Gooseberry Jam

I stripped the gooseberry bush of fruit this morning with the intention of making jam. I filled a colander which surprised me as there didn't seem to be that many on the bush.

I found a recipe, and had to adjust the quantities to match the weight after I had topped and tailed them, so this is what I used:

2 1/2 lbs gooseberries
1 1/4 pints of water
1 1/4 lbs granulated sugar
1 1/4 lbs jam sugar (with added pectin)

I did half and half of the sugar because by all accounts gooseberries have enough natural pectin in them so you don't need to add any... I still thought it best to supplement it though.

This is what I did:

Placed the gooseberries in a pan with the water

Simmered until soft, which took about 20 minutes

Although, I thought there was far too much water in the pan, so decanted out about 3/4 pint. I took it off the heat, added the sugar and stirred to dissolve it

Then placed it back on the heat to boil rapidly

Apparently it should only take about 5 minutes to set, but mine took about 30 minutes to get a jam consistency. I stirred it periodically and also removed the scum that settles on the top. It also changed colour from green to red.

I potted up into it into warm sterilised jars while it was still hot, using my recently purchased jam funnel

and sealed them.

This was how it looked on a scone, when still warm... yummy!