For the past two months, I’ve been experimenting with the process of making fruit jam, which is something that turns out to be both very easy and very enjoyable. Not that I’m a master cook but I think jams are a very approachable way for people new to cooking to play with a recipe and deliver something that is almost universally appreciated.
Jam is really just a matter of combining fruit, sugar, heat and time. I started with a small batch of apricots and literally no idea what I was doing. I boiled sugared water and added the diced fruits, let simmer under low heat and added sugar until the acidity was gone. This resulted in a considerably less sweet product than what may be found in the store. I moved on to trying with peaches (which resulted in a sauce since peaches do not turn into a gel) and pluots (which I came across at the store and had no idea existed before then).
Last week, I picked up three flats of strawberries at the Alemany farmer’s market, for under $60. Each yielded about 10 large jars, which makes each jar about 6 or 7 times as cheap as one the organic one from the store. I brought a set of 10 jars to participate in the most recent Strava Jam. With a little help from my designer friend Anastasia, the jars came out looking fantastically fancy:
The recipe for the strawberry jam is up on my cooking blog.