Home Made Jam

Strawberry Jam & Plum Jam





Fruit is abundant in our local Sarlat market at the moment and we are spoiled for choice. The stalls are loaded with strawberries, raspberries, plums, figs, melons and grapes..just to name a few. So with a hint of autumn in the air and winter not far away it is time to make some jam .. so we still have a little taste of summer in the depths of winter.

Sarlat Market
Sarlat Market

We cheat a little with our jam and use a sugar designed for confiture (or jam) called Confitsuc. It has added gelatin to help in the setting process so when using this the all you need is fruit and the Confitsuc.



Strawberry Jam
2 kgs Strawberries
2 Kgs Confiture Sugar or 2 Kg white sugar and juice from 1/2 a lemon 

Method
Sterilise jars and lids.
Wash and hull fruit
Place in a large heavy based saucepan until the strawberries  start to break down a little an become soft. Remove a 1/3 of the strawberries.
Add sugar (and lemon juice if using) and cook for about 30 minutes or until the fruit has dissolved and coats the back of a spoon. 
Add remaining strawberries to mixture and divide evenly among jars. Steal and store in a cool dark place.

Note - The reserved berries added at the last moment will give you jam with fruit pieces. 

Plum Jam 
As Plums are a stone fruit they have there own pectin and therefore do not require a much setting agent - in our case this meant using less sugar.

Ingredients
2 kg Plums
1 kg confiture sugar or 1 kg of white sugar & 1/3 cup of lemon juice. 

Method
Sterilise jars and lids.
Wash, stone and quarter fruit.
Place in a large heavy based saucepan until the plums start to break down a little an become soft. 
Add sugar (and lemon juice if using) and cook for about 30 minutes or until the fruit has broken down and coats the back of a spoon. We don't cook our plum jam down until the fruit has all dissolved as we prefer pieces of fruit in our jam but this is a personal preference.
Divide evenly among jars. Steal and store in a cool dark place.


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