An Art Worth Preserving

Sydney Morning Herald

Tuesday June 5, 2007

Judy Adamson

Delicious, fruity, homemade jam is universally admired but jam making has gained an undeserved reputation for being too hard.

There is something deeply satisfying about eating homemade jam. It always tastes better than bought jam because you prepared all the fruit, stirred the bubbling mixture then waited in a sweat to see whether it would set. And you even burnt your fingers getting it into the jars, where it now sits, colourful and gorgeous, waiting to be devoured by your household or given

away to friends.

"There has been a bit of an upsurge of interest in [making jam] because, I think, like everything, everybody wants something that's beautifully homemade that they can show off to their friends," says cook and food writer Syd Pemberton. "As well as taking a bottle of wine to a dinner, you can take your latest: this year's marmalade."

However, many cooks still don't, or won't, try making jam and marmalade. They find it too hard, too time-consuming or just plain depressing when it sticks to the saucepan or doesn't set. Yet these same people will flock to the local charity stall if jam is on sale, so it's a skill and product that is clearly admired and sought after.

Adrian Maguire, who makes most of the jam for the Enniskillen Orchard in the Grose Valley, insists people shouldn't be scared of jams and preserves. "Jam is easy, really," he says. "Maybe I'm just lucky but I think if you use good quality fruit and cook it on electric hotplates that makes it a lot easier.

"I find it works having the fruit prefrozen and throwing it in ... with a bit of water so it doesn't stick. If you put fruit in fresh it tends to stick straight to the

pan and that's what I find to be the main problem. Other than that, it's just a matter of patience and keeping it stirred every five or 10 minutes."

Jam-buying visitors to Enniskillen are happy to snap up the pretty preserves for sale but not all jam makers are keen on using frozen fruit. Pemberton says it

has a lower pectin content than fresh fruit, while Bitton Gourmet creator David Bitton believes only fresh, seasonal fruit provides the best-tasting jam.

Maguire says freezing is handy when people buy too much of a seasonal fruit and can't eat it all while it's fresh.

Destone stone fruit and decore apples, chop them into small pieces and weigh them before freezing them in tubs in one kilo batches. "Then when you make your jam you don't have to fiddle around with measuring," he says.

If you want to use fresh fruit, however, don't be seduced by boxes of overripe

fruit. As it becomes overripe, the flavour and pectin content declines and the more likely your jam won't set.

No matter what fruit you choose, there are a number of things to remember.

You need a wide saucepan or pot with a heavy base - wide pans help evaporation and the heavy base helps prevent the jam from burning.

It's necessary to boil the mixture to make your preserves but Bitton advises "never to cook at full blast because it's going to burn". In addition, if you leave your jam and wander off for 30 minutes you can just about kiss it goodbye.

Says Pemberton: "You will have a very black pan, which is horrible to clean. You can get cooking mats from hardware stores that sit under your pan so it's not directly on the heat but you're really supposed to keep an eye on it and stir it."

Jam made with lower-pectin fruits such as plums and strawberries will be trickier to set and how you choose to get around that depends on your taste. Commercial pectins make it easier and Pemberton says cooks should not be afraid to use them, although she adds that too much can make a jam so solid "you can hardly get a spoon through it".

"I tell people to put the juice of a lemon and the pips into a muslin bag in the jam," she says. Bitton also recommends this but adds that the kernels of fruit such as plums can be added as these contain extra pectin.

When you're bottling the jam, an important thing to remember is that the jars should be sterilised: wash them with hot, soapy water and rinse before placing in the oven for at least 10 minutes. Metal lids work best and should simply be washed well.

And whatever you do, don't put skin-burningly hot jam into jars that aren't also hot or all your work could be wasted.

"Always make sure you stand the jars on a wooden board so the timber insulates them," Pemberton says. "If you put them on a cold surface and you put the jam in, the jars will just crack. That's the most tragic thing that can happen.

