How to make Best homemade Jam? Essentials are very important in preparing jam recipes. Besides fruit and sugar, there are two essential ingredients that make jam and preserve making successful, and they work together to produce a set preserve. The first is pectin, a gel-like substance found in varying degrees in most fruit, usually in the skin, pips and membranes. Combined with fruit acid and sugar, pectin makes a good setting agent. Some fruit contains little pectin, however, so it must be added during cooking. You can usually buy it in granular form in 13g sachets. The same applies to fruit acid: extra can be added by using lemon juice. Here are tips and tricks. Follow the carefully:
JAM MAKING ESSENTIALS - BEST TIPS AND TRICKS
Equipment you need...
You don’t need lots of new equipment; just have the following:
A large, sturdy-based pan. A maslin pan suitable for all preserve-making
A long-handled spoon (I use a wooden one)
A ladle
Some sterilised jars with good-fitting lids; screw tops or Kilner type jars are ideal. It’s best to have an extra jar around just in case you need it, as quantities can never be precise.
Sticky labels – to remind you what is in the jar and when it was made
A jam funnel: the only thing I advise buying specially. It makes filling the jars much easier.
A jam-making thermometer: this indicates when jam has reached setting point, so it can be useful, but you’ll still need to test for setting to be sure.
Choosing the right produce…
When making any preserves, choose the freshest, ripest, most perfect fruit and vegetables you can. This will guarantee that your preserve will remain fresh and uncontaminated. Successful jam may be made with frozen fruit so long as it is fully defrosted before using. You can make jam with any kind of sugar, but white granulated sugar does the job and is probably the most economical.
How to work with sugar
Heat the sugar in a roasting pan in the oven for 10 minutes on a very low temperature. This helps the sugar dissolve more quickly in the fruit. To check whether sugar has dissolved, simply look at the mixture on the back of the spoon; if it looks grainy, it hasn’t.
Testing the setting point
Place a saucer in the fridge to test the jam on after boiling. Put a very small amount of jam on your cold plate, allow it to cool, then push it gently with your finger. It should wrinkle and stay in place if setting point is reached. Don’t worry if it moves a little; so long as it wrinkles and doesn’t run round your finger, it is ready to pot.
JAM MAKING ESSENTIALS - BEST TIPS AND TRICKS
Equipment you need...
You don’t need lots of new equipment; just have the following:
A large, sturdy-based pan. A maslin pan suitable for all preserve-making
A long-handled spoon (I use a wooden one)
A ladle
Some sterilised jars with good-fitting lids; screw tops or Kilner type jars are ideal. It’s best to have an extra jar around just in case you need it, as quantities can never be precise.
Sticky labels – to remind you what is in the jar and when it was made
A jam funnel: the only thing I advise buying specially. It makes filling the jars much easier.
A jam-making thermometer: this indicates when jam has reached setting point, so it can be useful, but you’ll still need to test for setting to be sure.
Choosing the right produce…
When making any preserves, choose the freshest, ripest, most perfect fruit and vegetables you can. This will guarantee that your preserve will remain fresh and uncontaminated. Successful jam may be made with frozen fruit so long as it is fully defrosted before using. You can make jam with any kind of sugar, but white granulated sugar does the job and is probably the most economical.
How to work with sugar
Heat the sugar in a roasting pan in the oven for 10 minutes on a very low temperature. This helps the sugar dissolve more quickly in the fruit. To check whether sugar has dissolved, simply look at the mixture on the back of the spoon; if it looks grainy, it hasn’t.
Testing the setting point
Place a saucer in the fridge to test the jam on after boiling. Put a very small amount of jam on your cold plate, allow it to cool, then push it gently with your finger. It should wrinkle and stay in place if setting point is reached. Don’t worry if it moves a little; so long as it wrinkles and doesn’t run round your finger, it is ready to pot.
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