Store jam in
a cool, dark
place for up
to 12 months.
Once open, keep
refrigerated and
take out a few
hours before
eating so it isn’t
fridge-cold.Peach and fig leaf jam MAKES ABOUT 1.7 LITRES JAM
Ensure you use really ripe peaches for this – or indeed any peach jam
recipe. If the fruit is too hard it won’t cook down in the sugar and you’ll
end up with hard pieces of fruit, not a luscious glossy jam. Peaches in late
spring do tend to be firmer as they won’t have seen much sun. If you buy
firmer peaches, be sure to leave them out to ripen on a sunny window or
place them in a paper bag, which speeds up the ripening process.1.5 kg ripe peaches,
halved and stones removed
5 young fig leaves (see note)
900 gm caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon1 Cut each peach half into quarters
and place in a preserving pan with
the fig leaves. Stir occasionally over
medium heat until peaches soften
(cooking time will vary depending on
the ripeness of the peach – a very
ripe peach should soften in around
5 minutes; if they are more firm, they
can take up to 15 minutes). If the
peaches are not super-soft, add a
splash of water to help them break
down. It might help to place a lid on
the pan to speed up the cooking
process. It’s really important that the
peaches are cooked through beforeyou add the sugar, so test them
by piercing with a knife to check
for softness.
2 Once the peaches are soft, add
the sugar and lemon juice and stir
occasionally until the jam reaches
setting point, 105°C on a sugar
thermometer (about 15-20 minutes).
Remove from the heat and leave
to rest for 5 minutes before pouring
into warm sterilised jars. Seal
immediately. Store in a cool dark
place for up to 12 months.
NoteFig leaves add a wonderful
perfume to peach jam. Choose
tender young fig leaves and discard
them after cooking. If you don’t have
access to a fig tree, you can use
lemon verbena or bay leaves.Setting point
Getting jam to set can seem tricky but usually you
will only have problems if you haven’t cooked the
preserve for long enough or haven’t added enough
sugar. There are a few simple ways of testing the
setting point. First, the good old-fashioned plate-in-
the-freezer test. Place a ceramic saucer in the freezer
overnight and the next day, when you want to test
for setting point, place a teaspoonful of the jam on
the frozen plate and run your index finger through
it to see if it holds and has created a “skin”. If it has,
then you’re good to go.
The other way, which is a little more efficient, is
by using a sugar thermometer and taking the boiling
jam to 105°C. This is the setting point. Sometimes if
I know the fruit is extremely high in pectin I may take
it a little lower. For example, green gooseberries will
set at 90°C, but generally speaking, 105°C is the rule.
If you find that you haven’t cooked your jam long
enough and it hasn’t set properly, then recook it back
into another fresh batch of jam. Be warned, though,
it may end up tasting like caramelised sugar●Top tips
for making
small-batch jam- Ensure your jam pan is only
half-full of ingredients and
no more – otherwise you
risk the boiling contents
overflowing. - Use a wide pan (such as
a Mauviel 36cm jam pan)
that’s large enough to allow
maximum evaporation
of liquids in the quickest
time possible. - Choose unblemished ripe
fruit that tastes good. - Cooking times are a rough
guide and will vary slightly. - Don’t cook more than
2kg fruit at a time. - The quicker the cooking
time, the better. - Don’t use hard unripe
fruit because it won’t
break down.
Sterilisation
Efficient sterilisation is the key to successful jam
making. You need to ensure you eliminate all
food-spoiling yeasts and moulds that are present
in your ingredients and in the jars you will fill.
Fruit that is cooked with sugar to the correct
temperature and clean glass jars that have been
heated to 110°C are going to preserve your jam
for at least 12 months.
To sterilise your jars, wash them in warm soapy
water and rinse thoroughly. Place them, open-side
up, on a baking tray and put in an oven preheated
to 110°C and leave for 30 minutes. To sterilise lids,
clips or rubber seals, place in a pan of water over
high heat, bring to the boil and boil for 5 minutes,
then turn off heat and leave to rest.
I advise you to begin the sterilisation process
when setting point is reached. You can always turn
your oven off and leave the jars resting in the warm
oven before using them – just don’t allow them to
become cold. Hot jam should always go into warm
jars and be sealed with warm lids so that a seal is
formed inside as the warmth pushes the air out.
You can also turn your jars upside down to help push
out the air but be careful with high-pectin fruit as
they will set quickly and you’ll have levitating jam.This extract from
Five Seasons of
Jamby Lillie
O’Brien (Hachette,
hbk, $39.99) has
been reproduced
with minorGT
style changes.
GOURMET TRAVELLER 37