It's time for a Jam session

A few days ago I was doing the usual grocery shop at my local Spar, I went to buy ingredients for roast lamb and while I was there, the nectarine's were at an amazing price! It must have been the portion of Scottish blood in me but I ended up buying three and a half kilo's of the luscious fruit! I then decided the only reasonable thing to do with that amount of fruit is to make jam out of it!
Many people are faced with a sense of trepidation when it comes to making Jam, but I can assure you it is both easy and thoroughly satisfying to make your own jam ( If you are not so inclined, come buy a jar of my jam at the market, wink wink)

Stage one: The first step in any jam making session is to prepare your fruit. I used 3.5 kilograms of nectarines, which I stoned  and sliced, it is a labour intensive job but if you are a jam lover you will do it.

Stage 2: You will need a seriously big and sturdy pot for jam making or you can just make smaller quantities. Put all your sliced fruit in the huge pot and simmer on medium heat until the juice's of the fruit make an appearance.

Stage 3: This is when the health conscious are going to scream in horror, leave the computers, go for a jog and then perhaps return to this Jam making session. You see with Jam, sugar is the ingredient that get's the pectin working in the fruit as well as preserving the jam. Therefore for 3.5kg of fruit, I added 3 kilograms of sugar, two tablespoons of lemon juice and a teaspoon of vanilla paste to add to the flavour.

Stage 4: Keep the heat on medium and stir the sugar, fruit and other ingredients so the mingle together.

Stage 5 & 6This has to be the longest stage as you have to wait for the pectin to do it's thing and the dreaded skimming commences. Skimming the foam of the jam, makes a clearer jam and prevents the jam from going mouldy. If you can't be bothered, the jam will survive but it really won't be the same sheeny jam one is accustomed to.

Keep skimming and stirring until the jam is lovely and gloopy ( Gloopy is most certainly the technical term, I am sure)

A little tip I learnt from Donna Hay on how to test if Jam is ready is by putting a plate in the freezer until really cold, put a tablespoon of jam and place in the fridge, go back in a few minutes and if you run your finger through the jam and the line stays there, your jam is ready!

Once your Jam is done, you can pour it into sterilised jam jars ( I just pop the lids and jars in the dishwasher to sterilise them)

*The quantity of my recipe makes 9 jars of jam

I hope you enjoy your jam session!

Foodie out x