Strawberry jam with a special ingredient

ON Sunday the little GGs and I took a trip out to Willow Tree Farm in Polstead for one of our favourite pastimes – strawberry picking.


Being a country bumpkin through and through, I grew-up spending summers in fields and farms with my parents picking anything and everything – from strawberries and raspberries, through to blackberries and gooseberries (for pleasure I must add – they didn’t make me work!).

Now I love nothing more than taking my tots out to do the very same.

There’s nothing more pleasurable on a hot summer’s day than picking berries under blue skies with the sweet scent of strawberry blossom lingering in the air.

Plus, there’s the added bonus that because you’ve picked the fruit yourself, you know there won’t be three or four mouldy berries at the bottom of the punnet (there inevitably always are when you buy ready-packed varieties) ready to spoil the rest of the batch.

The variety grown at Willow Tree Farm is Elsanta. Shiny, plump, heart-shaped berries stained an impossibly scarlet red and gifted with the most fragrant and sweet flavour I’ve ever come across.

We came away with two massive punnets piled higher than high, ringing in at the till for only £3 .

Last night, after coming home with a serious scone craving I decided I really needed to turn one of those punnets into jam, so I threw together a strange concoction that’s turned out to be a complete winner – strawberry and rhubarb jam with balsamic vinegar!

Try it. Very delicious and ideal warmed and drizzled over vanilla ice cream.



Strawberry and rhubarb balsamic jam
Ingredients:

450g ripe strawberries hulled and halved

1 large stick of rhubarb sliced into 2cm wide chunks

270g dark muscovado sugar

2 lemons, pared (peel taken off in slices) and juiced

2tbsps Balsamic vinegar



Do it:

1. Sterilise a jam jar by either placing it in the oven on it’s lowest setting (without the lid) for 10 minutes or filling with boiled water, draining and turning over until you’re ready to use it. Also, place a small china plate in the fridge.

2. Place the sugar, vinegar, lemon peel and lemon juice in a large pan with a splash of water and bring to the boil.

3. Add the strawberries.

4. Continue to boil the mixture until thick and syrup-like, stirring constantly. If you have a sugar thermometer test the jam to see that it’s reached the ‘jam’ marker. If you don’t have a sugar thermometer take the chilled plate out of the fridge and pour a teaspoon of the mixture on. It should instantly solidify to a soft set. If it doesn’t, boil the mixture for a further five minutes and try the test again, carrying on until you reach the desired consistency.

5. Ladle the jam into the jam jar, place the lid on securely and turn the jar over, creating a seal.

6. Enjoy with scones and fresh clotted cream.