I am unreasonably lucky, in that Ben's folks have a gorgeous big gooseberry bush in their garden and have run out of ways to use them up. Enter me with my carrier bag and steely determination not to mind the scratches. Also Ben as his reach is much better than mine. After some perseverance (what a trial, spending time in a beautiful garden on a lovely sunny day!), we ended up with just over a kilo once they were topped and tailed.
The first sweet jam I made on my own was gooseberry, and I use this recipe.
This is easier than the strawberry as gooseberries have so much pectin in them you're pretty much guaranteed to get a good set. No added pectin required, just good old granulated sugar.
You do have to top and tail your berries so I recommend sitting down to a good TV show while you do this as it'll take a while and is a bit fiddly, but bearable if you don't think too much about it. Then you just boil up the berries in plain water until they're soft, add the sugar and dissolve over a low heat, then boil the heck out of it.
You can use a jam thermometer if you're feeling fancy, and I do have one, but it just makes another thing to wash up and the plate or spoon test works just fine.
For the plate test just chill a plate In the freezer, drop a little jam onto it and let it sit for a few seconds to cool. Then give it a push and see if the surface wrinkles. If it does, you're good. If not, boil for a couple more minutes and try again.
The spoon test is also pretty easy, just chill your spoon, dip it in the hot jam mixture and let it drip off the side of the spoon. If the drips run together and start to form a sheet of jam, you've got a lovely set.
Do be very careful of burning the jam as sometimes it's as little as 1 minute between perfectly set delicious jam, and lovely looking jam that sets, but is acrid and inedible. The only was to avoid it is to be careful, don't walk away from the pan while it's boiling, and stir to check for sticking on the bottom of the pan. And if it does happen, never mind, it's only fruit and now you know what not to do another time! We've all done it at least once, I once turned a beautiful smelling plum jam into a bitter set syrup by burning. I held onto it for a couple of weeks and kept trying it in case it might magically improve. It did not, it was super-gross.
Once you have your set, quickly pour into sterilised jars, put lids on and set the pan to soak before the contents are set beyond repair.
And if that all sounds like too much hassle, try gooseberry liqueur, it's what I do when I'm lazy and boozy. I use this recipe
It just boils (see what I did there?) down to topping and tailing the fruit, putting it in a big jar with sugar and vodka, shaking it daily until the sugar dissolves then putting it in a cupboard and forgetting about it till next year. It's bloody delicious. It got me super-addicted to making liqueurs and now I have at least 4 different ones on the go at any one time. I highly recommend it.
Love and kisses,
H.
