General Chat

I paid £5 at a jumble sale for my preserving pan and thought that to be a bit excessive but I needed one. It comes out twice a year from it's corner of the cupboard where it usually sits filled with other things that don't very often see the light of day.

After a couple of total cock-ups, I can make a reasonable drop of jam or marmalade which will keep for a few years if it needs to. Isn't that the idea of making jam? It is a cheap way to preserve what is available until you can use it.

Today, I was perusing the Lakeland site and, reduced by £50 to £99 was an electric jam and jelly maker. Apparently, it takes twenty-one minutes to make a little batch of jam and you have to do something special to it to make it last up to a year. Can't really see how it is going to make jelly at all, that needs to run through a jelly bag over night, but what do I know? Well, I know enough to not shell out tat kind of money to do what my second-hand preserving pan can do!

I always make jam in the microwave. I had a preserving pan, but I either burnt it, or it didn’t set. The microwave never fails

I don't really know how to do very much at all in the microwave.

As for setting. I have to make jam and leave it to get cold over night to see if it has set because I have never got the hang of the cold saucer bit. My early attempts at preserving were all either toffee of cordial but I persevered and now, of course, we have more bloody jam than we know what to do with!

:-D :-D :-D

Sharron, that last paragraph had me laughing out loud.

When I make jam during the summer when strawberries are in season and at their best, i just use one of my large saucepans.I use ordinary sugar, 3 lemons and strawberries. No fancy ingredients and im certainly not paying more then you did Sharron for a saucepan.

When i first started a couple of years ago, it also took me a little time to get the ripple effect on the saucer right.A couple of times, i poured it all back into the pan if it didnt start setting after an hour and reboiled it and then it set fine.
The longer you boil it, the darker the jam though.

Florence
in the hebrides.

I have also found that you get a bit of jam in that scummy ring around the pan when it is at setting point but I leave it to get cold anyway, just in case I am imagining it.

I have also found that you get a bit of jam in that scummy ring around the pan when it is at setting point but I leave it to get cold anyway, just in case I am imagining it.