How to make jam

If you have had a particularly bountiful harvest from your fruit plants, you may be deciding what to do with it before it preishes. Much fruit can be frozen, of course, but you may prefer to use it whilst still fresh. Once you’ve made it into jam and stored it, before you start using it, it can last 6 months or more. That’s much longer than the fruit would last on its own.

Jam has a rich and delicious history, and so it is no wonder it is still a humble staple at breakfast tables. Preserving food with sugar or honey has been done for many centuries. However, the first known jam recipe hails from the Roman Empire. It was in ‘The Art of Cooking’ by Apicius in the 4^th century CE. This jam was made of quince and honey.

But jam that is more familiar to how we enjoy it now can probably be more accurately dated to 6^th century Persia. Here, sugar was used more often in its production.

Over the centuries it spread to Europe and medieval Britain, where it became a delicacy only affordable to those with status.

Consider the jam-filled Victoria sponge, named after our very own Queen Victoria.

The most familiar jam flavours are, of course, strawberry, raspberry, blackcurrant and marmalade. But there is a wide variety of other fruits you could try your hand at too. Rhubarb, for example, makes a deliciously sweet jam to enjoy.

If you’re new to making jam, then it is best to start with high pectin fruits, which means they naturally thicken more easily when cooked with sugar. Examples include citrus fruits, currants and plums, so these may be the best place to start. Just aim for some lovely summer berries and you won’t go far wrong.

The method may vary slightly depending on the fruit you use, but this is a good general overview of how best to make your own jam.

All you need is your chosen fruit, lemon juice, and water. Depending on the fruit you choose, you can add pectin to thicken it up. But without it will still be delicious, with a looser texture.