Ingredients:
1.5kg Fruit, (Cherries, Damsons, Plums, Green Gage)
1kg Caster Sugar
500g Muscavado Sugar
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 Lemon
1 Orange
100ml Cold Water
40g Butter
You will also need a 30cm x 30cm piece of muslin cloth, some string and 4 – 5, 500g jars with lids.
Method:
-Sterilise your jars and lids by placing them in boiling water for a few minutes then allowing them to air dry upside down on a clean cloth.
-De-stone all the fruit, keeping the stones.
-Quarter the lemons and oranges and place them in a heavy bottomed pan with the fruit, the sugar, water and the cinnamon stick.
-Take the stones from the fruit and wrap them up into a parcel, tying the top with string and tying the other end to the pan handle, making sure the parcel is submerged into the fruit but no stones can escape. This is to make use of the pectin in the stones and to help the jam set.
-Slowly bring the contents of the jam up to the boil, stirring constantly.
-Add the butter, this should help prevent frothing but can be omitted for vegan/dairy free.
-Rapidly boil the mixture until it reaches 105 degrees C (220F), if you do not have a sugar thermometer the best way to test this is when you see the jam sticking to the sides of the pan, remove a little with a spoon and drip onto a cold plate. If the jam starts to congeal and wrinkle it is ready, if it remains runny continue to boil.
-Carefully remove the oranges, the lemons, the stone parcel and dispense the jam into the jars.
-When the jam has cooled, screw the lids on as tight as they will go, submerge the jars in water and gently boil for 15 minutes, remove from the water and allow to cool and settle at room temperature for 24 hours, this should seal the jars allowing for a longer shelf life. You can check the seal has formed by pushing down on the centre of the lid, if it doesn’t pop and is slightly concave then the sealing process has worked, if it hasnt you can still keep your jam refrigerated for three months.
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