My Next Jam Jar Project!

I have transformed some old empty jam jars into - (drum roll please) - jam jars!

Plum and Ginger jam jars to be precise!

I am excited to share this with you, because unlike many of my talented blogging pals, I have never attempted to make jam before. I found that it wasn't such a big mystery after all and want to encourage you if you haven't tried it before to give it a try.

I didn't use a recipe. I just tried to remember what my mum does. I weighed the de-stoned plums - (very kindly given to me from my friends garden) and then added almost the same amount of sugar and some ginger. You could use root ginger or dried powdered ginger. I just did it to taste. Then I boiled the mixture gently until when I tested it on a saucer it was starting to set. I seem to remember my mum showing me that a drop of jam on the saucer when cooled slightly will wrinkle when you push your finger along it.

I washed my jars and dried them in the oven putting them in cold and then turning the oven to a low heat and leaving them there a while to dry out and sterilise.

I allowed the jam to cool a little before putting it in the jars, and then - the best bit for me - finishing touches- I made some pretty labels.

A handy hint for jam makers - If you are going to put sticky lables on your jam, just use ordinary paper and fix them to your jars with PVA water based glue, so that when you want to re-use the jars again, the labels will soak off easily and not leave any sticky residue.

..and I finish off todays post with a little peek at our baby House Martins. They are chirping away beside my kitchen window.