Ok - so this is cheating a little. I made this jam just over a week ago - but I'm really behind and still have not got everything downloaded off my camera.
Jam is really easy to make - especially if you have invested in a sugar thermometer. The thermometer takes away any guessing and does away with lots of tests for sets. Worthwhile investment if you make preserves and jams.
I'm going to try and not make much in the way of jam this year as I've still got a load of jars in the shed from last year having gone a bit overboard with jamming. However, copious amounts of beautiful elderflowers growing in the field were begging to go with some gooseberries I bought at Diss market.
I'd had my eye on their beautiful cherries and had decided to get some on my way back from feeding the ducks with Oliver as the queue was so long. However, by the time I got back - the cherries were gone !
Still - locally grown gooseberries were still a huge treat and perfect to go with the elderflower (pictured above) which was growing just inside my field gate.
After topping and tailing the gooseberries, I snipped the stems from the approx 8 elderflower heads. Then, I laid them on a muslin square and tied them into a bouquet garni using a silicone food tie. The silicone food ties are fantastic little things - for tying meat joints, baked fish and multiple other uses. They pretty much replace string in the kitchen and are stupidly easy to undo. No trying to dig string out of your crackling.
Sorry - I digress ! I tied the other end of the silicone food rope to the handle of the pot on the outside - which made removing it later a breeze.
Add 2lb of gooseberries, approx 350ml of water and juice of a lemon. Cook until gooseberries start to become soft and pulpy. At this point, add the sugar and then boil for approx 20 > 25 mins until the jam reaches a set or jam temperature on a sugar thermometer.
Pour into warm, sterilised jars ( I now use the halogen oven for sterilising jam jars) which saves a lot of electricity over using my main oven.
The result was a rosey coloured soft set jam with a really nice tang and refreshing taste. Lovely with some fresh bread and butter.
Sarah-Jane Nash - the SiliconeMoulds.com cook shop, Norfolk. UK based, shipping worldwide.
oooh that jam looks so lovely and pretty and completely delicious Sarah. I can imagine!
ReplyDeleteI was watching 'river cottage' last night.I dont know if you know the chef...curly haired n blond whats his name...I cant remmeber...anyway, he had a friend over to make strawberry jam at his cottage. And your gooseberries reminded me of her jam. She added some gooseberries to one batch of her strawberry jam and added a leaf(Iwish I cld remmebr the name of that leaf) to the other batch. according to the chef it brought the jams to a completely different level! esp teh one with the leaf ( Oh shoot Ireally cant remmeber the leaf right now). ANyway it must have been good by the look on his face.
So i can bet your gooseberry jam is fantastic.