my good friday

Ingredients for my idea of a good friday:


8 jars of raspberry jam

1 raspberry crisp

1 posy from Roo (yes, he still brings me flowers)

Not shown:

1 bottle of Bombay Sapphire, to be consumed (not all at once!) with tonic & lime on the deck

1 slab of dark chocolate from Roo


Vicki and I have been chatting in the comments of the strawberry jam post about making jam. Vicki recommended a link to a strawberry jam recipe which advocates some interesting techniques to mitigate the problem of foam. Check that out if you're a jam maker. I'll be trying out those tips when the everbearing strawberries come around.

Meanwhile, the much easier raspberry jam was tackled. The kids and I picked almost 30lbs of raspberries and froze most of it but also snuck in two batches of jam.

Classic Raspberry Jam

4 cups raspberries
4 cups sugar

Prepare your jars (this will make 4 x 250 ml/1 cup jars)

Spread the sugar in an oven proof largish pan and place in a preheated 250°F oven for 15 minutes.

Put berries in a large pot (stainless steel or enamel). Bring to a boil over high heat while smashing up the berries with a spoon or potato masher. Boil hard for one minute. Add the warm sugar. Return to a boil until jam is cooked, about 5 minutes.

Place in jars and process jars in canner. I do 10 minutes because that's what the Bell book of preserving says but I've seen recipes also call for 5 minutes. You start the timer when the pot has returned to a full boil.


Berry Crisp

For the berry base, mix:

3-4 C berries
1/4 - 1/2 C sugar (depending on how sweet the berries are & how you like your crisp)
1/2 Tbsp - 1 Tbsp corn starch &/or flour (depending on how ripe & juicy your berries are; generally less for strawberries and blueberries, more for raspberries; if you're adding rhubarb in the mix, definitely be generous with the corn starch)
Stir and let sit for a while while you mix the topping.

For the topping, mix:
1 C flour
1 C brown sugar

Cut in with pastry cutter:
1/2 C butter

Then stir in:
1 C old fashioned oats

Butter a 8 x 8in. fairly deep pan.

Pour in the berry mix. Sprinkle the topping on top.

Bake at 350°F for about 45 min until fruit is bubbly and topping looks a bit golden.

Serve on deck with vanilla ice cream & grated chocolate (optional) and G&T's aka gin & tonic (well, I guess these are optional too).