New Jam Season

As the temperature creeps higher and higher here the strawberries and wild strawberries disappear, but in their place come new fruit just waiting to be made into jam. Thanks to Mum and Mickey I also now have a great supply of dried apricots to keep producing all year round! One of the latest editions to my "range" is Loquat and Apricot Jam. Unfortunately it was not a good year for loquats due to heavy rain while they were flowering, so there is very limited stock. This is probably a good thing actually as although it tastes pretty good, peeling and stoning loquats is not the easiest task!

Tonight I also made a discovery that will hopefully make my jam making a lot more consistent. Jam really does set when it reaches 220 degrees! Well fresh apricot jam does. To be honest I was a little doubtful of my new thermometer, but decided to risk it tonight and stopped cooking the jam at 220 degrees even though it looked too runny. The result - perfectly set jam! Well it looks pretty good at this stage. I guess the test will be tomorrow when it is spread on my toast...... Anyone want to pop over for breakfast?