jam for cheats

I love jam, but I'm not very good at making it.

The last time I tried to make jam in a proper jam pan, the jam seemed to take for ever to reach setting point. I eventually got fed up and put it in the jars anyway not realising that had over cooked it.
It was like rubber. It was so difficult to get it out of the jar: D had to manfully hack away at it to get any jam at all on either knife or spoon. He still ate it though.

I never tried to make jam again until we got a bread maker. The recipe booklet also included recipes for making jam in the bread pan.

It would only take 500 g of fruit at a time , but it made beautiful jam. I was thrilled and I made raspberry, plum, peach & cardamom and kiwi fruit jam. The jam was delicious, it was very easy to get out of the jars ( a bit too easy perhaps, as I found it very difficult to get any of the kiwi jam: my son seemed to scoff all of that!!) so I started making jam again, albeit in small quantities of two jars at a time.

The bread maker takes care of all the cooking, so I cannot overcook it. All I have to do is prepare the fruit and sterilise the jars, and even I can do that. So I made a batch of jam on Thursday and another batch today. On Thursday I had a very pleasant time knitting passionflower and watching the Olympics while the bread maker ( which my lovely in laws bought for us, thank you, thank you) made the jam.
Result!!
So progress is being made on Passionflower, I've started the shaping for the sleeves on the back, and enjoyed watching some amazing athletes. I was even watching the weightlifting at one point!
When the Olympics are in the UK in 2012 I'm determined to go to at least one of the events, I don't care what , the Olympics will probably only be here once in my lifetime. I'm hoping that some of the events will be scheduled for Glasgow, and I'm sure the cycling will be in Manchester. So I should get to see something, anything.

Of course having made the jam, J2 said that she didn't like raspberry jam , she liked strawberry jam. So after we'd been for a swim ( that's 3 times in 3 weeks, woohoo!) this afternoon in Dunbar, we called in at Belhaven fruit farm and bought a ton of strawberries. The jam pan will have to come out tomorrow... oh dear. This time I will use pectin and not try to be clever and set it myself. Delia Smith might be able to do that but I can't!

So tomorrow when the footie starts ( yay!) I will be up to my eyes in strawberries , hoping that the jam will behave and D won't have to attack fruity red rubber in a jar again.

Fingers crossed!


edited to include J2's comment: she does like raspberry but she prefers strawberry. Now she tells me!