"It's all about getting the balance right. There is a bit of trial and error but the joy of making jam is using fruit that really works and tastes fantastic."

How to get it right

Jam-making essentials

Wide-mouthed jars (easiest to fill) with metal lids; a large, heavy-based saucepan or pot; a flat-bottomed spoon to stir right into corners and prevent jam from sticking; thick gloves to handle hot jars; a stainless steel or Pyrex jug with a good pouring lip to fill the jars; and patience.

Sterilising

Jars need to be well washed and then sterilised in the oven. You can do this at a lower temperature (80-100C) for longer periods of time, placing the jars in the oven when it is still cold, or you can sterilise at temperatures up to 160-180C for about 10 minutes.

Other options are to sterilise jars for 10 minutes in boiling water on the stove top, wash them in a hot dishwasher, or half-fill clean jars with cold water and heat them on high in the microwave for three minutes.

Checking the jam is set

There are several methods. You can buy a sugar thermometer and take your jam off the heat when the temperature reaches 105C but there's nothing more gratifying to jam-makers' hearts than using their judgement and then seeing their product solidify as it cools.

Among the easy ways to check for "setting point" without a thermometer

is to place some cold water on a saucer before dropping a teaspoon of jam mixture in the middle. If it stiffens and doesn't run off the saucer when you tip it up, you're ready to go.

Syd Pemberton places her saucer in the fridge or freezer to chill before popping the jam on it but doesn't use water. Adrian Maguire puts his jam on a plate and then puts it in the fridge for five minutes before holding it up at a 90-degree angle. Slow, gooey jam is set.

David Bitton puts a plate in the fridge for an hour before adding a soup spoon of jam and running his finger through the middle. If the finger makes a nice, clean "road" in the jam, the jam is ready.

Pectin content

This list is only a rough guide. Be aware that pectin content varies from one variety of a fruit to another.

High - quince, citrus fruit with its skin on such as lemon, orange, lime, cumquat, grapefruit.

Medium - apple, peach, apricot, banana, some varieties of plum.

Medium-low - cherry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry, some varieties

of plum.

Low - strawberry, grape, rhubarb, pear, nectarine, fig, pineapple.

Adding pectin

This can be tricky but it needn't be. Marmalades tend to be high in pectin as they contain lots of citrus fruit with the skin on, but many other jams need a little something extra to help them set. It is possible, for example, to turn overripe fruit into jam but be aware that the pectin is highest when fruit is just ripe.

Most recipes for fruit with a medium to low pectin content contain lemon juice and some also suggest dropping a muslin bag with fruit pips into the jam. However, if you are happy to use commercial pectin there are a number of options.

Jamsetta is a powdered pectin available from the supermarket, powdered "citrus pectin" can be bought from health food shops or you can try CSR's Jam Sugar. Be sparing with powdered pectin. Never use more than the packet suggests and mix it in well with your sugar - before you add the sugar to the fruit - to make sure it is well incorporated through the jam.

What to do in a jam

Jam hasn't set

Try cooking it again with extra lemon juice or commercial pectin, or use it as a pouring sauce for cakes, puddings and ice-cream.

Jam is burnt

If the jam starts to catch and burn, take the pan off the stove and plunge the base into a sink of cold water. Carefully spoon whatever you can (without taking the burnt bits) into a clean, heavy-based saucepan. Bring back to the boil and then hot-fill your jars.

The fruit isn't soft

The sugar has been added too early so the fruit is not cooked properly - it will not soften after sugar has been added.

Crunchy sugar in the jam

Under- or over-boiling the jam or not enough acid. Return the mixture to the saucepan, add a little more lemon juice and bring back to the boil before

filling your jars.

Mould on the jam or on the lid

There may not be enough sugar, which is the preserving part of the jam. It's important to always use sterilised jars and well-washed lids (and be aware that half-filled jars are more prone to mould). Scoop mould off and place the rest of the jam in a clean container and store in the fridge. Use quickly.

Tips from Syd Pemberton

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home