elderflower | Faraway Fields

Summer Jam Making – Gooseberry and Elderflower Recipe

Posted on August 13, 2013 by nonsensemydear

There is something very satisfying about going out to the garden, picking whatever fruits you have, and turning them into colourful and fragrant pots of jam or jelly. I have some gooseberries and redcurrants in my garden, and despite the best efforts of the birds and the caterpillars to gobble them up before I get to them, this year I have managed to get the upper hand. So using a tried and trusted recipe I have made a few batches of redcurrant jelly, and one large batch of my favourite jam – gooseberry.

The finished product – some of this year’s batch of gooseberry and elderflower jam.

It might seem like a lot of trouble, but actually making jam is quite easy once you are organised and methodical in your approach. All you need are your fruit (in this case gooseberries), sugar, and enough jars to hold the finished product. Jam needs an ingredient called pectin to set, but some fruits are naturally high in pectin so you don’t need to add any from another source. If you are working with a fruit that is low in pectin, such as strawberries or raspberries, then you will have to add either shop bought pectin, special jam sugar which you can buy here in Ireland, or else lemon juice or even some apples which are high in pectin also. Gooseberries have enough pectin naturally so no other ingredient apart from sugar is necessary. However I decided that for a little bit extra flavour I would add some elderflower blossoms which give the jam a beautiful muscat flavour. The following is a step-by-step description of my jam-making process.

Top and tail the gooseberries – this involves just trimming the little tail-y bits off each gooseberry – yes its boring but I did it while watching TV the night before I made the jam. Some cooks recommend a sharp knife or scissors – I just did it with my thumb nail which is quite effective and fast.
Wash the fruit and place in a preserving pan (or big wide mouthed saucepan – no lid) with I pint of water for every 3 lbs of fruit – bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit is soft. I added around 12 elderflower blossoms tied in a piece of muslin and then removed them before the jam was potted.
While the fruit is simmering you can prepare your pots – wash them thoroughly (I do this in the dishwasher) and then dry them with a clean tea-towel. Place them in a hot oven (around 180 C) for at least 15 minutes – this dries any excess water off them and also sterilises them.
When the fruit has been simmering for a while (maybe up to an hour) and is soft add in the sugar – approximately 1 lb of sugar to each 1 lb of fruit. Make sure you stir it well at this stage to dissolve the sugar.
Bring the fruit and sugar mixture to the boil, and boil fairly rapidly until setting point is reached. This is best tested for by spooning out a small amount of jam onto a saucer, allowing it to cool, and then running your finger over the surface of the jam to check if there is a skin formed on top of the jam. If there is then the jam is ready to be potted. Alternatively if you are very posh and you have a sugar thermometer then setting point is reached when the temperature of the jam reaches 105 C. (My mother made jam every Summer and never owned a sugar thermometer so it is a gadget that is not really necessary for successful jam-making!) During the boiling the jam will change from a watery green mix (sounds awful – sorry!) to a thick, luscious texture with a beautiful rich red colour, and when you are an old hand at jam-making you can tell when it is ready more or less just from the colour and texture.
Remove the pan from the heat, remove the jars from the oven (if you have not already done so), and when both are cooled down a little you can start to fill the jars. The jars might crack if you add hot jam to a cold jar, so having the jars slightly heated is good. If the jars are cold then make sure to put a metal dessert spoon into each jar as you fill it – the spoon will conduct the excess heat away and prevent the jar from cracking.
To fill the jars I recently invested in a very useful gadget – a jam ladle. This works beautifully but does cause a little bit of dripping. If you don’t have one then a little milk jug that has a good wide spout will do the job just as well.
Wipe each jar with a dampish cloth to remove any drips, cover the top of the jam with a little wax disc if you have them – if not I just cut out little circles of greaseproof paper/baking parchment to do the same job. Then you can seal each pot with its original lid or else with the circles of cellophane that you can buy just for this job. If using cellophane do this while the jars are still hot. Wet the outside of the cellophane circle slightly with a finger dipped in clean water to make it easier to stretch it across the top of the jar, and seal with an elastic band.
Label each pot with the name of the jam and the date – it is amazing how you forget what is what after a month or a year has passed. This jam should keep for several years if it manages to last that long! Store it somewhere cool and dry. But most importantly enjoy!