Gooseberry and Orange Jam

The humble gooseberry is elevated to new heights when paired with the flavour of orange and this jam shows off the combination perfectly! This quantity will make 3 – 4 jars of jam, depending on the size of the jars.

You will need:

1 kg gooseberries, topped and tailed

1 kg of white sugar, either granulated or caster

3 oranges

1 lemon

Method:

place a couple of saucers into the ‘fridge or freezer to chill – you will need these later when checking the setting point of the jam
sterilise the jam jars – I do this by washing them in hot, soapy water, rinsing them well and then microwaving them for 2 minutes. Make sure you have clean lids to fit the jars but don’t put these into the microwave!
put the topped and tailed gooseberries into a large heavy-bottomed pan
grate the zest from the oranges and the lemon and add this to the gooseberries
squeeze the juice from the oranges and lemon and place it into a measuring jug

add enough water to the jug to make the quantity of liquid up to 350mls
add this liquid to the pan of gooseberries

put the pan onto the heat, add the sugar to the pan and keep stirring until you can feel that the sugar has dissolved completely (when the sugar first goes into the pan the mixture will feel slightly gritty but will become smooth when the sugar has dissolved)
once the jam has come to the boil it will need to boil quite vigorously for 15 minutes. Stir it every now and again as otherwise it may catch on to the bottom of the pan and give the jam a burnt taste
after 15 minutes place a teaspoon of the mixture onto one of the chilled saucers and put it back into the fridge for a minute or two. After this time, push the teaspoon of cooled jam gently with your finger – if the jam wrinkles, setting point has been reached. If the jam does not wrinkle, just boil it for 5 minutes more and try again. Repeat if necessary. Gooseberries are high in pectin so it is relatively easy to reach setting point with this jam.
once you are satisfied that setting point has been reached, pour the jam into the sterilised jars, put the lids on and leave the jam out of reach to cool. You may think that it still seems a bit too runny, but if the jam is left overnight it will set much firmer