Various fruit bushes have been productive recently so, as well as enjoying some of the produce fresh, I have been making a start on producing jams which will keep much longer. My first was a mixture of redcurrants and strawberries; last night I made another, with blueberries and blackberries, supplemented by the last few redcurrants as well as some shop-bought blueberries and strawberries that were on the verge of going off (I picked out the furry front runners and gave the rest a good wash!).

The recipe I used boils down to equal amounts of sugar and fruit and the juice of a lemon per 200g or so of fruit. I have been heating the fruit in the lemon juice to soften it (some of the fruit is also frozen, which is a convenient way of batching together smaller harvests), then adding the sugar. When the sugar dissolves, I bring it to a rolling boil and start testing for set (picking some of the mixture up on a wooden spoon and seeing if it starts to set up while being slowly poured off) once it reaches 105°C.

Results have been good so far and I am looking forward to getting another batch of fruit ready for another round.