The Jam Thread

apparently the rest of the world also thinks coffee would make a good jam (just google "coffee jam recipe")...
this one is nectarine and coffee jam http://www.food.com/recipe/nectarine-coffee-jam-246868.
I have found raspberry & coffee jam http://www.vanhoutte.com/en-ca/c-the-coffee-blog/cook-book/raspberry-coffee-jam (personally I think the raspberries could be put to a much better use ;) )
Or you could just go straight for coffee jelly (can't be jam because no fruit!) http://www.grouprecipes.com/91189/eds-coffee-jelly.html

shudders at thought of putting coffee into jam/jellies.... yuck! (says she drinking a nettle infusion tea)
 
NT has made me a thing:
IMAG1287.jpg


The curved edge is shaped to a blade. It's for scraping the labels off jam jars when I get them out of the recycling. I soak them for a good while, but most labels still don't just float off. I'd been scraping them with my thumbnail, but was getting RSI in my thumb from the pressure against the glass. This does the job beautifully. Any slight glue residue then comes off fairly easily with a scourer.

The crab apple jelly has worked well. It's a very subtle flavour, a little reminiscent of quince, as far as I remember it (haven't had quince for ages).

We gathered a carrier bag full of a different type of crabs from the tree round the corner from NT's house today. They have white flesh, unlike the ones I made that jelly from, which were pink fleshed, so I'll make another batch for comparison. How posh is that - single estate jelly! There are so many from this tree (all windfalls), I might save some and make some experimental batches with other flavours in.
 
Arch said:
NT has made me a thing:
View attachment 94

The curved edge is shaped to a blade. It's for scraping the labels off jam jars when I get them out of the recycling. I soak them for a good while, but most labels still don't just float off. I'd been scraping them with my thumbnail, but was getting RSI in my thumb from the pressure against the glass. This does the job beautifully. Any slight glue residue then comes off fairly easily with a scourer.
Click to expand...

That is pure genius. I'm a bit obsessive about removing labels, and some of them are ridiculously tough to remove every vestige.
 
I got some nectarines reduced on Saturday, so I looked through my WI book and found a recipe for peach and almond conserve, so I made that - it uses soft brown sugar, so it's really dark and syrupy looking.

I've also improvised a crabapple and ginger jelly which I think has worked rather well. It was setting as I put it in the jars, so I was able to try a bit on a piece of bread. It was just crabapples and lemon juice and water, as normal, but with lumps of fresh ginger chucked in, then boiled to a mash and the juice drained off and boiled up with sugar as normal.

My next experiment will be apple and chilli jelly, with chilli added to the mash like with the ginger. I'd like to incorporate some very thin slivers of chilli in the finished jelly, adding them when I pot it up. Will they all float or sink though? Given how fast this stuff sets, I might be lucky and get them suspended in the pots.
 
I am hoping to be able to get out tomorrow to collect some crab apples and some rowan - assuming that the rain holds off long enough, that is.
I suspect hawthorn may have to wait for another season: my time on Thursday is limited and I think Friday is back to rain again.

@Arch One tip I read somewhere about stopping fruit (I think it was strawberry pieces in strawberry jam) from floating to the top (I think it was floating, not sinking) was to make sure that the jam has cooled in the preserving pan for a bit (5-10 mins I think it was) before putting into the jars. I would guess this means the jam is starting to set, but still runny enough to jar therefore preventing the fruit from rising/sinking.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I am hoping to be able to get out tomorrow to collect some crab apples and some rowan - assuming that the rain holds off long enough, that is.
I suspect hawthorn may have to wait for another season: my time on Thursday is limited and I think Friday is back to rain again.

@Arch One tip I read somewhere about stopping fruit (I think it was strawberry pieces in strawberry jam) from floating to the top (I think it was floating, not sinking) was to make sure that the jam has cooled in the preserving pan for a bit (5-10 mins I think it was) before putting into the jars. I would guess this means the jam is starting to set, but still runny enough to jar therefore preventing the fruit from rising/sinking.
Click to expand...


That sounds like a good tip - although if I let this jelly I made yesterday cool for 10 mins, it would have been solid in the pan! Crabapples certainly seem to be packed with pectin. I maybe need to test for a set sooner.
 
So exciting! I just found this jam thread and am loving all of the posts. I recently had the best apple butter ever and now I am hooked on apple butter and peanut butter sandwiches. So good and am going to try to make my first jar this weekend. Sort of nervous, but excited at the same time!
 
This weekend I am looking to make some raspberry jam, never made jam before and so far I have seen different recipes for the same thing, @Arch has given me some good advice, anyone else able to offer and help to a newbie jam maker?
 
I made some blackcurrant jam in my breadmaker on wednesday. I think I used to much lemon juicea as it was a bit tart. The recipe did say you have to experiment with some of the ingredients. So lesson 1 not so much lemon juice. The blackcurrants were my own. We grow quite a few plants. I have raspberries as well, but the birds tend to get to them first. Next will be the blackberries. We will have a bumper crop this year, so, I'll make some jam.
 
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