Hi all

[jennymac]

So glad I found this forum. I live on a typical suburban property in Ringwood, VIC. No room for cows, unfortunately, but we will have chooks as soon as I finish their house. I keep a decent size garden and use the produce to make pickles, chutneys, sauces, jams, etc.

Right now I mainly need help and advice with my jams which fail most of the time, but I will save all that for another thread. Looking forward to chatting with you all.

Jen

[SueC]

Hi Jen and welcome!

there are not a lot of us, but we do understand the Australian ways of being homemakers in the garden and the kitchen.

Sue

[minnie]

Welcome Jen,

Lovely to have all your veggies growing... I'm sure the 'jam makers' will be able to give you some good advice.


Vicki

[Hayhay]

Hi Jen and welcome. I grew up in the hills and worked for a while at croydon! Come some way now we're on 16 acres and living the life.

Whenever I make jam I end up with really tasty syrup. SO perhaps its me needs tips from you!

[Heidi]

Hi,
No help here I'm afraid. All my jams end up being incorporated into apple puree and made into dehydrated roll ups for the children. I've given up on jam making for the time being, and just cut straight to making them into roll ups! Welcome aboard here, and hope you like us all!
H

[dggoatlover]

Hey Jen! Lovely to see you here and looking forward to hearing of your future journey with chickens!

[jennymac]

Thanks for the wonderful welcome everyone. It seems like a lovely group here. Happy to share my journey with the chickens. If anyone is interested I'll post pics of the house once its done. But I just started thinking about honey today (leave it to me to dream up another project before the first is finished). Anyone know much about bee gums?

Jen

[childoftheearth]

Hi Jen & welcome,

I haven't been making jam for very long, but I've never had a failure (more luck than judgement I'm sure) and the jam is really fantastic. Perhaps it is the recipe/s that you are using. I use a book called "Preserve" I can't find an author's name but the publisher is Hamlyn. I know that Eastern Regional Libraries has a copy because that's the one I started out with, but I loved it so much I bought my own (from Books for Cooks)!

The recipes for beetroot relish and piccalilli are also excellent.

Good luck with the chickens & the bees, most of us seem to have multiple projects on the go, maybe it's a character trait on the "self-sufficiency gene".

Cheers
Elaine

[Mojojo]

Hi Jen and welcome from me also.
I'm a bit like Elaine with my jams - maybe its the Jam pan!
If I am a bit concerned about it setting, like in strawberry jam, I'll add a couple of grated or chopped green apples and lemon juice. That seems to work for me. Alternatively I'll sometimes throw in a bit of Jamsetta at about half the recommended dose. But the apple seems to work and it does not seem to alter the taste too much when its a small amount of apple compared to the main fruit.
I don't tend to use recipes as such, but do just stick to the ratio of 1 kilo of fruit to 750 grams of sugar.
I've had some come out a little less solid than others, but nothing actually runny.
I've not got around to hot water bathing them yet though, I'm finding that they keep well enough long enough as is (hot jam into hot jar and hot lid on straight away).

And yes, we will be interested to see photos of the chicken project!

Jo