Now, I suppose, I had better come clean about my most disastrous jam making ordeal. In my defence it was my first attempt (or should that be offence) and I was only about 12 or 13 years old at the time.
It was for a school cookery lesson and we had been put into pairs to bring the fruit and other necessities for blackberry and apple jam. Well I volunteered the blackberries but only because I knew my parents had been picking them the day before and in any case the other girl (my partner) had said she would bring apples! So my second mistake was to miss the early bus home so that by the time I arrived in doors with the news that I was to take x lbs of blackberries the very next day, it was getting very close to dusk. And of course, unknown to me, my mother had already made use of the fruit picked previously.
To cut the story short we did manage to find enough blackberries between us, mum, dad and me and I went off to school the next day all prepared for my first lesson in jam making. I have already said it was a disaster and I'm still not sure whether it was completely due to my ineptitude or whether perhaps the teacher wasn't attentive enough. We'll never know. Suffice to say I went home with a 2lb jar of something we couldn't even get a knife into, let alone spread on bread - and my mother has never let me (or anyone else) forget it - and I'm talking 50 years ago now - so I'm assuming she never will forgive me!
Anyway back to my challenge. Bob is away this coming weekend and I am determined to have a go at making strawberry jam. This is how it should look - good enough to eat!
Once I have completed my task I will take a photo of my attempt and publish it in another post, though of course you will have to rely on my truthfulness regarding texture and flavour. And, if it all goes horribly wrong, no-one need ever know!
