I waited for a rainy day. I had planned to paint window frames in John's Hut, but given what looked to be persistent showers decided instead it was Strawberry Jam Day.
I dug out the jars and ran them through the dishwasher while I popped into Piopio Orchard to buy fruit. I'd already bought sugar and tartaric acid.
On returning to Struan Farm I put the clean jars in a warm oven on low heat and lids in a pot of simmering water on the stovetop. I then weighed out 1 kg fruit per batch before hulling the berries.
My strawberry jam recipe is much the same as everyone else's:
1 kg hulled strawberries
6 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons tartaric acid
Mash the fruit in a jam pan or large pot (a potato masher is great for this), then add and dissolve the sugar into the mashed fruit on the stovetop. Bring it to a rapid boil, stirring frequently. Boil for 5 minutes. Add the tartaric acid and boil for an additional 5 minutes (or to "set point"), stirring. I test for set point by putting a small plate in the freezer that I pull out when needed. When you can run a spoon through a drizzled line of jam and it separates without running back together, the jam is ready. You will also notice that it starts to get glossy. Get jars out of the oven with tongs and ladle jam through a large mouth funnel into the hot jars and seal tightly with lids pulled out of the pot of simmering water when needed.
My tools include a jam pan, wooden spoon, tongs, ladle, board, tea towel and wide mouth funnel (in a pinch you can cut the top off a plastic milk bottle and use it for this purpose).
Comments