Summer Jams

My new obsession in the kitchen this summer is jam. Two years ago it was ice cream, last summer I was too busy stocking up on my personal levels of vodka to seriously notice anything I did in the kitchen except to fix myself a salad or two but this year my new hobby has taken over. It all started when a few friends and I headed to The Rose Lounge at Sofitel St James for my birthday tea in April and we tasted some magnificent raspberry and rose jam. Oh it was absolutely delicious and I don't say this lightly. I'm not usually a fan of floral tones in my food ... I absolutely detest lavender anywhere near my mouth and none too keen on rose tea but rose in jam I love. It's brilliantly offset by the tart and intense flavour of the berries. Sadly The Rose Lounge don't sell their jams and it's curiously difficult to find that particular flavour combination on sale anywhere.

Armed with a tiny bottle of pure rose oil I bought from Turkey especially for this recipe (I smelt fab after dabbing some on my pulse points too but it got a wee bit cloying after while) I boiled up a vat of jam. I have to admit I modified the recipe a little - using strawberries to bulk up the jam but it still tastes lovely with the strawberries giving it another berry dimension to the overall flavour. So far I've made 2 batches of my strawberry, raspberry and rose jam with slightly different results. The first batch came out very well - with a little help from this blog post by One Girl in a Kitchen where I learnt that apple peel is full of pectin, that all important ingrediant to helping jams set. The lemon, on the other hand, works well with the sugar to jell the pectin (whatever that means .... but it looks like I'm full of useful information today). I wasn't so lucky with my second batch. Not so much luck but an attempt to over complicate things on my part. Instead of just using sugar, I substituted half the sugar for argave nector. A silly move on my part since I have never manage to master the substitution ration of nector to sugar. So my second batch of jam is not as sweet as it should be, which is a no no since ... well, jam is all about being sweet, isn't it?

On the other hand both batches of my peach and vanilla jam came out very nicely. Lush soft chunks of peach encased in thick sweet vanilla scented syrup. Beautiful on toasted sourdough with lots of butter. My one batch of gooseberry and elderflower jam (yes, I'm seeing the floral tone throughout all three jams but it seems I can't get enough of it) didn't quite fare so well. I've somehow managed to avoid gooseberries these many years - never tasting it in a fool or a crumble - and didn't quite know what to expect. I know enough to avoid them raw (but I suppose a little nibble won't have done me any harm) but a little research pointed to them cooking down well with the likely seasonal partner of elderflowers. Feeling a little over confident with my jam making skills at this point I let the jam cook a little too long and in the infamous manner of Kylie Kwong, I let my jam "caramelise". It's still very much edible - it tastes fine (not that I would know any better since I've never eaten it before) but it looks a little darker than it should be ... I think.

Jam is such a homely thing to make ... it's simple enough to make but it does take that bit of love and patience. Something of which I seem to have in abundance this summer :)

Strawberry, Raspberry and Rose Jam
1.5 kg of strawberries - hulled and cleaned
500g raspberries - cleaned
1.5kg sugar - most recipes call for granulated sugar but I quite like the set of my jam when I use caster
Lemon juice from 1.5 - 2 lemons - depending on the size
Apple peel from 3 small apples - depending on the size
3-4 drops of pure rose oil

• Halve or quarter your strawberries if they are too big but leave them a little large. It's quite nice to have little chunks of fruit in the finished product.
• Place all the ingredients, except the rose oil, into a large pot and mix well. The sugar will disolve as the mixture comes up to a boil. Skim off any scum as it appears.
  
• When the mixture has come up to a boil, lower the heat and let it simmer until it has reached a nice thick consistency. Skim off any scum every so often and give the mixture a stir every now and then to ensure none of the jam has caught at the bottom.
  
• Meanwhile, sterilise your jars. Preheat your oven to 100°C. Wash your jars hot soapy water, rinse well and on a rack over a baking tray. Place in the oven for at least 15 minutes.
  
• Add the rose oil as the mixture thickens.
  
• Once your jam has reached a thick-ish consistency, test the setting point by placing a drop of jam on a cool plate. After a few seconds run your finger down the middle of the drop. If the mixture remains separated, the setting point has been reached. If the liquid returns to form one puddle, leave the jam to simmer for a little while longer.
  
• When the setting point has been reached, switch off the heat. Discard the peel. Remove your jars from the oven and fill with the jam. Be careful not to touch the insides of the jars with your kitchen gloves, etc as you don't want to introduce any unwanted bacteria to your clean jars.
• Seal and store in a cool dark place. It should store well for about 6 months to a year.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Peach and Vanilla Jam
1.5 kg just ripe peaches
1kg sugar - caster or granulated
1 vanilla pod
Lemon juice from 1 - 1.5 lemons - depending on the size
Apple peel from 3 apples - depending on the size

• Skin the peaches as you would tomatoes - making a 't' shaped slash at the bottom of the fruit. Put the fruit into a bowl and pour over boiling water. Drain after about a minute and the peach skins should slip off easily. Another reason to use ripe peaches is that their skins peel off a lot easier compared to slightly under ripe fruit.
• Remove the stones from the fruit and slice the peaches. Each fruit should give you about 8 slices. Don't cut them too small as you want to maintain a bit chunk to your jam.
• Place the fruit into your jam pot and add the other ingredients. Slice the vanilla bean in half and scrap out the vanilla seeds before adding both the seeds and pod into the pot.
  
• Mix the ingredients as it comes to a boil. When it starts to boil lower the heat and let the mixture simmer. Skim off any scum when necessary.
  
• Once the jam has reached the desired consistancy, test the setting point. Switch off the heat and discard both the peel and the vanilla pod before laddling the mixture into sterilized jars.
  
• Seal and store in a cool dark place.

Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam
1kg gooseberries
4 tbs elderflower cordial
500g sugar - caster or granulated
Apple peel from 2 apples - depending on the size

• Top, tail and clean the gooseberries.
• Place the fruit and other ingrediants into your jam pot and bring to a boil. Mix as it boils and skim off any scum when necessary.
• Once the jam has reached the desired consistancy, test the setting point. Switch off the heat and discard the peel before laddling the mixture into sterilized jars.
  
• Seal and store in a cool dark place.