Noodlies, Sydney food blog contributor, Evie Chataway shares an utterly delicious recipe that will make your mouth water.
Strawberry and champagne jam recipe
If you’ve never made jam before don’t think that it is difficult. It really isn’t, it takes a little time, but actually it’s straight forward. Also, don’t believe the gadget hype. You don’t need a specialist ‘jam maker’ to produce jams. You don’t even need a preserving pan – a large saucepan with a decent bottom would do for first timers giving it a go.
You don’t need to use preserving sugar or add pectin, it’s an additional expense you don’t have to bother with, the lemon should provide enough natural pectin for you to set your jam.
You might need to invest in is a few preserving jars (or else start saving empty jam and sauce jars when they’re empty), and the only other you might want to consider if you can spare a few bucks is a jam funnel. I say this as someone who is a self-confessed clutz who has several ‘jam scars’ when bottling the finished product.
The recipe below is the simple three ingredient method my Mum always used, but with one little addition to add that extra touch of indulgence – Champagne.
Ingredients
- 1.5kg firm strawberries
- 1kg castor sugar
- Juice of 2 lemons and pips
- 2 tablespoons of Champagne or sparkling wine.
This recipe makes around 1.5kg of jam, so you will need enough jars for that amount. You can buy one or two large jars, of lots of smaller ones. I always make a few small jars that can be used as last minute gifts for people.
Method
1) Hull the strawberries and then wipe them clean with a piece of damp kitchen paper. Don’t wash them else you will have trouble getting the jam to set (because it will water down the pectin).
2) Put the strawberries in the preserving pan (or large heavy bottomed saucepan) and sprinkle them with the sugar. Leave them overnight covering the pan with a tea towel. By morning most of the sugar will have dissolved.
3) Pop six saucers in the freezer
4) Place the pan of strawberries on a low heat to melt when is left of the sugar, giving an occasional stir.
5) When the sugar has disolved completely add the lemon juice and lemon pips wrapped in a muslin /spice bag (use a clean hanky if you don’t have muslin) then whack up the heat.
6) Time for 8.5 minutes, then take one of your saucers from the freeze. Take a teaspoon of the jam mixture, pop it on the chilled saucer and allow it to cool for a minute. If it forms a crinkly skin then it is set. If it isn’t then boil for a further 3 or 4 minutes before trying again. Keep repeating until you get to the ‘crinkly skin’ stage. Don’t worry if it takes a while, it often can – I have never yet have a jam set on the first try.
7) Once you’ve reached the ‘set’ point, remove from the heat, then skim off any foam from the surface and fish out the muslin bag containing the lemon pips. When that is done stir in the Champagne. Leave the jam to settle for 15 minutes.
8) Next you need to sterilise the preserving jars. Some people get rather worried about this, but it really is very simple. If you have a dishwasher simply pop the jars and lids in it and put it on a hot wash. If you don’t have a dishwasher, wash your jars in warm soappy water, rinse with warm water, dry, then pop into a oven at 150 degrees 10 minutes.
9) Transfer the jam to the warmed jars (the jars must be still warm from the oven) and seal.
10) Once the jars have cooled down you can label them up – we’ve got some great free printables here so everyone will know it was homemade by you. Click here for free printable labels.
I loved the easy no nonsense way this was detailed. And the dry humour. Thank you.. I’ll be trying this come strawberry season xx