Tonight I had the choice of spending my evening either:
- Doing an ever so slightly demanding and fiddly bit of editing on a voiceover script for a video demo of a technology about which My Lips Must Remain Sealed; or
- Making jam before the mountain of apricots I bought in a fit of optimism on Monday afternoon started to ooze:
At first I thought I could combine them -- had glamorous visions of flitting to the kitchen to check my pots in between bouts of staring at the screen punctuated by rapid typing -- but abandoned that idea on re-reading my jam recipe and remembering what a punctilious process it is. So, weighing up the urgencies of income vs jam... I made jam, of course.
Now this is what I'd forgotten about making jam: It's a pain in the ass. It really is. But at the same time, and for pretty much the same reasons, it makes me feel triumphantly domestic and competent, the queen of my kitchen laboratory. Once I get started, I actually enjoy the rigour of it all, cutting the fruit just so and lining my jars up and scrabbling in the cupboards for a bottle of meths so I can check pectin levels, and sticking saucers in the fridge for wrinkle tests and soaking circles of wax paper in brandy (with a glass for the chef on the side, of course):
I'm even getting moderately good at the bit where I need to scrape the scum off the boiling syrup, although I think I may need one of those famous Slotted Spoons all writers of cook books seem to own. Also I need a proper jam funnel. But even without those, I am now the proud owner of four pots of delicious apricot jam:
Four pots is a kilogram of apricots and nearly that much again of sugar, incidentally. There is a truly frightening amount of sugar in jam, it just keeps going in way beyond the point where it seems sensible. The jam does taste good, though. There more apricots but I ran out of sugar, so the rest are cut and waiting in the fridge.
I need to get up at 5am again to finish the voiceover script, but I'm good in the mornings. Really.
3 comments:
Those look lovely!
2 qu's - revealing my jam incompetence....
1) How do you check pectin levels with meths?
aaand
2) Why do you soak wax paper circles in brandy - is it to seal the tops of the jars?
My bible is the Housewives' League Cookbook of 1989 -- it is kind of embarrassing to keep on the shelf next to Nigel and Nigella et al, but on the subject of jam it can't be beat! The pectin test is:
1) Put a teaspoon of your simmered jammy liquid in a glass and let it cool for a minute or so;
2) Add a tablespoon of meths and shake it gently, then let it stand for another minute.
3) Pour the contents into a clean glass and watch the lumps of jelly: anything up to four lumps means you have enough pectin and can merrily proceed to add heaps of sugar. Lots of little lumps and you have to boil it longer, or add pectin (a bag of lemon pips and pith will do the job).
I am pretty chemically ignorant and have no idea why this works, but it does. I haven't had a jam fail to set on me yet.
The brandied circles get laid on top of the jam in the jar -- I guess the alcohol is a final layer of protection against mould spores. I also seal the jars with a layer of clingwrap on top of that before screwing the lids on. It may be purely cosmetic but again, I've followed the instructions slavishly and my jams have yet to go mouldy. I've just opened a jar of chutney I made two years ago and it's fine (the jam never lasts that long!)
Your jam looks wonderful. I have never made it but looks nice. Now chutney I may need to learn before I return to the US. Don't think they have that there. Shame! Colleen in Queenstown.
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