I had just under 6 pounds of gooseberries in my fridge. I decided to make jam out of it. I give gifts of jam to my neighbors at the holidays and gooseberry jam is nice as you can't buy it anywhere. I ran my gooseberries through the strainer. I should have had a nice photo of it up in action, but of course forgot about it until it was already clean.
My jam is pretty simple. I added sugar until it tasted like jam which turned out to be four cups. Though I'm a bit worried about that. I don't eat sugar much anymore and my tastes have changed. I worry that I might have made it too tart for the average American. I also added a few tablespoons of lemon juice and a tablespoon of cinnamon. I like to use my mongo big fry pan to make jam as it boils down fast.
My biggest problem with making jam is getting the gel right. I tend to over gel my jams even though I never use pectin. I think when I first learned, someone told me that when you drag a spoon through the jam it shouldn't go back into the trough right away. It kind of stuck with me. But the reality is a well done jam won't quite do that unless it has started to cool. The other issue is the fear of getting syrup instead of jam. But honestly jam that doesn't spread well is almost as bad. My last strawberry jam was like that. So I'm trying to be better. The reality is that I like soft jams, so I shouldn't be afraid of them. I hope I got this one right.
I got six half pints out of it. The last jar which I'll keep for myself is filled with foam as it was the last scraping from the pan. No matter how much foam one scrapes from the surface of the jam, more always seems to pop up. I know you can add butter to keep the foam down, but I don't like the idea of butter in my jam for some reason. Seems silly doesn't it as I've got nothing against butter on my toast before I add jam. This won't win any prizes at the fair. I doubt any of my jam would as I can see small bits of foam in every one, but I'm not going for looks. Taste is everything - and that gel issue. But still they don't look bad. The cinnamon really made my green gooseberries turn a pretty burnt red.
Mmm, looks great! If you don't use pectin, how do you make it gel? Do you mean just cook it down until it's thick enough? I don't use pectin either, just cook it until I like the consistency.
ReplyDeleteGooseberries naturally have pectin in them. So they can gel without added pectin. With fruits that don't have enough to really make a jam (like rhubarb) I tend to make fruit butters.
DeleteWhen judging the set of the jam, have you tried the "wrinkle test"? Put a small amount of jam onto a really cold saucer (kept in the freezer until the last moment?). When you push it gently with your finger the jam should produce wrinkles that remain visible when you remove your finger.
ReplyDeleteI did use a frozen small plate to test the gel, but I've never heard it called a wrinkle test. Thanks for the info.
DeleteWell, I think that your finished jam looks so pretty in the jars. I'm sure your neighbors will really appreciate receiving such a delicious gift.
ReplyDelete