GOOD RESULTS IN JAM-MAKING

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3444, 12 November 1932, Page 3

GOOD RESULTS IN JAM-MAKING

Jars for jam should be. scrupulously clean and should be thoroughly dry. Further, they should be warm when the jam is poured into them, so it is a good idea to put them in a very slow oven while the jam is making progress. This will stop the glass from cracking. Butter is a good preventive of scum. Drop a piece the size of a walnut into the preserving pan when the jam is boiling. What scum there is should be removed immediately, and the jam stirred all the time. Cover your jam while it is piping hot or when it is quite cold. It should never be covered when lukewarm. Fill the jars as full as possible; otherwise air will get in. White paper soaked in milk and put over hot jam will become airtight, like parchment. Crystallisation is caused by there being insufficient acid in the fruit. Fruits that are usually deficient in acid are peaches, ripe pears, and ripe, sweet apples, as well as marrows, and with these lemon or red currant juice should be combined. Mould is sometimes caused by cooking jam in a deep, narrow pan instead of a wide, shallow one, from which the water more quickly boils away. Recipes are usually worked out for large, flat preserving pans. If an ordinary saucepan is used the jam must be boiled longer. Over-boiling is just as bad for jam as under-boiling, as it destroys the pectin. When this happens the best course is to use some commercial pectin and re-boil the jam with it. Sugar to be used for jam should be put on the plate rack over the stove or in the oven. When the fruit boils, put in the hot sugar. This prevents waste. Boil very fast after the sugar has been added; otherwise the jam will not set well and may become mouldy.