No, not that kind of jam session! … This jam session involves a whole lot of strawberries and some rhubarb – no guitar solos, prima donnas or whatever. Simply that gorgeous sweet and sticky stuff. I love making jam… it makes me happy!
LET’S JAM!
It’s the right weather for it for once… cool and cloudy. (It’s usually sweltering and I need a ventilator to cool my jam down!) Here are the two classic jams I made.
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
I had to hunt down the last few sticks of rhubarb, but found strawberries in abundance! 😀
- 500g rhubarb, chopped
- 500g strawberries, chopped
- 500g “2 plus 1” jam/preserving sugar (This has more added pectin than normal jam sugar, so the ratio of fruit to sugar is 2:1) Alternatively use normal jam sugar and check the packet instructions.
- Juice of half a lemon
Gently stew rhubarb with 100ml water and the lemon juice, until just tender. Mix strawberries with sugar and let stand a couple of hours. Add rhubarb to strawberries mixture and bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Boil for 4 minutes (or the time recommended for your jam sugar). Fill sterilised jam jars to the brim, seal and turn upside down for an hour or so.
Taste test: smooth, slightly tart and very delicious!
Strawberry Jam
- 1kg washed and hulled strawberries
- 500g “2 plus 1” jam sugar (see above) I used a special one for strawberries
- 100ml elderflower cordial (see here) (optional)
Chop half the strawberries and puree the other half. Mix with sugar and cordial and let stand a couple of hours. Then, as above, bring to the boil, stirring all the time. Boil for 4 minutes (or the time recommended for your jam sugar). Fill sterilised jam jars to the brim, seal and turn upside down for an hour or so.
Taste test: full of strawberry flavour and the elderflower rounds this off nicely. It remained bright red, and I think it is probably the best I’ve ever made! 😀 (I made another batch a couple of days ago, and for some strange reason it didn’t set, so I just added a grated apple and a bit of lemon juice and boiled it up again. Perfect!)
A sweet and foolproof way of getting your kitchen nice and sticky!
(No matter how careful and organised you are!)
😀
Words and Herbs 
I love it. All that, and a post, too! You were certainly jammin’ today. 😉
I always look forward to jamming season! 🙂
tis the season to jam. 😉
Precisely! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I just love it … it’s such a happy feeling to make jam:)
Yes, it’s not just the finished product, but the making of it that is most fun!
Erdbeer-Rhabarber love it!
Sadly my last rhubarb recipe this spring/summer 😦 (But I’ve stashed some in my freezer for a rainy day in December!) 😀
as we do it 🙂
Your kitchen becomes a sticky mess too? Oh, I feel so much better now!
😉
ahh, I love this as I read my nickname in you post: Jam, and how much I loved strawberry jams really made my saliva dripped as I read this post! Now you’ve always getting me off-guard yay!!! I must reblog this! 🙂
Reblogged this on little furrow and commented:
sweet as hers and Jam is me! Loved this post! 🙂
Well thanks Jymiely! Or should I say JAM? 😉 What a nice surprise! I’m glad you liked it so much! 😀
Reblogged this on Living and Lovin and commented:
Wonderfully yummy ideas with in this blog CHECK IT OUT!
Wow, thanks! I’m pleased you liked my post… are you going to make some jam now? 😉
If I beat the bear and the birds to the BERRIES lol 🙂
Bears? Oh my goodness! Where are you?!
NH so they are just beautiful Black Bears for now anyway 🙂
There’s speculation that the English word jam in the sense you’re using it here came from the verb jam. If that is indeed the origin, I guess people would originally have made the confection by “jamming” fruit against a hard surface or through a sieve to mash it up.
Thanks Steve! Despite an interest in the English language it’s amazing what I take for granted. I had not even thought about what the connection could be!
I use to make jam when I was younger and had more time…I will have to go berry picking and make a bit again..such fun!
Hope you get the time Donna. It is such a fun and rewarding thing to do, and needn’t be huge quantities.
Sometimes matches are merely coincidental, as with verb bear that means tolerate and the bear that’s an animal. In other cases we’re dealing, even if surprisingly, with different usages of the same word, as in the coach that’s a kind of carriage and the verb coach that means to tutor. And sometimes the evidence is lacking to decide whether there’s a connection, as with jam and jam. In the meantime, we just keep jamming away.
Now if my jam hadn’t set, I would have been “in a jam”, but I was lucky (or “jammy” as they say in the north of England!) 😀
Strawberryrhubarb is a very good idea. I´m going to try that recipe!
Hope you can find some rhubarb, and have fun “jamming”! 😀
Mmmmmm – summer in a jar- are they your own strawberries Cathy? Mine are only just turning. I like the jam jar covers 🙂
They came from England! 😀 No, not my own berries as I only have wild strawberries, but these were organic, locally-grown ones, from our Saturday market. I’d love to go to the pick-your-own field, but the weather has been so wet I took the easy option!
Knowing and feeling, i like the difference!
Hi there. Thanks for stopping by!
You’re most welcome Cathy!
Reblogged this on People Excited About Co~Existence = PEACE and commented:
Thank you to Cathy for making a delicious post today and encouraging us all to get jammin’ ~With much gratitude, Gina
This is such a yummy post Cathy, I just had to reblog and help ‘spread’ the joy (pun intended 🙂 ).
Hugs, Gina
Thank you very much Gina! 😀 I hope everyone really will make jam after reading this…. it is a very fulfilling activity! 😉