For the love of food...
God, food gets me excited. I love to grow it, cook it, eat it. From seed to plate...it doesn’t get much better than that for me. I’m a working married mother of one, and to me feeding my boys the good stuff is of the utmost importance.
My husband (we’ll just call him Butch for now) and I have been renovating our farmhouse for the past 5 years...there’s still a hell of a lot to do, but I am so lucky to have the most wonderful home and a pantry to die for. It’s one of those old style pantries, you know the kind where you have stone steps down into it and shelves upon shelves of storage space. There’s even still salting in the walls where the pigs used to hang. It’s such a wonderful space saver, yet totally practical. It keeps things refrigerated in the winter and super cool in the Summer. I love it.
Amongst those shelves accommodates my passion for jamming, canning...ahem, preserving. That’s the word I was looking for! I love that what’s in season now, can still be enjoyed the next. Which reminds me of my latest jamming session which has produced the most wonderful results...so much so, it’s all gone!
Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam
1.5Kg of Strawberries...preferably British. They ARE the best :-)
750g Rhubarb (from my dads garden) but try to source as local as possible!
1Kg Preserving Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
15g Unsalted Butter
Method:
Wash strawberries, hull and place in non-metallic bowl. If the strawberries are particularly large, I would halve. Once the strawberries have been prepared...move onto the Rhubarb. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, so be sure to discard along with the filaments. Chop into chunky 1cm pieces. Place in the bowl with the strawberries. Now add the sugar and juice of 1 lemon and leave to macerate overnight.
When you come to cook the jam mixture, it is best to have a heavy maslin pan as this has an encapsulated base which provides even heat distribution whilst cooking, which is perfect when preserving.
Place mixture in the pan, and bring to a rapid boil...do not add any water, strawberries contain high water content and this will affect the setting of the jam. We are looking for a nice consistency.
I tend to rapid boil for 10-15 minutes and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 1-2 hours, depending on when the mixture looks ready. By adding the butter, you won’t need to skim the mixture...it’s all good stuff, don’t take it out!
To test whether your jam will set, you can place a teaspoon of the jam onto a plate and allow to cool, if it’s still runny when cool it needs more pectin, either in the form of sugar or lemon juice and continue to boil for a little while longer.
Sterilise glass jars and pour mixture in when cool.
Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy. I like mine on crusty buttery granary toast.
God, food gets me excited. I love to grow it, cook it, eat it. From seed to plate...it doesn’t get much better than that for me. I’m a working married mother of one, and to me feeding my boys the good stuff is of the utmost importance.
My husband (we’ll just call him Butch for now) and I have been renovating our farmhouse for the past 5 years...there’s still a hell of a lot to do, but I am so lucky to have the most wonderful home and a pantry to die for. It’s one of those old style pantries, you know the kind where you have stone steps down into it and shelves upon shelves of storage space. There’s even still salting in the walls where the pigs used to hang. It’s such a wonderful space saver, yet totally practical. It keeps things refrigerated in the winter and super cool in the Summer. I love it.
Amongst those shelves accommodates my passion for jamming, canning...ahem, preserving. That’s the word I was looking for! I love that what’s in season now, can still be enjoyed the next. Which reminds me of my latest jamming session which has produced the most wonderful results...so much so, it’s all gone!
Strawberry & Rhubarb Jam
1.5Kg of Strawberries...preferably British. They ARE the best :-)
750g Rhubarb (from my dads garden) but try to source as local as possible!
1Kg Preserving Sugar
Juice of 1 Lemon
15g Unsalted Butter
Method:
Wash strawberries, hull and place in non-metallic bowl. If the strawberries are particularly large, I would halve. Once the strawberries have been prepared...move onto the Rhubarb. Rhubarb leaves are poisonous, so be sure to discard along with the filaments. Chop into chunky 1cm pieces. Place in the bowl with the strawberries. Now add the sugar and juice of 1 lemon and leave to macerate overnight.
When you come to cook the jam mixture, it is best to have a heavy maslin pan as this has an encapsulated base which provides even heat distribution whilst cooking, which is perfect when preserving.
Place mixture in the pan, and bring to a rapid boil...do not add any water, strawberries contain high water content and this will affect the setting of the jam. We are looking for a nice consistency.
I tend to rapid boil for 10-15 minutes and then reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 1-2 hours, depending on when the mixture looks ready. By adding the butter, you won’t need to skim the mixture...it’s all good stuff, don’t take it out!
To test whether your jam will set, you can place a teaspoon of the jam onto a plate and allow to cool, if it’s still runny when cool it needs more pectin, either in the form of sugar or lemon juice and continue to boil for a little while longer.
Sterilise glass jars and pour mixture in when cool.
Oh, and don’t forget to enjoy. I like mine on crusty buttery granary toast.
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