Summer Jam

Plums and apricots were literally falling off the trees in Albany so, rather than see them go to waste I commandeered my mother-in-law's trusty weighing scales and made some jam during our summer break down there.

There is something really satisfying about making jam.

Jam making was a major event in our household when I was growing up in Ireland. Out came the enormous copper preserving pans, the wax paper, the cellophane covers, the rubber bands and absolute mountains of sugar and the kitchen was out of bounds for days on end.

I was always a little bit overwhelmed by it all, but it's actually really easy.

We have already tried the apricot jam and I can thoroughly recommend Bill Granger's recipe in Bill's Basics.

Time to get out your chopping boards and all those empty jam jars you have lurking in your kitchen cupboards......