Something that a lot of people are keen on trying for themselves is to make their own jam or preserve.
If this is something you’ve always wanted to do, but you've never got around to it, it really is perfectly simple, although as with anything it can also take some practice to get it right.
Nonetheless, there are some steps you can take to start making your own jam, and that is what we’re going to look at in this article.
Follow these steps to get into this yourself soon and you’ll soon have delicious food at home.
Getting Ready
First of all, there are a few things you will need if you are going to make your own jam at home. You will certainly need something to store the jam in, and this needs to be airtight enough that the jam will last, such as a lid glass jar or a Kilner jar for instance.
You’ll also want a muslin cloth or similar for straining, as well as the kitchen essentials: a couple of pots and pans and a wooden spoon. You may also decide you want to label your jams, so some labels could be a good idea too.
Choosing Your Fruit
You need to choose fruit that you are going to turn into jam, and there are a couple of things to bear in mind here. One is of course the taste of the fruit - make sure it’s something you enjoy, and if you are mixing more than one kind, be sure they are likely to go together.
You also want to think about the ripeness of the fruit - slightly underripe fruit actually tends to make for better jam, because of its higher acidity. Also, some fruits have higher levels of pectin than others, so will require less help in terms of which sugar you use.
Get Cooking
Now it’s the fun part. You need to simply wash your fruit and then add it all to a large pan with your sugar. There are lots of recipes out there that you can follow for this, or you can simply wing it and hope for the best. You can also get creative by adding whatever herbs, spices and so on you like into the mix. Then mash it all so that there are no lumps left, and leave it to simmer gently. Once it is ready, you then need to pour it into the jars that you have hopefully already sterilized. Be careful here, because it will be very hot.
Leave To Cool & Store
Then you can leave your jam to cool in the jars, and once cool, put the lids on and label them.
Generally, jam will last for a very long time if you have stored it properly, so you don’t have to worry about using it right away. Just make sure that you keep it somewhere cool, and in the fridge after a while if you haven’t eaten it all yet.
As you can see, it’s really quite simple.
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