There’s nothing like the flavour of home-made jam bursting with juicy fruit grown in the garden or allotment. Even the process of stirring a bubbling pan of produce is a promise of a satisfying sweetness to come and incredibly rewarding to do.
The more fruit options you have at your disposal, the wider the array of exciting flavour combinations you can try, creating masterpieces not readily available to otherwise buy.
There’s still time in February to get planting for a summer of fruit. Don’t forget that jam can also be made using produce grown from seed, such as tomatoes and chillis, while hips from rugosa roses make a delicious preserve likened to ‘Turkish delight in a jar’.
Making jam is a great way to save money, reduce waste and, ultimately, have delicious preserves to spread on your toast throughout the year. We’d love to hear about your top jam making tips and recipes – do write in and we’ll share the best ones.
Dumpsie Dearie?
Making jam is the traditional way of preserving fruit when it’s plentiful so that it’s available to use at other times of the year.
From time to time there wasn’t enough fruit to make a single variety, so cooks would often bring together different types to reach the required weight.
Perhaps the most famous of these mixes is the spiced apple, pear and plum combination known as ‘Dumpsie Dearie’,Worcestershire and Gloucestershire.
