Home-preserving is a delicious (and easy) hobby—all you need is fruit and sugar
If making jam at home has ever crossed your mind, now is the perfect time to start—take it from someone who has made jam his passion project for the last eight years. As an avid jam-maker who began crafting my own preserves once a month and have now ramped up to almost twice each week, I've had a considerable amount of practice, and plenty of failures, too. Through years of trial and error, I've learned that the easiest way to approach a jam project is to remember that the goal is to preserve seasonal fruits for enjoyment later.
One of the biggest misunderstandings about jam making is that you will need a lot of gadgets; the reality is that all you need are:
- a stove top
- a big stock pot
- a tool for stirring, preferably a silicone spatula or ladle with a long handle to stir the boiling mixture
The process could not be any easier:
- cut the fruit into pieces
- add sugar
- boil it down until the mixture thickens
That’s your jam.
When it comes to sugar, remember that it's a crucial ingredient—it acts as a preservative and is essential to jam making. Feel free to adjust-to-taste the amount that goes into jam you're making at home, or opt for unprocessed sugars or lower-GI sugars—though I don’t recommend using honey. You can also amp up acidity by adding lemon juice, which contains essential pectin that helps with the setting of the preserves when chilled.
Most importantly, try experimenting with your own cocktail of seasonal fruits—create a custom berry blend for a mixed berry jam; infuse fresh herbs into peach jam, which makes a wonderful topping for buttered toast and overnight oats; or better yet, add a splash or two of good single malt into a pot of sweet orange marmalade.
Related: Where To Find The Best Bakeries In Hong Kong For Your Bread And Pastry Fix