Recipe of the Month

Fruit Salad Jam

Taken from the new release South Australian Country Women's, "A Collection of Recipes for Pickles, Sauces, Jams and Jellies" Cookbook. Page 19

Equipment: chopping board, knife, bowl, saucepan
Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

6 lbs peaches
3 lbs nectarines
3 lbs pears (all firm)
3 lbs Granny Smith apples
11 1/4 lbs sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (added when cooking to keep the jam a good colour)

Method

Cut fruit into quarters and stone.
Cover with sugar and leave overnight.
Next day, boil for 1 hour.


Hints for Jam Making

Hint for Cleaning Berries

Use a piece of blanket (or wool rug) over a tray or board. Hold board at sloping angle and let berries roll down slowly on to paper. Dust, leaves, twigs and bit will adhere to blanket and berries are ready to use.

Hints

1) Borrow some of your son's marbles to put in pan to prevent jam boiling.
2) A teaspoon of butter added to jam when cooking will prevent scum rising.

Marmalade Hints

For a beautiful golden colour choose either Poorman or Seville oranges. The pith of 'jam' oranges or grapefruit will boil clear and transparent, while pith of sweet oranges and lemons remain opaque. To save time, peels may be put through the mincer instead of being cut with a knife or shredder.
Allow marmalade to cool slightly before bottling, to prevent the rind from settling.

For Berry Jams

Always allow jam made from berry fruits to cool before it is put into jars.