The message
from "shannie" contains these words:




Another tip for jam making, if you can't be bothered with all the fiddling
with wax paper, cellophane and annoying little elastic bands that fly
accross the kitchen, get some suet from your local butcher, melt it down,
pour off the oil that results from that on top of your cooled jam, it sets
hard as its a form of tasteless and odourless lard and it keeps all air out
as it settles all round the top of the jam. A bit time consuming and you
need lots of suet but my jams keep for over a year and not a bit of mould
forms

Shan


I`m printing that tip off Shan!

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 08:10:08 +0100, Christopher Norton
wrote:

The message
from "shannie" contains these words:




Another tip for jam making, if you can't be bothered with all the fiddling
with wax paper, cellophane and annoying little elastic bands that fly
accross the kitchen, get some suet from your local butcher, melt it down,
pour off the oil that results from that on top of your cooled jam, it sets
hard as its a form of tasteless and odourless lard and it keeps all air out
as it settles all round the top of the jam. A bit time consuming and you
need lots of suet but my jams keep for over a year and not a bit of mould
forms

Shan


I`m printing that tip off Shan!

Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight as
you can as soon as they are filled - they form a vacuum as they cool,
pulling the rubbery seal tight onto the top edge of the jar. Voila -
home-made jam *and* recycling (OK, re-using) all in one go.

NB If you pot marmalade or jam immediately it is ready, the peel/fruit
tends to float up. Give it time to cool enough until it is a bit
thicker and you won't get this happening. It takes ages to cool, the
jar trick above still works!

Regards, VivienB

"........ get some suet from your local butcher, melt it down, pour off the
oil that results from that on top of your cooled jam, it sets hard as its a
form of tasteless and odourless lard ......."

You can do the same with Candle wax.. and if you're a Veggie then no
problems.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

shannie wrote:

"Sarah Dale" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 10 Jul 2003 03:58:34 +0100, Brian Mitchell wrote:

a jam-making machine? (I hope this isn't too OT)
Where ingredients go in one end and jam comes out the other?
Last year I tried making blackberry jam (preserve?), following all
recipes and instructions **to the letter**.
I still have four impenetrable jars of blackberry toffee and four jars
of a preserve so fluid you have to hold the bread precisely level in all
directions.

Hi Brian,

I have made jam for the first time this year. Haven't really checked it
yet, but it seems OK, over solid if anything I suspect - but better than
runny!

(Just a mad idea - mix your toffee and runny jam together and get
something in the middle????)

Jam is roughly equal amounts of fruit and sugar PLUS a dose of pectin to
get it to set.

My method was to gently heat the fruit, sugar and pectin together until
all the sugar had disolved and melted, and you have a consistent glop in
the pan (you can pre-crush or crush as you go on the fruit, depending what
sort of finish you want. You then bring it up to a rolling boil (its
there when you can't stir the bubbles back in), and then let it rolling
boil for 4 mins. Then straight into hot jam jars.

You can either buy jam making sugar, which has the pectin built in, or
However, if you can find a supermarket doing it (a large ASDA did the
trick for me), you can buy boxes of pectin powder (a Silver Spoon
product) and normal sugar, which works out much cheaper. The boxes
contain 3 sachets - each sachet does 1kg of sugar. I paid £1.29 for a
box, whereas the jam making sugar was about £1.29/kg.

I made my jam in small batches in my largest steel saucepan - did make it
easier to cope with than making a large single batch.

HTH, Sarah

Another tip for jam making, if you can't be bothered with all the fiddling
with wax paper, cellophane and annoying little elastic bands that fly
accross the kitchen, get some suet from your local butcher, melt it down,
pour off the oil that results from that on top of your cooled jam, it sets
hard as its a form of tasteless and odourless lard and it keeps all air out
as it settles all round the top of the jam. A bit time consuming and you
need lots of suet but my jams keep for over a year and not a bit of mould
forms

Shan

What on earth is all that about? Traditional mebbe, but time consuming
also! All you need is a wax disc at the most.. Then you just screw the
lids,.. Our jam has a shelf life of 2 years minumum. Mind you we
ususally only use the discs with chutneys.. Jams just get a lid.
We reuse honey or jam jars.. Both work well, the ones with the
'security button' reseal to form a visual check if the vacuum has
worked.. As someone else mentions, you do need to allow your jam to
cool a bit before capping and it is worth letting it cool 'SLOWLY' We
stand ours on a board under a tea towel to cool before storing in a cool
dark place.

