A friend very kindly gave me some gorgeous gooseberries from her garden so I decided to have a go at making Gooseberry Jam.  After a little bit of a search through various recipe books and in the internet I came across this one which hit the bill as it looked very straightforward and I had all the ingredients.  Winner!  A that’s it really.  It’s easy.  It tastes particularly gorgeous and I now have 5 jars of lovely jam.  As always it was also an excuse to make some labels.  I just popped onto Canva, found a picture I liked, had a bit of a play and hey presto labels ready to print off. I just printed onto paper and then fixed to the jars with double-sided tape.  So here’s the recipe I used:

Ingredients

• 1kg/2lb 4oz of gorgeous Gooseberries
• 1kg/ 2lb 4oz of granulated sugar
• 150ml/5fl ozs of water
• optional few tablespoons of Elderflower Cordial (I made some a little while ago so used that)

Method

1. Wash, top and tail the gooseberries and remove and damaged ones. The debris can all go to the compost heap so nothing is wasted!
2. Pop a saucer in the freezer.  It’s your testing dish so needs to be COLD!!
3. Prepare the jam jars you plan to use.  They have to be sterilised. To do this you simply wash them in soapy water and rinse in clean water. Place on a rack in the oven – 140C/275F/Gas 1. Leave them there for at least half an hour while you make the jam.
4. So let’s make that jam! First put the gooseberries and the water into a large pan or preserving pan if you have one. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes until the fruit is softened. (it actually took a bit longer than that for my gooseberries).
5. Stir in the sugar and cook over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. I added my Elderflower Cordial at this stage.
6. Increase the heat and boil rapidly for 8-10 minutes before testing to see if set.
7. Here’s the alchemy bit.  To test whether the jam has set – take that chilly saucer out of the freezer. Drop a small spoonful of jam on it.  Wait a minute for it to cool then push your finger through the jam. If it wrinkles it’s ready. If it doesn’t carry on boiling for a few more minutes. Continue testing until the jam is ready. (Remember it’s important that you need to always remove the pan from the heat while you are testing so that if it’s ready you won’t overcook it)
8. Once the jam is ready turn off the heat, skim off any scum (scum is not scrum!) and leave to stand for 15-20 minutes.
9. Spoon the jam into the clean sterilised jars while it is hot, seal tightly with screw top lids if you have them or with other covers ensuring you keep the air out.
10. Lick sticky fingers and feel pleased with yourself.  Add a label to the jars so you remember what you have made and when!

And that’s it!  Happy preserve making!