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| Finished jam |
Ingredients
500g strawberries (not too ripe)
600g rhubarb
1.1kg sugar
1 packet pectin
Juice of one lemon
The pectin and lemon are used here as strawberries and rhubarb are both low in pectin and acid which are needed to let the jam set. You could also substitute the sugar for jam sugar and leave out the pectin but jam sugar is quite a bit more expensive. I have got a good set before using only lemon juice but I would try with pectin first unless you don't mind your jam being a bit runny.
This recipe made me 5 jars of jam but one was a large kilner jar.
I got my fruit from a market so spent £2.50 on it overall. The best thing of course would be for you to use homegrown fruit! I would encourage you not to use supermarket strawberries and they can be very expensive and sometimes a bit tasteless. If you have kids you might want to go to a pick your own strawberry farm. I did this last year and made the jam on the day which gave it an amazing fresh flavour. If you have lots of rhubarb available but not many strawberries (which may well be the case if you grow your own rhubarb which is very prolific!) then you can reduce the ration to 1:2 strawberries to rhubarb. This still has a great strawberry flavour if you use nice strawberries.
Method
- Chop the rhubarb into approx one inch chunks although don't bother being precise as the rhubarb will break down in cooking. Wash it.
- Place the rhubarb and sugar in the pan which you will use to boil the jam. Don't try and use a small pan for this as it will take ages and be difficult to stir! Leave the rhubarb in the pan with the sugar while you sterilise the jars (see previous post on plum chutney if you don't know how) and chop the strawberries so it's starts releasing it's juice.
- Chop the strawberries into quarters (these will mostly stay whole through cooking) and add to the pan. Add the pectin and lemon juice.
- Turn the hob up to high and stir to stop the sugar burning. In a few minutes the sugar will melt and the jam start to bubble. Bring it to the boil and stir occasionally
- After about 20 minutes test the set of your jam but spooning a small amount onto a cold plate. Let the jam cool and then run your finger through the circle of syrup. If the jam wrinkles when you push it it is set. This is the only difficult bit of making jam but it is worth being patient and testing a few times or your jam will be very runny (I have to admit mine was a bit runny on this go as I was inpatient but it is still delicious).
- Once setting point is reached take your jam off the heat and leave to cool until the jam is about 90 degrees (this is hard to do exactly without a thermometer but use your best guess).
- Spoon the jam into sterillised jars which are still warm. The jam being hot will help keep it sterilised so don't leave it too long. Put waxed discs on to of the jam and seal the jars. This time I used a kilner jar for me as I use lots of this jam and wanted to have a big jar for the summer! Kilner jars are quite expensive but if you want to give a special present you might want to use one. I got mine from a charity shop for £1 and intend to reuse it but to buy new they cost about £3.
- As for the chutney, get creative with your labeling if you want your jars to look pretty. I think that extra 10 minutes at the end is well worth it to package your beautiful homemade preserves.
- Try this jam simply on toast, stirred into rice pudding, on porridge, with granola and yogurt....
Variations
Of course if you are a purist strawberry jam lover you could make this with just strawberries.
The addition of vanilla is also a nice touch but remember to use natural vanilla essence or a vanilla pod (which you should take out before spooning the jam into jars).
Cost
This batch of jam cost me about £4 to make (for 5 jars) but depends a lot on how much you spend on fruit!
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