For chutneys we tend to use wax discs and plastic lidded jars.. Old
peanut butter jars are ideal.. The plastic lids will not corrode with
the vinegar in the chutneys as metallic ones will..
//
Jim

"VivienB"
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight as
you can as soon as they are filled - they form a vacuum as they
cool,
pulling the rubbery seal tight onto the top edge of the jar. Voila -
home-made jam *and* recycling (OK, re-using) all in one go.

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let them
cool off ~
Jenny

"VivienB"
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight as
you can as soon as they are filled - they form a vacuum as they
cool,
pulling the rubbery seal tight onto the top edge of the jar. Voila -
home-made jam *and* recycling (OK, re-using) all in one go.

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let them
cool off ~
Jenny

If like me you no longer have lids...well some of my jars are over 10 yrs
old.........just cut squares of cling film, then as soon as you have filled
the jars (Making sure the top of the jar is DRY and clean then apply the
cling film, as the jam cools the film will pull in tighter sometimes it will
dip a good half inch into the jar.
I have kept some for 3 years + this way.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

If like me you no longer have lids...well some of my jars are over 10 yrs
old.........just cut squares of cling film, then as soon as you have filled
the jars (Making sure the top of the jar is DRY and clean then apply the
cling film, as the jam cools the film will pull in tighter sometimes it will
dip a good half inch into the jar.
I have kept some for 3 years + this way.

--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

Thanks, everyone, for the replies.

The advert goes in the local paper next week...

Wanted: wife. Must have own steel saucepan.


Brian Mitchell

"....... The advert goes in the local paper next week...

Wanted: wife. Must have own steel saucepan......"

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy jam??????//


--
David Hill
Abacus nurseries
www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk

On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 09:48:48 +0100, "David Hill"
wrote:

"....... The advert goes in the local paper next week...

Wanted: wife. Must have own steel saucepan......"

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy jam??????//

or a steel saucepan without wife?
--
martin

____/|
O \ o.O|
\\ =(_)=
__))____ooO U Ooo
``` '''

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 18:31:01 +0200, "JennyC" wrote:


"VivienB"
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight as
you can as soon as they are filled - they form a vacuum as they
cool,
pulling the rubbery seal tight onto the top edge of the jar. Voila -
home-made jam *and* recycling (OK, re-using) all in one go.

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let them
cool off ~
Jenny

Since it works well anyway, why do that? Doesn't that leave the lid
covered in jam/marmalade?

Just curious, VivienB

On Sat, 12 Jul 2003 14:20:11 +0100, VivienB
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Jul 2003 18:31:01 +0200, "JennyC" wrote:


"VivienB"
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight as
you can as soon as they are filled - they form a vacuum as they
cool,
pulling the rubbery seal tight onto the top edge of the jar. Voila -
home-made jam *and* recycling (OK, re-using) all in one go.

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let them
cool off ~
Jenny

Since it works well anyway, why do that? Doesn't that leave the lid
covered in jam/marmalade?


the idea of turning the jars upside down is to stop the solids
settling to the bottom. This way the solids all settle to the top :-)
--
martin

____/|
O \ o.O|
\\ =(_)=
__))____ooO U Ooo
``` '''

"martin" wrote
VivienB wrote:
"JennyC" wrote:
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight
as
you can as soon as they are filled

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let
them
cool off ~
Jenny

Since it works well anyway, why do that? Doesn't that leave the lid
covered in jam/marmalade?

the idea of turning the jars upside down is to stop the solids
settling to the bottom. This way the solids all settle to the top
:-)
--
martin

Plus any air in the jar has to percolate through the hot jam. This
sterilises it.
Jenny

"martin" wrote
VivienB wrote:
"JennyC" wrote:
Easier still, re-use screw-top jam jars. Put the lid on as tight
as
you can as soon as they are filled

Works even better if you turn the filled jars upside down to let
them
cool off ~
Jenny

Since it works well anyway, why do that? Doesn't that leave the lid
covered in jam/marmalade?

the idea of turning the jars upside down is to stop the solids
settling to the bottom. This way the solids all settle to the top
:-)
--
martin

Plus any air in the jar has to percolate through the hot jam. This
sterilises it.
Jenny