jam making – Josephine Moon

Yesterday, I used the ‘C’ word online for the first time this year. Yep, I said it: Christmas.

This year, I am kicking off my Christmas cooking with a batch of my finest strawberry jam. And what is the recipe I’m using? Nothing other than my blue ribbon winning strawberry jam from the Royal Queensland Show (the Ekka), 2019.

I had never made jam before that but, as I like to do, I researched my food theme and competitive jam making thoroughly in order to write about a family of jam makers in my novel, The Jam Queens.

Researching is one of my favourite parts of writing a book so I do it thoroughly, that’s for sure. I will always try to do whatever it is my characters are doing so that I can write about it authentically. And I was glad I did because officious world of competitive jam making is staggeringly strict! To say I shocked to take 1st place in a Royal Show is an understatement. Beginner’s luck, no doubt, but still something that was incredibly exciting and fun.

This week, I’ll be using my blue ribbon winning recipe (which is printed in the back of The Jam Queens) to make gifts for loved ones, not for competition. I am a ‘slow jammer’, making my jam over several days. And the heavenly aroma of macerated strawberries is reward enough.

Honestly, there is not much that is more joyful than the scent of mandarins!

Cool autumn mornings will surely benefit from the refreshing, uplifting scent of mandarin marmalade on toast!

Ingredients

1 kg of mandarins
30 ml fresh lemon juice
30ml of fresh lime juice
1 litre of water
Allow for 1 kg of white sugar (see method)

Method

Place washed, whole mandarins in a heavy saucepan with the lemon juice and water and bring to the boil. Simmer, uncovered for approximately 45 minutes or until the mandarins are soft.
Remove the mandarins from the liquid and reserve the liquid. Coarsely chop the mandarins, including the rind, sizing the pieces to your own satisfaction. This can be quite rustic, with large pieces if you like it that way. Discard the seeds, then return the fruit and rind back to the liquid in the pot.
Measure your fruit and liquid mixture. For each cup of fruit/liquid mixture, measure out 1 cup of sugar, then minus one cup. (That is, if you have 5.5 cups of fruit/liquid mixture, add 4.5 cups of sugar.) Return the fruit/liquid mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar.
Bring the mixture to the boil and continue to let it boil uncovered and without stirring for approximately half an hour, or until you deem the jam is set.
Pour your hot marmalade into your hot, sterilised jars and seal immediately.

Enjoy!

Jo x