General Chat

I am thinking about making some jam during the winter months as I have been saving my beetroot jars and marmalade ones to reuse. I have now 12 jars but not sure what fruit is best in winter?

I would love to try blueberry jam but at £2.00 for a small punnet, it would be very expensive to make just one jar. I did try rhubarb once but wasn't hugely successful.

So does anyone else make jam in winter using fresh not tinned fruit and if so which fruit do you use please?

Florence in the hebrides

January is Seville time, when the marmalade is made.

Florence you can make blueberry jam from frozen blueberries.

Lots of recipes online.

I fancy making this one with cranberries.
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cranberry-clementine-jelly

why not apple jam or chutney
a seasonal fruit
:-)

I used to make jams and jellies from October through to February, using fruit bought cheaply during the seasons and frozen.

Making them from fresh fruit was just too bloomin' uncomfortable in our weather!

It worked wonderfully ................ the frozen fruit "mashed" much more quickly than fresh did.

Or, as Von suggested, bags of frozen fruit such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, etc, are pretty cheap in winter.

Seville oranges are available here end of January into February, and there may also be kumquats around. They make another wonderful citrus marmalade, though "picky" to prepare. About 1-2 pounds of them make 5 or 6 jars, enough for 2 people.

Grapefruit marmalade, lemons and limes etc.


Just remember, I've never found making home-made jams and jellies to be very much cheaper than buying them, by the time you've added in cost of lemons (or reconstituted lemon juice such as Realemon) for setting (I never use Certo, but that has to be bought), sugar, jars (less if you have empty jars) and so on.

The reason now for making jams, jellies and marmalades is because they taste so much better than bought ones, and it can be fun and so satisfying!!

I had some concentrated apple juice left over from a recipe, so put it in a demijon with four litres of cheap apple juice from the supermarket, plus a sachet of yeast and it is now bubbling away merrily in the boiler cupboard. Watch this space.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I had never honestly thought about using frozen fruit for making jam although I use it to make a fruit crumble sometimes. So I have put 3 bags on my online shopping for next week.
The reason I prefer to make it myself is because in strawberry jam, there is a preservative called Potassium Sorbate which affects my asthma. Its found in a variety of foods that make me wheezy including, tomato sauce, mango chutney, lemonade and some fruit juices.

So I just use fresh lemons & granulated sugar.I have never made marmalade but I dont eat as much as i do jam.

Bob..lol hope your demijohn doesnt bubble too much so it causes an explosion!!

I did make blackcurrant jam with my landlady's blackcurrants from her garden and that was delicious on fresh baked bread,

So once shopping arrives, i shall try making my mixed berry jam and let you know how it goes.

Florence in the hebrides