Raspberry Jam

- Recipe. British summer star, raspberry

Makes    approx 350g (2 jars)

Preparation time    15 minutes

Cooking time    30 minutes

Ingredients    440g raspberry / 100g apple without core (medium size) / 1 lemon (you don't need to use it all and can adjust to your taste) / 200g caster sugar

1    Wash the raspberries and put into the pan. (If using frozen raspberries just tip them into your pan without washing.)

2    Grate one apple (including the skin) into small pieces using a cheese grater and add to the pan.

3    Wash and grate the lemon skin using a cheese grater.

     - Tip all the zest and 3 tsp (tea spoon) juice (depending on your preference) into your pan.

4    Add the sugar. Even though the weight of the above ingredients will be approximately 550g, only 200 grams of sugar is used because I've decided to reduce the amount of sugar!

5    Boil and then simmer the ingredients over a gentle heat while stirring so that it doesn't stick to the pan for 30 miniutes. If you want to make a more sticky jam you can keep simmering for longer. (Caution! It looks more watery when it's hot.)

6    Sterilise your jam jars.  You can either put them in a pan, cover them with cold water and then boil for 10 minutes or bake them on a baking tray in the oven for 10 minutes. (Caution! This receipe will not keep for a long time because of the reduced sugar amount.)

7   Fill the hot jam into the hot jar and close the lid tightly. After a while, the lid button will go in with a pop and it is complete.

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home grown raspberries, cucumbers, runner beans and tomatoes

Living in a house with a garden, one of my great happinesses is home-grown crops. I have some special treasures that grow very well by themselves each year without needing much care.

I'd like to introduce you to my raspberries.

I first planted raspberres in my garden when it was just a patch of mud about 2 years ago. When I bought them they were just 5 sticks, but when the season comes, they automatically sprout leaves, flowers bloom, and they produce a huge amount of fruit! Raspberries have become one of my favorite plants in my garden.

Raspberries continue to produce fruit during the summer and it falls asleep, leaving behind nothing but shabby tree branches in winter.

They are very mysterious plants and I can't stop loving them. I  have enjoyed them in my garden since June. I picked a handful and had them with yogurt or ice cream last month, but there are too many berries in my garden now, so we can’t eat small amounts of fruit anymore.

Even when I only pick overripe raspberries, it weighs about 500g.

I've decided it's raspberry jam cooking day. Today!

Having a nice Ice cream first!

The ice cream is a necessary item in the freezer! I enjoyed it with drizzled chocolate syrup before cooking.

I made raspberry jam. The jam has a really nice chewy texture because I added grated apple and lemon zest with fresh berries, pips and pulp.

I like to make my jam watery with a few different fruits like a conserve. This is seriously good with yogurt, ice-cream, sponge cake, and jammie dodgers.

I gave this homemade jam and my special chutney (another one of my homemade recipes) with English breakfast tea and scones to my friend as a house warming present. My friend really liked it! Can you imagine raspberry jam on a buttered scone with a cup of tea?

Two bottles of hand made jam

If you want to keep the jam for longer you need to add more sugar.

According to internet recipes you need to add a 1:1 ratio of sugar to fruit but I don't think so, it's not very healthy.

If you have too many tomatoes you can try to cook chutney. I will show you next time!