A Sweet Little Beginning.

Making Jam!

Why is this Blog called "My Lucky Dip Life"?  Because I never know what surprise life has in store for me....take today for example.  I was all set to start this blog with a post on some beach bags I've recently made as gifts for school teachers (more on those later)... but I got a little distracted by making some Red Current Jam with berries I had "going to waste" in the fridge and hey presto! Something new and exciting to do in my day!  I had no intentions of making jam, but they really needed using up.   Honestly, who can eat those tart little gems without some kind of sweetening? 

Here it is, bubbling away on the stove.  Why are there no pictures of the fruit as pretty as jewels glistening in a bowl? Well,  I didn't really have any intentions of blogging about my tiny amount of jam, but it looked so lush bubbling away... I couldn't help but take a few pictures!

I got the jam idea off the excellent blog David Lebovitz.  Who could resist his wonderful pictures?

This is what little "scum" there was on the surface.  Easily scooped away when the jam had come off the boil.

So here it is, just the one tiny jar!  I love that you can make small quantities of jam.  We're not big jam eaters in this house, and I used to always think you had to make huge quantities of jam... when in reality you don't!

Pretty isn't it?  OK strictly speaking I didn't follow the "jam making rules".  I did sterilise the bottle by putting a few inches of water in and nuking it for 5 minutes (I tipped that water out afterwards of course).  I did the same to the lid but It's an old coffee bottle - not a mason jar - so probably not the best bet for storing long term, but as I'm keeping it in the fridge and it will be used up fairly soon, this isn't a problem for me.

I love the colour!  So perhaps for the final picture I should have spread some lovingly on freshly baked, crusty bread,  but I wasn't that organised!  I'm sure my two girls will enjoy this for breakfast tomorrow!

For the record:

This is a bog standard "equal quantities" jam recipe. Use this method with fruits that have a lot of natural pectin in, such as blackberries, gooseberries and slightly under ripe plums.

I used:

205g Red Currants

205g Sugar

2 Tablespoons water

• Put a few tablespoons of water in the bottom of a saucepan. 
• Add the berries stalks and all and cook briefly till soft.
• Push the pulp through a sieve, making sure to get all the flesh and juice out.
• Weigh the pulp and add the same amount of sugar to it.
• Heat on the stove till the sugar has dissolved.
• Bring to the boil for 5 minutes.
• Turn off the heat and leave to cool slightly, scoop the scum carefully off the top.
• Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.

If you want to sterilise your bottles then here is a good place to learn how to do that.