My first attempt at jam

I never thought the day would come where I would be brave enough to try to make jam, but here we are!

Our lovely new neighbours gave us a huge bunch of rhubarb and I thought this is my chance to attempt to make jam. After scrolling through some recipes on BBC Good Food, I found one I really liked, rhubarb and ginger jam. I mean, what’s not to like about that?

Last year for Christmas I gave my friends and family quite a few homemade gifts, such as truffles, pickled onions, cranberry sauce and mulling syrup, so it would be quite nice to add jam to that list. If I don’t eat it all before then…

I’ve bought myself all the gear (although I have no idea…) – a jam pan, jam funnel, jars and labels to get me started. As the ingredients list is not particularly long or complicated, it instilled some confidence that I could do this.

If you’d like to give this easy recipe a go, you will need:

Ingredients

• 1kg of pink rhurbarb
• 1kg of jam sugar (which has added pectin)
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 50g of stem ginger (or crystallised but I prefer stem), finely chopped
• 4cm piece of ginger

Method

1. Wash the rhubarb – it grows on the ground and you can’t always know where the dog has been… Slice up into small 2cm pieces (approx). Tip these into a large plastic or ceramic bowl and then add the jam sugar, lemon zest and chopped stem ginger. Finely grate the peeled ginger directly over the rhubarb.
2. Stir the mixture thoroughly, cover loosely with cling film, and leave to the side for about 2 hours to let the sugar dissolve into the rhubarb juices. Give it a stir every so often to help it along. Whilst you’re waiting you could sterilise your jam jars.
3. Pop a few saucers into the freezer. Put the fruit and the sugary juices into your jam pan and turn it up to a medium heat. Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved and bring to the boil. Keep cooking at a fairly high temperature until the rhubarb is tender and the conserve has reached setting point – this should take about 10-15 minutes.
4. To test that it has set, drop 1/2 a teaspoon of the jam onto a cold saucer from the freezer, leave it for 30 seconds,  then gently push it with the tip of your finger. If the jam wrinkles, you’re there and you’ve reached setting point. If not, keep going for a few more minutes and test again.
5. Remove the pan from the heat and leave to the side for 2-3 minutes before pouring through a jam funnel into your sterilised jars. You can seal immediately but I’m using waxed circles to help preserve the jam and then once it’s cold, add your labels.

I have to say it tastes absolutely gorgeous! I used a bigger piece of ginger, so the taste of ginger was a bit stronger but you could still taste the rhubarb.

Give it a go and let me know how it goes!

A xx