Make your own delicious strawberry jam
June and July are the best times to pick strawberries and make jam for the rest of the year. Here is a delicious recipe for making your own jam. It is quick, easy and home-made jams just taste so good, especially with scones or toast.
Fire Days, in particular when you see the symbol above work really well. This will make sure your jam won’t get mouldy, providing of course you sterilized your equipment correctly!
What do you need to make your own delicious strawberry jam?
A general rule for making jams: Fill your jam glasses with boiling water before use or even better sterilize them in a pressure cooker. If you like making your own jam, then I suggest you keep a pot and cooking spoon just dedicated to this task and make sure that they are both REALLY clean. Done on the right day and with the right method/equipment, you can rest assured that your jam will last and you can make a good supply for the next couple of month. Home-made jam is to do and makes great presents.
Recipe for simple Strawberry jam:
Equipment needed: 1 large cooking pot and wooden spoon (both very clean), 8-9 medium-sized jam jars (sterilized) or 4-5 large jam jars (sterilized), all jars must have tight-fitting lids. I tea towel.
Ingredients: 1kg strawberries (washed and stalks removed, 1kg jam sugar, 1 small unwaxed lemon, a small pinch of pepper
- Sterilize 8 to 9 medium jam jars (or 4-5 larger ones). Put them on a tea towel, so they are ready to receive the hot jam mixture. Make sure you also sterilize the lids as this is often a spot where mould forms.
- Cut the washed strawberries into small pieces. Then rinse the lemon and grate the rind finely. Finally put the strawberries, grated rind, pepper and sugar in a clean pot and boil for about 4-5 minutes.
- Pour the jam mixture straightaway into the sterilized jars and cover them tightly with cling film. Then close the lid on top of the cling film. This will give it extra protection.
If there is time you can also bake your scones and enjoy both with a great cup of tea.
Recipe for scones:
Equipment needed: 2 plastic cake mixing bowls, pastry brush, whisk, baking tray, round pastry cutter
Ingredients: 225g self-raising flour (or 225g of plain flour and 1tsp of baking powder) and a bit extra for dusting, a pinch of salt, 2tbsp caster sugar, 55g butter (bit extra for greasing), 150ml buttermilk, 1 egg (beaten), 50 g of mixed sultanas, raisins or other dried fruit (optional)
- Preheat oven to about 200/220 degrees centigrade and grease a baking tray with butter.
- Pour the flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the butter using your fingers. You will get a crumbly mixture. Then add the sultanas or other dried fruit.
- Beat the egg into the buttermilk and add the sugar, so it becomes a golden coloured mixture.
- Make a well in the middle of your flour mixture and add the egg/buttermilk/sugar mixture. Work quickly, as speed here is important. You should now have a soft dough.
- Dust your surface with some flour and shape the dough into an even thickness of about 1cm. With a round pastry cutter, cut out the round scones and place them next to each other on the greased baking sheet. Repeat until the dough is gone.
- Glaze the scones with a little milk using your pastry brush and bake them for around 10-12 minutes until they have risen and are golden brown.
- Leave them to cool on a plate and serve with cream, strawberry jam and a good cup of tea. This is a very English way to spend a summer afternoon.
