Homemade Raspberry jam is the simplest and most satisfying thing to make. whilst I don’t advocate eating sugar daily, I do believe in everything in moderation and try to follow a kind of 80/20 rule when it comes to eating. After all life is too short not to have a little bit of what you fancy. I wouldn’t say I even eat jam on a weekly basis, but sometimes there is nothing better than really good jam on a slice of hot buttered toast, with a scone, or sandwiched between sponge. These are occasional treats however.
Raspberry jam is a good place to start if you have never made jam before, its very simple and only has two ingredients.
- Serves:Makes approx. 6 0.2l jars
Ingredients
1kg Raspberries, try to buy the reddest plumpest you can find or even pick your own.
1kg granulated sugar.
Instructions
Place 2 small plates in the freezer.
Sterilize your jars, you can do this by placing the jars and lids on a baking tray, in a hot oven set at 200°C for 20minutes.
Add the raspberries and sugar to a large sauce pan, place on a low heat stirring frequently until the sugar has dissolved completely and there is no granules or graininess left on the spoon or side of the pan.
Now turn the heat up until you get a vigorous rolling boil, one which cannot be tamed by stirring. Keep it boiling continuously for 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes turn off the heat and do you first test. Take a plate out of freezer and spoon a teaspoon of jam onto it, leave for a minute or so and then push with your finger. If the top wrinkles its ready, if its still runny then return to the heat and boil again vigorously for a further 2 minutes and test again. Continue to do this until you are happy it is ready. Once or twice more should do it. The jam will have reduced a little and darkened to a ruby red.
Take off the heat and allow to cool a little, if there is any scum on the top carefully spoon off, keeping a bowl of water to hand to rinse your spoon after each spoon.
Pot the jam into your jars, I use a jam funnel as its easier, but a ladle or large spoon will be sufficed, top with the lids and allow to cool completely overnight.
When the jars are cold, label, check the lids are tight and store.
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