Maggots in my jam mixture

[MrsDavis2017]

I've tried jam making for the first time this year, first strawberry, then raspberry. Both turned out great.

I was making another batch of strawberry jam this morning. I had soaked a kilo of strawberries I picked from the local fruit farm in 750g sugar overnight, then started to heat the mixture. I noticed two maggots crawling up the side of the pan so I started looking through the berries and found another maggot so there the whole mixture away as I don't know how many there would be.

I'm pretty upset, not just at the waste of money but also because I was really excited about jam making and thinking I could do it every year. But now I don't know if I should give up the whole thing....

If anyone knows about jam making, can you give me advice on how to avoid maggots in the mixture?

Thanks :(

oh that's a shame OP. I would imagine the maggots were in the fruit when you got them as you have only had them overnight. I tend to pick my own by rough picking, ie, leaving heads and stalks on. Then when I go to remove those at home they all get checked over for bugs etc when deheading. Then rinsed quickly (not the ones I eat as I go along but the main batch).

Don't give up, just one of those things. Could have happened with supermarket fruit.

I would have thrown as well though. They were probably only in one or two berries but hard to establish which.

Thank you for your advice. I might get some fruit from the supermarket just to use up my jam sugar and try the fruit farm again next year :)

I get this with damsons, as you warm up the mix, the crawlies come out, they're larva not really maggots, they float so I just spoon them out. The jam is boiled at a high enough temperature that it is sterile and absolutely no danger of infection or future larva.

It really isn't something to worry about, the worst danger is spores landing on th jam as you pot it, so you get mould.