Teens cooking
Home-Made Jam
How to Sterilise your own Jam and Pickle Jars.
Save glass jars and lids from other products. Putting them through the dishwasher after removing the labels will clean them well until you need them.
When you want to make your preserves and pickles, wash them in warm soapy water being careful to get inside the lids carefully. Rinse them out well to make sure soap isn’t left to spoil your efforts.
Place the clean jars (no need to dry) on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray. Put the lids into a pan of simmering water until you need them.
Put the glass jars in a hot oven (180c) for 5 minutes. Take them out of the oven carefully using clean oven gloves and cover the jars with a sheet of clean baking parchment until ready to fill. Use tongs to take the sterilised lids out of the boiling water and leave on the tray covered – Fill the jars as soon as possible so that they stay sterile until sealed. Using specialist waxed paper circles between the jam and the lid will help your jam stay perfect for a long time. Using a circle of baking parchment with a tight fitting lid will be fine if you plan to eat your jam and home-made scones right away but won’t work as well if you want to store the jam or pickle for longer.
Method
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1
Adults & Helpers
Younger helpers might like to pick and prepare the fruit but I wouldn’t recommend making jam with small children due to the high heat required in the liquid.
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2
Adults
Put equal quantities of fruit and sugar into a heavy based saucepan – fresh is best as frozen adds a lot of water. Use fruit when in season as they will be sweeter, cheaper and you can buy locally to reduce food miles. Go blackberry hunting in hedgerows for a free sweet treat – gently wash in cold water before using.
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3
Adults
Cut larger fruit up into smaller pieces to get a smoother result more quickly and take the stones out of larger fruit before cooking. To save time, you can just cook the fruit with the stones in and carefully pick them out when the fruit softens.
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4
Adults
Stir together carefully on a medium heat until the temperature reaches 118c – the jam should coat the back of a spoon. A jam thermometer is helpful for this job but checking that the jam coats the spoon is just as good if you don’t have one.
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5
Adults
If you don’t like pips, push the liquid through a sieve (metal is best as the hot jam could melt plastic).
Special jam sugar can be used to help thicken the mix – it contains Pectin, a natural plant fibre which helps to gel the jam. I’ve made a quick jam with ordinary sugar and it still works very well if a little runnier.
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6
Adults
Jam will keep in a sterilised container for months so it is a good way to use up excess fruit and they also make lovely home-made gifts. You will also know exactly what went in to your preserve when you make it yourself.
