Angela's 'flexible' jam recipe

Angela's 'flexible' jam recipe

Make the most of fruit gluts and try making your own jam - delicious spread on homemade bread

Difficulty and servings

Easy

1.2 litres/4 jam jars

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 50 mins

Method

  1. Put the fruit into a preserving pan or large heavy-based saucepan. For blackberries, add 50ml of water and 1½ tbsp of lemon juice; for plums (halved and stoned), use 150ml of water; for strawberries, add 3 tbsp of lemon juice (no water); and for raspberries, add nothing. Bring to the boil.
  2. Lower the heat. For blackberries, simmer for 15 minutes; for plums, simmer for 30-40 minutes; for raspberries, simmer for 2 minutes; for strawberries, simmer for 5 minutes. The fruit should be soft.
  3. Tip in the sugar, stir over a very low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Raise the heat, bring to a full rolling boil, then rapidly boil blackberries for 10-12 minutes, plums for 10 minutes, raspberries for 5 minutes or strawberries for 20-25 minutes - don't stir though - until the setting point of 105C is reached.
  4. Remove from the heat, skim off any excess scum, then stir a knob of butter across the surface (this helps to dissolve any remaining scum). Leave for about 15 mins so the fruit can settle. Pour into sterilised jars, label and seal.
Try

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Recipe from Good Food magazine, August 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 81-87

  • Binder photo Mrshawes

    02 October 2012

    Mrshawes commented on this recipe

    I'm hoping to make this jam at the weekend, does anyone know if you can use frozen fruit?

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  • Binder photo Jane

    05 October 2012

    Jane commented on this recipe

    I tried this recipe last night, followed the method to the letter for plums. I was a bit worried that the jam was too runny but I have just tried some on toast...yummy!

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  • Binder photo julie1542

    31 October 2012

    julie1542 commented on this recipe

    Well I am sure you would all love to see my plum jam. It is set solid in the jar and I can't even spoon it out. I would like to say that I followed the recipe although I do confess to not measuring the sugar as I have no scales at present and so I took a 1 kg bag of preserving sugar and used 9 tenths of it. My maths can be a bit dodgy but I think this is reasonable as an estimate! I did also use lemon juice which I misread as you are not meant to put lemon juice in plum jam. The only other thing I can think of is I boiled it for too long at the end when I added the sugar! I want to try again so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

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  • Binder photo dan's mummy

    03 November 2012

    dan's mummy commented on this recipe

    Hi julie1542, I just did it too- different recipe, mind, but plums and lemons are main ingredients. I am going to get the jam warmed, add some water, bring to boil and re-pot. Mrshawes I make quite a bit of jam and use frozen fruit very often. The only problem you may have is that the jam won't set- this can be easily remedied by adding lemon juice (add juice of one lemon, boil for 2-5 mins, check for set again, add more if necessary) Hope this helps

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  • Binder photo Sybille

    11 November 2012

    Sybille commented on this recipe

    Hi, does anybody have a recipe for raspberry jam with less sugar? I would like 2 or 3 parts of fruit to 1 part of sugar... ?????????????

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  • Binder photo tedkeen

    01 April 2013

    tedkeen rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Lovely! I made the strawberry jam but I used jam sugar and I only needed to boil it for 12 minutes before it reached setting point. This meant that it made 1.5 litres of jam. I intend to make lots more using other fruits as well.

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  • Binder photo AnnBishop

    24 April 2013

    AnnBishop commented on this recipe

    I have made the Plum and also Blackberry using this recipe both were wonderful and I have orders for more from my neighbours and family xx perfect recipe, followed to the letter but on this times batch of Plum I am adding Vanilla essence.......I will keep you posted !!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

1.2 litres/4 jam jars

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 50 mins

Ingredients

  • 900g fruit (blackberries, plums, raspberries or strawberries), prepared weight
  • 900g golden granulated sugar
  • knob of butter
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