I've been busy in the kitchen again

[PW in Polemi]

So what on earth induced me to think that, having found a recipe for jam that I could cope with (no pectin, don't know where to find it over here), I, the kitchen catastrophe queen, could tinker with it successfully???

A few days ago I made 2 lots of jam. The plum jam set nicely as it was supposed to. The other, fig and ginger, has a lovely flavour and is just right for pouring (yes, pouring not spooning ) over yoghurt instead of the ubiquitous honey.

So this morning I thought I'd use up the last few plums - you know, the ones that didn't appear to be fully ripe and got left in the fruit bowl. But as there weren't the requisite 2 cups of peeled chopped plums, I decided to add the last few figs. And suddenly there was too much fruit for the 2 cups specified by the recipe, but not enough for 4 cups. (Maths is not my strong point but I can usually double quantities, no problem )

So I added some not overly sweet apricots. And an orange. And (getting desperate now) an apple.

And more freshly squeezed lemon juice than the recipe called for (with some vague idea that it helps set the jam, surely?) and less sugar than the recipe called for (I don't want it too sweet) ...

And surprise surprise, it didn't set
Doh! Good job I'm not a WI member, I'd be hounded out - no decent jam even though we're relatively near Jerusalem

[Normandie]

Do you add water to the fruit? I've been using the French 'maceration' method - no added water - for some years now and though sometimes it doesn't deliver a good set, it's never too runny and the flavour is wonderful. I think very set jam is a British thing - we often get runny jam from French friends.

I'm about to make a second batch of apricot jam which has been macerating since yesterday evening and there's a ton of juice.

http://onruetatin.com/miches-apricot-jam/

[kevsboredagain]

et voila!

[Nemo]

Lemon does replace pectin in helping achieve the set. I've never used pectin, although for some jams I have used jam sugar which has pectin in it. Do you know the cold saucer trick?

[PW in Polemi]

The recipe was

2 cups chopped peeled plums
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice

Plums & juice in pan, cook on medium heat approx 5 mins, add sugar and cook further 10-15 mins till becomes consistency of thick honey.

It worked with plums only, but not today with my fruit salad! But it's still very tasty - and with more than a hint of citrus due to that orange and the extra lemon juice (added in a vain attempt to encourage setting).

[PW in Polemi]

Do you add water to the fruit? I've been using the French 'maceration' method - no added water - for some years now and though sometimes it doesn't deliver a good set, it's never too runny and the flavour is wonderful. I think very set jam is a British thing - we often get runny jam from French friends.

I'm about to make a second batch of apricot jam which has been macerating since yesterday evening and there's a ton of juice.

http://onruetatin.com/miches-apricot-jam/

Just looked up maceration - looks good but when you suddenly decide to make jam, this method requires pre-planning.

If you don't have set jam, how can you possibly add a minimum of a 1 cm (yes, 1 cm!) layer of jam to your toast - in the past, this prompted my mother to enquire whether I'd like some toast with my jam!

However, as I rarely eat toast now, and much prefer yoghurt for breakfast, the runny jam I'm currently making is perfect for purpose.

[Nightowl]

you could always rebrand it 'fruit puree' for yoghurt instead of Jam...

and sell the recipe for it to Danone or some other yoghurt company and make gazzillions..

[greenbarn]

Sorry, I got as far as the combination of "Jam" and "Macerator" and decided I really didn't want to know what happened next......