Gooseberry Jam

One of my friend's has an allotment and they had an excess of gooseberries and asked if I would like some. I had big ideas of making jams, cakes and fools but in the end only found the time to make jam. When I was younger I remember being given the tedious task of topping and tailing my Great Gran's gooseberries with a pair of nail scissors but unfortunately I had no children around to pass this onto this time so I had to endure it myself. Apart from that, the jam making process was very easy. It's just a case of weighing your gooseberries and using the same weight of granulated sugar. I had just under 1kg and this produced 3 jars of jam.


You just need to bring the gooseberries to the boil with a couple of tablespoons of water and when they've softened add the sugar and simmer until thick. At this point I thought I'd added too much water as it looked very liquid but as it bubbled away it got thicker and thicker. The best way to check to see if it's ready, if you don't have a jam thermometer, is to place a plate into the freezer for a minute or so and then spoon some of the jam onto it. It cools very quickly on the plate and you can tell if it's the right consistency, if not keep simmering.


I was quite surprised that the end result was this colour, I half expected it to be green even though I know gooseberry yoghurts aren't.