Dorset Raspberry Jam Recipe

Raspberry Jam is my absolute favourite and I don’t just love eating it, I love to make it, eat and gift it!

This year I have decided to go seedless. I have been picking my raspberries throughout the season and freezing them in a batch at a time. So now we are in the preserving season and it’s a rainy day. It's the perfect time to make jam!

I have a large collection of jam jars in my garage that I collect all year round. I like to reuse jam jars so you will rarely see any in my recycle bin.

So where to begin,

You will need

Raspberries fresh or frozen

Granulated sugar to match the weight of the raspberries

Large based saucepan

½ lemon optional

Wooden spoon

Large heavy based pan

Sieve

Small cold plate to saucer

Method:

Wash the jars and lids in hot soapy water and then put them on a baking tray and pop them in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes. This is to sterilize the jars and lids.

Put a plate or saucer in the freezer.

Weigh the raspberries and match that weight equally in sugar. You can use just ordinary granulated sugar as raspberries are naturally high in pectin which help the jam set. You can use preserving sugar which has added pectin if you prefer. If you use ordinary granulated it is much cheaper and you can always add a squeeze of lemon juice if you want to to help the jam set.

Start by popping the jars in the oven.

Slowly cook down the raspberries. Do this slowly as if they are frozen you don’t want them to burn on the bottom of the pan.

Once the raspberries are thawed and cooking slowly I mash them with a potato masher into a pulp, then add the sugar. Keep the heat low at this point until all the sugar has dissolved.

Once the sugar has dissolved you can, if you are removing the pips, ladle the jam into a sieve over a large glass bowl and push the jam through portion by portion disregarding the pips as you go. Once you have removed all of the pips you can then return the jam to the pan and turn the heat up and stir until the jam comes to a rolling boil.

Let it boil for around 5 minutes and then take it off the heat and take your plate out of the freezer and dab a small amount of jam on the plate. Leave for a moment or so and then push the jam on the plate with your finger to see if it is still liquid or if it has thickened into a jam consistently.

If it’s thick enough to set it will crease up. If it is still runny, pop it back on the heat and boil a bit longer and then repeat the test.

Once you are satisfied your jam is ready, if you have a wide neck jam funnel, fill your warm jars or just use a ladle but be careful as the jam is very hot!. Put the lids on immediately using a cloth not to burn your hands. As the jars cool you will hear a popping sound. This is a vacuum being created as the jam cools and the jars are then sealed.

These will keep unopened for a year, or longer but after a year they begin to lose quality of flavour. Once a jar is open, keep in the fridge.

There is absolutely nothing like the taste of home made jam and once you realise how easy it is to make you will want to make your own year after year. This recipe can also be used for blackberries. So if you are like me and a bit of a foraging fan then bramble jam is a must as well!