There is a glut of fruit in summer and autum and by turning the excess into jams, pickles and preserves, we can carry on eating them through the winter. I love seasonal eating: there’s something special about having to wait a whole year to eat plums, or damsons or figs. But a jar of jam can make the enjoyment last that little bit longer.
Fruit hunt
You can buy fruit all year round, but anything imported from Peru by a supermarket just won’t taste as good as British fruit in season, even in jam. Fortunately, this year has been a bumper crop, with the British strawberry season looking likely to continue into December. You could also ask friends who have fruit trees if they have an excess – offer to pay them back with a jar of your jam.
I buy from wholesale markets, which you’ll find in most large towns. They’re open all night, although I tend to go around 6am when they are winding down. I buy mostly from the UK, though I think that stone fruits are always best from Italy or France. And I use Turkish figs, which are about to come to the end of their season.
The riper the better
The best jam comes from very ripe, tasty fruit – the riper the better. I enjoy walking around the market, tasting the fruit, cutting it open to check it’s juicy and fresh. Homemade jam is made in small batches. I do mine in two copper pans, and get around 14 jars per batch. The fruit cooks quite quickly – in around five minutes – and the jam holds on to all the lovely fruit juice.
Hold back on the sugar
When you try a shop-bought jam, the first thing you taste is sugar because all the fruit juice has evaporated over the long cooking process in a huge vat. A high sugar content also means a jam will keep for years.
My jams have a fruit to sugar ratio of 60:40 – much lower than the 60% sugar required to label something as jam. It means that they are officially “preserves”, but when you eat them, you immediately taste sweet, fresh fruit. They have to be kept in the fridge once opened, and will only last a few weeks. Really good-quality jam will go mouldy quite quickly – it’s a good sign!
Basic equipment
To make your own jam, you will need a heavy-bottomed pan and around five jars – for this recipe, we will be making a smaller batch than I’d make to sell in my shop. You must sterilise your jars so that they are ready to be filled with hot jam as soon as it is ready. I usually heat the glass jars in the oven at 150 degrees for five minutes. I then leave them in the oven to go warm while I’m making the jam, only removing them to fill them up at the last minute.
You must also sterilise the lids in boiling water for five minutes, then drain them just before the jam is done and let them dry off in the pan. Once you’ve poured the hot jam into the warm jars, and sealed the lids, turn them upside down to help push out any air. They should then keep unopened for about a year.
Get set
You can make your own apple pectin stock, which helps the jam to set. For this, roughly chop five cooking apples, put in a pan and add water until it is about 3cm above the apples, bring to the boil then simmer until the apples are soft. Finally, strain through a cheesecloth.
Season’s end
We’ll soon be coming to the end of the fruit year once more, and then we’ll have to struggle through January, February and March with very little. Oranges will have to sustain us – I’ll be making a lot of seville and blood orange marmalade, or even pear jam, which is incredibly difficult to master. But for now, you can use up the last of the figs for homemade fig and earl grey jam, which will hopefully see you through until Christmas.
Lillie O’Brien runs the London Borough of Jam, 51d Chatsworth Road, London, E5 0LH
Fig and earl grey jam
This jam is thick – almost like a compote – and it’s delicious eaten with soft cow’s cheese, as well as on toast or with yoghurt and granola.
Ingredients
1kg soft, ripe figs
400g granulated sugar
2 earl grey tea bags
Half a cup of water
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cup apple pectin stock
Method
1. Remove the stalks from the figs, then slice them quite thinly. Place them in a heavy-based saucepan, with the tea bags and half a cup of water.
2. Cook them for five minutes on a low heat so the juices run and the figs begin to break down.
3. Add the sugar, the lemon juice and the pectin stock. The lemon juice and the pectin stock help the jam to set. The lemon juice also offsets the sweetness of the sugar and the fruit.
4. Slowly bring the mixture up to the boil, stirring all the time so that the figs don’t catch on the bottom of the pan. The consistency should be quite thick.
5. Boil for about five minutes. Keep stirring gently throughout.
6. Turn off the heat, and let the jam rest for five minutes. Carefully remove the tea bags.
7. Remove your sterilised, warm jars from the oven, and pour in the jam. Seal immediately with the sterilised lids. If you are using a clip jar, you need to have sterilised the seal.
8. Turn the jam jars upside down and leave for 30 minutes, to push out any remaining air.
9. Once cooled, your jams will keep for up to 12 months unopened. Once opened, they will keep for a couple of weeks in the fridge.
