Weck Jars - Perfectly Sized for Preserving
I’ve been an avid jam makers for years with varying degrees of success. After years of trial and error and investing in a
cooking thermometer, I think I’ve finally got jam making down to a fine art. Even though I love making jam, I rarely eat the stuff but I do use my home made jam when I bake. Home-made jam just tastes so much better than shop bought.
To make jam, you only need the most basic of equipment – a
saucepan, a wooden spoon and some glass jars. I have some
Weck jars at home that I use for storage but until now haven’t used them to make jam. Although the jars are made in Germany I bought my first jars while visiting a friend in Oslo. Oslo was so expensive, the jars were the only things I could afford to bring back as a souvenir!
Weck jars have been around for a long time now, over 100 years and their
mason jars are perfect for canning and preserving at home. Each jar comes with a seal and clips, the wide mouth makes it easy to fill and the glass lids will not rust. Best of all you can stack the jars when storing saving space. The jars are made from clear glass making it easy to view the contents and the jars are microwave safe as well.
I used these
290ml jars from Weck when making a batch of blackberry jam. They were the perfect size for this recipe, which yielded 3 bottles. Blackberries are in season at the moment but are still quite expensive. You can use fresh blackberries to make the jam but I cheated and used frozen blackberries. You can substitute any soft berry you have on hand. I’ve made raspberry jam using this recipe and a 4 berry jam using a combination of strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries based on a recipe I found
here.
Blackberry Jam
Makes three 290ml jars
Ingredients
- 2½ cups granulated white sugar
- 1½ lemons juiced, halves reserved
- 825g fresh or frozen blackberries
- 1 vanilla pod
Method
Place a saucer in the freezer to test the jam’s setting point. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Place the sugar on an oven tray and warm the sugar for 15 minutes. While the sugar is warming, prepare the glass jars.
Wash the glass jars and lids in hot soapy water and rinse. Place the jars and lids in a deep saucepan. Cover with cold water. Bring water to the boil over high heat, reduce heat to medium and boil for 10 minutes. Line a baking tray with paper towel. Remove the jars using metal tongs and place on the baking tray. Once the sugar has warmed, turn the oven off and place the jars in the oven to keep the jars warm while you prepare the jam.
In a shallow saucepan combine the warmed sugar with the lemon juice. Add the blackberries, the lemon halves and the vanilla pod and stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil stirring occasionally for 5 minutes to allow the berries to soften before coarsely mashing the fruit with a potato masher.
Continue to cook for a further 15 minutes or until jam has reached its setting point ~ 105°C when tested with a thermometer. To test when the jam is set, remove the jam from the heat and place a spoonful of hot jam onto the chilled saucer. Return to the freezer for 1 minute. Run your finger through the jam to test if it wrinkles and jells. If it doesn't, return to the heat for a further 5 minutes then repeat the test.
Remove the lemon halves and vanilla pod from the jam. Throw out the lemon halves but the vanilla pod can be washed, dried and reused. Take the jam from the heat and allow to cool for a minute or 2 before spooning the hot jam evenly among the sterilized jars. Allow the jam to come to room temperature before applying the rubber seals to the lids and sealing the jars with the metal clips. Set the jam aside to cool completely before labelling and dating.
