RCP: Mixed Berry Jam, with pictures

The jam making mania continues! Today we took photos as we made jam for my mum. This was our first attempt at mixed berry jam, so we were flying by the seat of our pants, but the colours were so pretty I thought I'd post the pics anyway.

450g (1lb) frozen mixed berries (you could use fresh, but they're prohibitively expensive over here)
Small handful of dried cranberries and five dried strawberries (optional)
2 small lemons
2 small green apples
4 cups white (cane) sugar
filtered water

1. Peel apples, save peel, core and seeds. Chop up peeled apple.

2. Juice lemons, saving pips. Put apple peel, cores and seeds, plus lemon pips, into small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil, and boil until the apple cores all go mushy and the water is cloudy (apple stock). This is your pectin.

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3. Put chopped apple, frozen mixed berries, lemon juice and strained apple stock into a large stockpot. Add more filtered water if necessary to just cover the fruit.

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4. Bring to a boil. Once the fruit gets a bit cooked and mushy, you're supposed to measure how many cups you have, and then use 3/4 cup of sugar to each cup of fruit pulp. We had about 5.5 cups of pulp, and used 4 cups of sugar. Add sugar now and stir. Bring it all back to a boil. Skim off any foam which comes to the top of the jam.

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5. Cook jam, stirring regularly, until temp measures 220F on a candy thermometer. Test by putting a small blob of jam on a cold plate. When it cools, the jam should wrinkle when you give it a push with your finger.

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6. Pour jam into sterilised bottles, and seal. Then hot water process the jam by putting it in boiling water in the pasta strainer basket, and boiling the sealed jars for 10 minutes. (We had a discussion in the chat room about whether or not this was necessary, but we decided to do it anyway, since we'd already boiled the pot to sterilise the jars in. And hey, it's for my mother. If she gets mouldy jam, I'll never hear the end of it).

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Beautiful, Celia!!! I could eat that!

You made your own pectin?
You are one dedicated lady. You're my hero.

Celia, that is one eye-popping jam. I have never attempted to make it, but seeing your pictorial REALLY makes me want to give it a try. Gorgeous.

[Robin Garr]

Amazing! You're an inspiration, Celia!

*C*, your Mom is very lucky to have a daughter like you. Nice job!

One of the nice things about making your own jam is that you can control the amount of sugar that is used. I find that many commercially available products are too sweet for my taste.

Wow, girl -- I'm scared of you! Any with habanero peppers in them?

Thank you all! This has been a really fun learning curve.

Jo - no chillies in this jam, although I have made a couple of hotter ones.

John - I tried making jam once a year or so ago, and didn't like the way the commercial pectin worked. I didn't know you could make your own until I read a couple of online articles (here and here, if you're interested). We have a glut of apples here at the moment ($5/box last Friday at the markets, and that gave me 60 green apples), because they have to empty the cold stores of last year's crop so that the new season apples can go in. I have started boiling up apples and straining them and freezing the pectin, so that we're prepared for when stonefruit season arrives. I've read that homemade apple pectin is easier to manage than commercial pectin (which can't be heated too long, or it won't work), and that's certainly proven to be the case so far.

Carrie - jam making is actually quite easy, I think, if you're willing to just make a little bit to eat in the next few weeks or so. If you can keep what you make in the fridge, then you can make jam in say half an hour. What's laborious is the sterilising and boiling etc. involved with making a large batch. I was quite inspired by this you tube clip on making small batch strawberry jam - you might find it interesting. The accompanying recipe is here. Do give it a go - the colours alone are worth the effort!

Cheers, Celia

Wonderful jam, Celia! I learned from my grandma how to make jelly/jam, and she used the 'sheet method' to judge when it was cooked enough to jell: dip a metal spoon into the mixture, then hold it sideways. If it runs off the spoon in a sheet vs falling in drops, then it is ready to jar.

Thanks Robert. I'd heard about the "sheet" method, but didn't know what it meant before! Will try it next time.

Celia, I looked at the video that you linked. Very interesting, and I love the lady's Upper Midwest accent. Wisconsin, maybe? You've given me the courage to try jam-making, now that the strawberries here are so excellent.

I made the mistake of going to the host site and looking at one of the other videos, (so they claim) "Gourmet Mac'n'Cheese." It was just... wrong. And wrong top to bottom.

I made the mistake of going to the host site and looking at one of the other videos, (so they claim) "Gourmet Mac'n'Cheese." It was just... wrong. And wrong top to bottom.

Well, now I'll have to go look at it too. I have very definite ideas about mac & cheese, as you all know!

(Do NOT mess with my comfort food! )

Stuart, I think they're based in Portland, Oregon. Does that explain the accent? That video is really nice, isn't it? I don't know how they make the jam without pectin, but maybe it's just a soft set fruit spread. Either way, I think it looks delicious.

I wish strawberries were cheap and plentiful here - but berries are something that never seems to be bargain priced over here. I love it when US recipes specify "two cups of blueberries" - they can be $7/punnet here (and you'd probably need two punnets to make the recipe). At the moment, strawberries are $3 - $4/punnet, raspberries can be $10/punnet!

I wish strawberries were cheap and plentiful here - but berries are something that never seems to be bargain priced over here. I love it when US recipes specify "two cups of blueberries" - they can be $7/punnet here (and you'd probably need two punnets to make the recipe). At the moment, strawberries are $3 - $4/punnet, raspberries can be $10/punnet!

Ouch, Celia. And I say that not even knowing what a punnet is!

Maybe grow your own?

Oh, I'm the world's worst gardener, love. I can kill mint. A punnet is about a 300ml (maybe a cup and a quarter).

Stuart, I think they're based in Portland, Oregon. Does that explain the accent?

No. Oregonians sound much like Californians, i.e., no real accent beyond "generalized American." I suspect that, like me and my rather coarse Baltimore accent, she's been transplanted to the West Coast.

Stuart, I think they're based in Portland, Oregon. Does that explain the accent?

No. Oregonians sound much like Californians, i.e., no real accent beyond "generalized American." I suspect that, like me and my rather coarse Baltimore accent, she's been transplanted to the West Coast.

I dunno, Stuart: I was once told by a co-worker (from WI no less) that I had the "strongest California accent" that he'd ever heard. Accent is in the ear of the beholder, I suspect.

Mark Lipton