Chef Thomas
Apple Chutney
A spiced autumn chutney made from a glut of apples and a quiet afternoon, simmered down until the kitchen smells of October and the jars line up on the counter like a small, useful insurance policy.
Culinary Explorer
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Gooseberry Jam
Created by Chef Thomas
The first jam of the year, made from sharp green gooseberries in early June, setting itself almost without help and tasting of the garden waking up after a long quiet winter.
Sauces & Condiments
British
Make Ahead
Batch Cooking
20 min
Active Time
40 min cook•1 hr total
YieldAbout 4 jars (1.5kg)
Gooseberries are the first fruit of the year worth turning into jam. They come into the market in early June, hard and green and sharp enough to make your teeth ache, and they sit there looking like nothing much. Most people walk past them. That's a mistake.
There's a particular pleasure in making the first jam of the year. The shelf in the pantry has been thinning out all winter, the marmalade is down to one jar, and suddenly there's something new to put up. The kitchen smells of hot sugar and tart fruit and the windows fog over. It's a Saturday morning kind of job, slow and satisfying, the radio on and the back door open to whatever the garden is doing.
Gooseberries set easily because they're full of pectin, which means you don't need any clever tricks. Sugar, water, a squeeze of lemon, and time. The colour shifts as it cooks, from cloudy green to a strange, pale pink-gold that always surprises me, even though I've watched it happen every June for years. I wrote it down in the notebook once: "Gooseberries. June. Pink, somehow." That was the whole entry.
Make more than you think you need. A jar in the cupboard in November, when the garden is asleep and the mornings are dark, will taste like the day you made it. That's worth the hour of topping and tailing. Trust me on this.
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Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
green gooseberries
Quantity
1kg
topped and tailed
granulated sugar
Quantity
1kg
water
Quantity
200ml
lemon
Quantity
half
juiced
unsalted butter (optional)
Quantity
small knob
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| green gooseberriestopped and tailed | 1kg |
| granulated sugar | 1kg |
| water | 200ml |
| lemonjuiced | half |
| unsalted butter (optional) | small knob |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide, heavy-bottomed preserving pan or large saucepan
- •Four 350ml jam jars with lids
- •Wooden spoon
- •Ladle
- •Small plate (for the freezer test)
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the jars
Wash four jars and their lids in hot soapy water, rinse well, and put them in a low oven, around 120C, to dry and sterilize while you make the jam. They need to be properly hot when the jam goes in. Cold jars and hot jam don't get on.
Put a small plate in the freezer at the same time. You'll need it later for testing the set. - 2
Top and tail the gooseberries
This is the slow bit. Take each gooseberry and pinch off the little stalk at one end and the dried flower at the other. It's tedious work, the kind that needs a radio on or someone to talk to. An hour with a bowl on your lap. Don't think of it as a chore. Think of it as the entry fee.
- 3
Soften the fruit
Tip the gooseberries into a wide, heavy-bottomed pan with the water. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for about fifteen minutes, until the berries have burst and turned from sharp green to a soft, cloudy khaki. Stir now and then so nothing catches on the bottom. The kitchen will start to smell tart and grassy and faintly of gooseberry skin, which is its own particular thing.
- 4
Add the sugar
Pour in the sugar and the lemon juice. Stir over a low heat until every grain of sugar has dissolved. This matters. If you turn the heat up before the sugar is gone, you'll get crystals in the finished jam and a slightly grainy set. Patience here saves you later. Run a wooden spoon along the bottom of the pan and listen for the scrape of undissolved sugar. When it's silent, you're ready.
Gooseberries are naturally high in pectin, which is why they set so willingly. You don't need jam sugar. Ordinary granulated does the job. - 5
Boil hard
Now turn the heat right up and bring the jam to a rolling boil. Not a gentle simmer, a proper, rumbling, can't-stir-it-down boil. It will foam up the sides of the pan and look alarming. That's what you want. Let it boil hard for eight to ten minutes, stirring occasionally so the bottom doesn't scorch. The colour will shift from cloudy green to a clearer, more golden-pink, and the bubbles will get smaller and glossier as the water cooks off.
- 6
Test for the set
Take the cold plate out of the freezer. Drop a teaspoon of jam onto it and let it sit for half a minute. Push the edge with your finger. If it wrinkles and holds its shape, it's ready. If it slides about like syrup, give it another two or three minutes and try again. Trust the wrinkle. It knows before you do.
Take the pan off the heat while you do the wrinkle test. Jam keeps cooking, and a few seconds too long is the difference between a soft, spoonable set and something you could resole a shoe with. - 7
Skim and jar
If there's a lot of foam on top, drop in the small knob of butter and stir. The foam will subside almost at once, which feels like a small magic trick every time. Let the jam sit for five minutes, just enough for the fruit to settle so it doesn't all float to the top of the jars. Then ladle it carefully into the hot jars, right up to the brim, and seal the lids tight. Label them when they're cool. You'll forget which jam is which by August otherwise.
Chef Tips
- •Use hard, green, sharp gooseberries, not the soft red dessert ones. The green ones have more pectin and more acidity, which is exactly what you want for a jam that sets properly and tastes of itself.
- •A wide, heavy pan is better than a tall narrow one. The bigger the surface area, the faster the water boils off and the brighter the finished jam tastes. A preserving pan is ideal if you have one. A large saucepan will do.
- •If you want to add elderflower, this is the moment. A splash of elderflower cordial stirred in just before potting, or a few fresh elderflower heads tied in muslin and simmered with the fruit. Gooseberry and elderflower come into season together, which is the kind of thing nature does on purpose.
- •Don't skimp on the sugar. Jam is jam because of the sugar. Less sugar means a softer set and a shorter shelf life, and you didn't sit there topping and tailing a kilo of fruit to end up with something that goes off in a fortnight.
Advance Preparation
- •Sealed jars keep in a cool, dark cupboard for up to a year. The flavour mellows over the first month and is at its best from July onwards.
- •Once a jar is opened, keep it in the fridge and use within four weeks. It rarely lasts that long.
- •Sterilize jars in a 120C oven for at least fifteen minutes before filling. Cold jars and hot jam will crack.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 20g)
Calories
60 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
1 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
14 g
Protein
0 g
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