Strawberry and raspberry jam-and a bit of booze

Feeling industrious after our fruit-picking adventure, I set about sterilising jam jars and wine buckets to deal with the produce straight away. 

Luckily I have two large preserving pans, so I can make both strawberry and raspberry jam simultaneously.

Jam making is very simple. All you need is the fruit, sugar and a little lemon juice.
For all jams, the rule is you need the same weight of sugar as the weight in fruit. However, with strawberries, due to their wonderful sweetness, use less than this. I have started using jam sugar, which has added pectin (the thing you need to make jam set). Most fruit contains pectin and it will set anyway but you need to add more lemon or some apple. With jam sugar, even the lemon is not necessary and it saves a huge amount of faffing.

4lb Strawberries (without the stalks)
3lb Jam Sugar
Juice of 1 lemon

Some folks say you should leave the sugar on the fruit in the pan over night. I have discovered that this is okay if you are prepared to spread hard strawberries on your toast. I like my fruit soft in jam so I don't add the sugar until later.

Put the fruit and lemon juice into the preserving pan. Cook on a low to increasing heat until the strawberries become soft. Then add the sugar. Keep at a steady boil until 'setting point' is reached. Skim off the 'scum' into a separate saucer. (The scum is literally the bubbly, frothy bits of jam that rise to the top of the pan. It can't go in the jars in case the airy bits encourage mould. Spread the scum on homemade bread over the next few days. Yum!) You need a cold saucer to blob a bit of jam on. If it wrinkles when you try and move it around with your finger it is ready. Pour into jars. Only use jars with a rubbery ring around the lid. Coffee and peanut butter jars don't work because they don't seal properly.

For Raspberry Jam you need:

4lb raspberries

4lb jam sugar

juice of 1 lemon

Put the raspberries and lemon juice in a pan. Cook gently until soft. Add the sugar and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. Skim off the 'scum' into a bowl and jar.

It is really important that the jam reaches setting point. Experience at jam making helps, but essentially the jam needs a dark, glossy 'wobble' to it as well as the finger test. If the jam doesn't set, it will be hard to spread and the fruit won't be evenly dispersed in the jar.

I like my pantry to look pretty as well as functional so I nearly always put fabric on the lids. I collect all the elastic bands you get wrapped round asparagus and these hold the circles in place. Most of the material is offcuts from patchwork projects; some vintage pieces and some modern. I recommend buying old tea towels and curtains from charity shops for this sort of thing. I'm afraid I cheat and buy Cath Kidston labels but maybe over the summer, I will make my own.

Now for the wine:

We are very partial to summer fruit wine but it can be quite expensive to make if you have to buy the fruit. Still it is worth make a gallon or two because the pleasure of uncorking a little bit of summer in those dark winter months is unmatchable.

Squished strawberries, sugar and hot water.

Raspberry wine. The fruit is in a muslin bag to avoid a cloudy liquid.

For both raspberry and strawberry wine you have the delightful task of 'smooshing' up the fruit with your bare hands; in the sterilised bucket and ideally in a muslin bag, the fruit needs a good squish. Pour enough boiling water over the fruit to cover it, allowing 1 gallon per 3lb of fruit. It is a good idea to put the sugar  (3lb per gallon) in before the water, so it dissolves. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and, later on when the liquid has cooled to room temp, a heaped teaspoon of wine yeast.

After putting into demijohns and racking at least once, the wine will be ready in 3-4 months.