Apparently this year’s crop of strawberries has been the best for years, and I have to agree that the flavour of them is amazing, so sweet and well, strawberry-ish! Apart from eating them with a touch of balsamic vinegar and vanilla sugar (try it, it’s delicious!) and of course, not forgetting putting them in to your glass of champagne, please make your own strawberry jam. It is so easy to do, and you will be rewarded with beautiful jars of jewel-like jam that will give you pleasure every time you look at them and remind you of that beautiful summer flavour.
It couldn’t be more simple, all you need is:
1kg fresh strawberries; 1kg preserving sugar (I sometimes use the type with pectin as a “belt and braces” approach”) and the juice of a lemon.
Wash and hull (that is pull out the stalk!)your strawberries,- Place in a saucepan over a low heat until they have gone soft and mushy
- Add the sugar and lemon juice and when all the sugar is dissolved add a small knob of butter to keep the foam down
Boil rapidly for a few minutes until it has reached setting consistency (test it on a saucer with a little cold water on top).If you want to be absolutely sure it will set, you can cheat by adding half a bottle of commercial pectin at the end, but use 1.4kg of sugar at the start.
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Sterilised jam jars Pour in to clean jam jars, that have been sterilised by placing in the oven on Gas mark 4, 180 electric for 10 minutes
- Place small waxed circles on the top (this helps reduce the chance of them going mouldy) and place lids(sterilised in boiling water) on the top.
- Label and store. they should keep for a year, but mine never last that long
- The other really good thing to do with strawberry jam (or marmalade or any other kind of jam) is a microwave sponge pudding. It takes about 15 minutes and is like a cross between a steamed sponge and a cake. Served with custard or ice cream it is heavenly, but it doesn’t keep well, unfortunately so you have to eat it straight away. You will need:
- 50g unsalted butter
- 50g caster sugar
- 50g self-raising flour
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons of buttermilk or yogurt
- 3 tablespoons of jam, marmalade or syrup
- A little butter for greasing the pudding bowl
Method:
- Stick all ingredients except the jam in a mixing bowl and usign a handblender, mix until well combined.
- Using a microwave safe pudding bowl, grease the dish first with a little butter
- Add the jam, then place the sponge mixture on top
- Cover the top with cling film and place in the microwave
- Cook on full power for 3 to 4 minutes, but the top should start to look set
- Leave to stand for 1 minute and serve hot
The Bombay Boys 