I always used to hate gooseberries as a child. They tasted sour, were hairy, and when you picked them you got spiked all over by the thorns. Picking gooseberries was always the job my sister and I disliked most. We used to eat gooseberries disguised in apple crumbles but I never really saw them as a food in their own right.
Anyway this year I decided to help pick the dreaded gooseberries and see if I could make a nice jam with them. Gooseberries are really high in pectin so you can just use normal sugar to make the jam. I was really impressed at how easy this was to make and how tasty the results are. I may have slightly overcooked the jam as apparently it is possible to get it to come out a nice pale pink - anybody got any advice?
Before you start make sure you top and tail your gooseberries. I do this with scissors to make sure I keep as much of the berry as possible. You will also need to sterilise some jars. Do this by washing them in hot soapy water and leaving them to dry in an oven heated to 100C
Anyway this year I decided to help pick the dreaded gooseberries and see if I could make a nice jam with them. Gooseberries are really high in pectin so you can just use normal sugar to make the jam. I was really impressed at how easy this was to make and how tasty the results are. I may have slightly overcooked the jam as apparently it is possible to get it to come out a nice pale pink - anybody got any advice?
Before you start make sure you top and tail your gooseberries. I do this with scissors to make sure I keep as much of the berry as possible. You will also need to sterilise some jars. Do this by washing them in hot soapy water and leaving them to dry in an oven heated to 100C
Recipe as follows:
- Weigh your top and tailed gooseberries.
- Weigh out the same measurement of sugar.
- For the water, take the weight of the gooseberries and half it. Then measure out this amount as mls in water. For example I had 500g of goosesberries, 500g of sugar and 250mls of water (this made 3 jars).
- Heat everything in a big pan and stir.
- Meanwhile place a plate in the fridge.
- When the jam becomes thick and gloopy it is ready to pour into jars. You can check this by dropping a teaspoon of jam on the cooled fridge. It should set and wrinkle when you push it with your finger.
- Once the jars are filled, seal with wax circles and cellophane.
