Jamming 2012

Sounds like the topic of the festival season. "It's all about the music man". Not with me, it is all about the jam man, or dżem (pronounced the as in gem) in Polish.

I have been excited, really excited, as this year we have seen an amazing season of fruit, so far, and it is really only the early days. The borówki, pron. boo-ruuf-key (blueberries), jagody pron. ya-go-dee (bilberries), maliny pron. ma-lee-nee (raspberries), czereśni pron. tch-e-resh-ni (cherries) and the truskawky pron. true-skuv-key (Strawberries) have been, and in some cases still are, magnificent. It seems they are a lot better than last year. Or maybe it is just me enjoying the present more than the past, who's to say really?



I have made a few new jams this year, as we didn't make any last year because we had made so many the previous year that we have only just finished them this spring!


 My "creative" style this year was Fruits of the Forest jam consisted of the following.

Cherries

Bilberries

Gooseberries

Raspberries

Blackberries

Mix them

heat them

Boil them

Put them in a jug

And bottle them

Then cut some apricots

Cook them up

Throw them into some bottles :)

What else can you do?

Of course, prepare some on fresh bread, here it is some strawberry jam  with a double espresso!

Everyone should get into simple things like jam making, it makes the summer last long into winter. The big advantage is you know what is going into them, you can reduce the sugar and make it as chunky or smooth as you want. And you can simply reuse all your old jars that you have emptied during the year. Great for the environment.

I like my jams more runny than jelly like, here is the recipe for the fruits of the forest jam which is a great purple colour.

160g Raspberries
200g Cherries (stones removed)
160g Dilberries
120g Blackberries
170g Gooseberries
220g Strawberries
to this I just added one packet of Gel sugar and 250g of sugar.

-put the harder fruit in first: cherry, gooseberry for a few minutes
-then add the rest get it to a rolling boil for a couple of minutes
- then add the gel sugar stir carfeully
- then the sugar and pour out into a jug and fill sterilised jars.

Happy days. It all takes about maybe 30 minutes including the time towash, clean check the fruit, cooking, bottling and washing up. Easy peesey Japanesey.