Jam makers - a novice needs your help!

[milkmoustache]

Have just turned 40 and my thoughts are turning to jam-making... Do I need to buy a preserving pan, or would my Le Creuset casserole do the job? And what is the point of preserving sugar - how is it different from caster or granulated?

Bamboobutton, can I be friends with you? I am 44, but have also been jam-making since I was a teen if not a child as such. Welcome to the world of jam-making everyone else! Why did it take you so long?

sure we can be chums dumbledoresgirl, im on ravelry under the same name too!

i have't made jam for years as my kitchen is far to small and ds is always under my feet, boiling jam + toddlers = not a good idea.

i have bags of blackberries in my freezer for jam making when ds is older but had to give away all my jars as i had no room to store them, curse my small house to hell!

I just use an ordinary pan. A big one - it has the tendency to volcano over the top if you fill it more than half way!

Don't use preserving sugar. Experiment! I would only advise on a coper one if you are doing quince (so it goes that lovely rich jewel colour).

I got my jars from the Country Larder (online). I was doing some for the school fete and the lovely lady there sold me a box of job lot jars at a good price (as it was aor a fundraiser).

I love jam. Lemon Curd. Marmalade. Chutney... most things really.

Anyone know what I can do with a million carrots? We have just had our veg delivery and I have a whole box of them. They are very muddy and lumpy too!

Thanks for the recipe PP...will try as soon as i harvest the onions down the lotty.

Carrot chutney mayme Georgiemum??

I have at least 100 thumb-sized muddy knobbly carrots. Hmmm. How these class as 'juicing' carrots I have no idea! Maybe scraping them will be good therapy! Or I could get the kids busy (heh heh heh).

Chutney does sound good though. I may make some carrot and corriander soup too (I made a nice veg stock yesterday).

Why, carrot cake of course.

And carrot muffins.

I just made some absolutely beautiful strawberry jam. I used a recipe that suggested boiling for FOUR minutes only, fast rolling boil (after the usual slow, stirring, sugar-melting stage) and adding a small knob of butter pre-boil which apparently reduces the foamy stuff - and it did work out well. Jam a lovely clear red colour and perfectly set.

I won a cup for my strawberry jam two years ago but sadly was 'unplaced' at last year's Show. Maybe this will be another lucky year

Mmm, re strawberry jam, Delia reckons the trick is to hull the strawbs and then cover them with the sugar and leave overnight before making the jam - it helps the strawberries to keep some of their shape in the jam somehow (can't remember the details, and we are getting through mine so quickly that there is barely time to check).

Midnight express I think you are right!

Maybe when we get to 40 the list of "things still to do in my life" becomes a bit less materialistic and more creative.

I have an enormous jar of pickled pears in a dark corner of the larder which I made age 40 but haven't used yet (3 years later).

Still deciding whether they should be eaten with custartd or with cold meat.....

I can recommend marrow and ginger jam - made it last year and it was delicious. It very quickly turns to toffee though so must be watched/stirred constantly. I found this out with my first batch. It made a nice chewy ice cream topping though

Bamboobutton, oh I am on Ravelry too (same name) but I have not been on lately. Knitting is a winter craft for me.

I have always loved this sort of home craft: baking, jam-making, knitting, etc. Now just getting into veg growing. It is funny how they all have become so trendy lately!

i love all that stuff too, but living in such a tiny house with a tiny garden means i can't do any of it without my blood boiling.

we are planning a self build and i am making sure it has a huge kitchen with acres of work space and a huge garden for a veggie patch and chickens.

I hope your housing dream comes true for you. I admit I didn't jam make for quite a few years when our house was small and the children were little (although I find I need peace for jam-making so tend to do it in the evening when they would have been in bed anyway). Luckily, these skills are still something you can do when you are older, although shock horror! I discovered the other day I could no longer focus on a needle to thread it. I will soon have to get my children to do it for me

i love, love making jam and chutney. I like pointydog just clean old jars out- so very eco.
I think i must be a minority but im in what i consider to be early 20's and i love cooking in general. im about to start making jams for xmas

I bought a load of jars last year (hexagonal, pretty) but this year we have just been saving jars as we use them up. We gave laods of jam and chutney as Christmas presents last year, and will do it agin this year. We made jams for the Nursery teachers for dd2, she 'designed' the labels and I wrote 'Plucklet's allotment blackcurrant jam'. Saved us a fortune, and they looked quite sweet!

We have made jam from our allotment strawberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, rhubarb and gooseberries. Waiting for raspberries this year. 'It gives me a sense of enormous well being'

I got a large pan from IKEA which looks like a preserving pan but is about half the price.... about £20 rather than £40. It has litre marks up the inside of the pan like a preserving pan and is huge but lacks a pouring spout (This has not bothered me).

Get friends to save your jam jars ;)

I love jam. I became obsessed aged 30!