jam.