raspberry jam for summer-filled jars

You guys, have you looked out the window?? Summer has arrived, and I have to say London looks freaking amazing in the sunshine. Give me a cold corona with a slice of lime and a patch of grass large enough for me to wiggle my bare toes in and I'm happy. Oh and icecream. And sunglasses. And maybe an afternoon or two picking fruit.

Oh yeah, the fruit. See Winter is all about extra layers and thick comforting blankets of chunky veg, while Summer is all about mozarella salad and fruit. Seriously, I live off berries and salad leaves for three months of a year (don't worry, I make up for it at Christmas).

So in need of a vehicle for all this fresh fruit... and extra points for being in a jar - I had a go at jam making.



Let me tell you, jam making is ridiculously over complicated. Like special funnel/ upturned stool/ muslin seive complicated. So when I see a recipe promising to be 'hands free' I am all over it, and this recipe from Nigella's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' was easier than promised and ruby red lovely tasting*

Jam is bascially equal parts of fruit and sugar and not one bit of scientific fidgegadgetry in between. Raspberries are low in pectin, which is the stuff that makes jam set - you can buy special jar sugar with extra pectin, or you could use a pectin rich fruit like apples. If not, you get a gentle set jam - but I most def prefer it this way!

1. Preheat oven to 180

2. Place 250g raspberries and 250g sugar in two bowls - place bowls in center of oven for 20-25 minutes

3. Take out both bowls, add sugar to fruit and stir

4. Pour into a warm sterilised jar (some more about sterilising in this post) and allow to cool before enjoying on crusty bread/ freshbaked scones/ spooned straight from the jar with a dose of slobbery

p.s. these amounts will fill one 250g jar - and trust me, if you are making this for a gift, make two because you will struggle to give it away*

*here's some gratuitous baby action to evidence the above claims: