So now is an excellent time to be making home-made jam. A few years ago I
owned and run a successful artisan preserves business. I hand made over 500 jars of jam a week so I’ll share some of my tips with you. Then I’ll share my recipe I’ve just created based on what fruit was ready for picking in my garden on the Isle of Skye.
Home-made Jam Tips
Tip 1 – never use old fruit. The greengrocers always have tempting offers on strawberries and other soft fruits at this time of year “perfect for jamming” etc. This basically means that it is fruit past it’s best for eating. Which also means it is past it’s best for jamming too. The naturally occurring pectin in the fruit has started to deteriorate so you will have difficulty getting your jam to set.
Tip 2 – always use fruit that has just ripened or is still slightly under-ripe. Don’t use old, or in the case of red fruit too dark fruit. The same advice as Tip 1, young ripe fruit is pectin rich so is easier to set and doesn’t take as long to boil.
Tip 3 – don’t over think it, as you’ll see from this recipe I used what was available.
We have been at our new house on the Isle of Skye about 4 months now and 
the garden is packed full of fruit bushes and trees. It has been exciting to see what there is as the blossoms have made way for fruit. It would seem that the redcurrants have failed, the blackcurrants have more fruit than I can shake a stick at, the blackbirds got to the strawberries and gooseberries before me, and amongst all this I have wild raspberries. There are a few fruit trees, some performing better than others but later in the year I will have some pears and apples to harvest.
I pottered around the garden with a large bowl this morning and picked what I could to make into a jam. I have given this home-made jam the nickname – Skye Jumble Berry Jam as it is a mixture of everything I could find.
Home-made Jam Recipe
Ingredients
700g mixed fruit (I had gooseberries, raspberries and blackcurrants)
500g Jam Sugar
200g Granulated Sugar
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Bean Paste
100ml water
Method
Put the fruit and the water into a pan and cook until the fruit has softened and broken up. You can crush berries with the back of the spoon against the pan.
Tip 4 – this is where you decide how chunky or smooth you want your jam.
Once the sugar is added the fruit does not break down any further no matter how long you cook it so choose your texture now.
Once it is your chosen texture remove from the heat and add the sugar.
Stir until all the sugar has dissolved before returning to the heat. This prevents 
granulation occurring.
Bring to a rolling boil and stir frequently to prevent sticking.
Whilst the jam is boiling you can be sterilising your jars.
Tip 5 – to sterilise, put 3-4 clean, dry jam jars onto a baking tray and put into a preheated oven at 120c for 10 minutes. Then remove from oven and allow to cool a little.
Add the Vanilla Bean Paste at this point and boil the jam until it reaches 105c on a jam thermometer or digital probe thermometer. If you make jam regularly a probe is quicker and easier to use.
Once it reaches 105 c remove from the heat and skim off any scum with a 
metal spoon.
Pour into the hot jars and put the lids on. Fill to just above the shoulder of the jar. This recipe should make 3 x 300g jars and maybe even a little bit left over.
Set aside to cool, stick a label on it and you are done!
Home-made jam in a few easy steps. Or in my case Skye Jumble Berry Jam!
