Wednesday 11 July 2012

Jam making in the microwave

Microwaved Jam – 16 minutes total cooking.

(I CANNOT STRESS ENOUGH THAT ONLY GLASS/CERAMIC CONTAINERS SHOULD BE USED PLUS THEY REALLY NEED TO BE STRAIGHT SIDED IF POSSIBLE - NOT SLOPING LIKE THIS EMERGENCY JUG!)

Place 1lb of sugar and your jam jars into a 100 Celsius oven.


Prepare 1lb of fruit (I was using whole gooseberries so topped and tailed them) and place in a 4 pint/2 litre glass/ceramic container. Put the lid on or cover with cling film leaving a small gap for some of the steam to escape.


Cook in the microwave for 4 minutes on high.


When done, remove lid/cling film and stir. Cook for another 2 minutes on high (keep an eye on it) with lid on. 

Then stir and cook for another 2 minutes without lid. AT NO POINT WALK AWAY AS IT MAY BOIL OVER!

Add sugar, stir well then cook for another 4 minutes on high without lid.


Stir well and finally cook for another 4 minutes on high without lid. Depending on what fruit you are using, a tablespoon of lemon juice added at this final stage will ensure a good set but I have never had an unset jam using this method.


Keep an eye on it as in the sloping side jug I was using, it was very close to the top. If you think it will boil over, stir occasionally and keep cooking.


When this time is over, give a final stir, leave to cool for 3/4 minutes then pour/ladle into the hot jam jars. These jars were around 12oz and 10oz in size. Unusually the jam (when a taste check was carried out) was still slightly tart so it has been labelled as sour gooseberry jam but will bring a lovely summer twang in the depths of winter!

This is the colour of the jam after it has cooled down. I love the first green colour you get but gooseberry jam seems to change to a darker colour on cooling.



NEVER BE TEMPTED TO ADD ANY EXTRA SUGAR TO THE RECIPE - 1lb OF FRUIT MUST ALWAYS HAVE 1lb SUGAR)

9 comments:

  1. That looks lovely, well done!

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  2. That does look lovely. I'm very tempted to give it a go. At the very least I shall be bookmarking this page so I can refer to it at a later date. Thanks!

    Kxx

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  3. I have never tried making jam in the microvawe. It seems quick and easy. The gooseberries in my garden will be ripe in a little while and then I might try this :)

    Thanks for the recipe, and the jam looks lovely!

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  4. Thank you all. Hope you find time to give it a go and let me know what you think!

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  5. I shall have to try this - I've never been much good at jam making - I always seem to over boil mine and it ends up like glue !!

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    1. Well this will boil over during the jam stage if the wrong size/shape container is used. I normally use a 4 litre straight sided casserole dish but couldn't find it. This jug was okay but I had to keep stopping it during the final 4 minutes to stop it going over the top. Made it in the end and it is fab.

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  6. We did this last night; half our gooseberries went into gooseberry jam and the other half into gooseberry and elderflower. Both have set really nicely. G and E is absolutely scrummy.

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  7. Tried this out today with the first gooseberries ever produced by my little gooseberry bush. Worked beautifully although I was taken aback by the finished product's red colour until I realised the gooseberries were a pink variety.

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