a stillroom game of fruit, sugar and timing
Every label pinned to the stall wants its jam a certain way. Weigh out the fruit, wake the pectin with a squeeze of lemon, hold the set with sugar, and boil the pan until a drop on a cold saucer wrinkles.
Lift too soon and it runs; leave it and it turns to toffee.
For iOSfour steps, every market day
A customer asks for a soft set, a firm one or a proper jelly. On later days they want it sweet or sharp too, sometimes with a rule: no sachets, one fruit only.
Scoop fruit half a kilo at a time from crates that are hard, ripe or soft. Five labels share one cart, so think before you empty a crate.
Stir to keep the bottom from burning, test drops on cold saucers, and lift the pan inside its setting window. A well-balanced pan gives you a wider one.
Five rival stalls are judged beside yours at the end of the day. Place third or better and the next day opens on the calendar.
the arithmetic of a good set
Quince and blackcurrant are full of pectin; strawberries and cherries hardly have any. Acid wakes it, sugar holds it.
Light, classic or rich. Fruit brings sugar of its own, and soft fruit brings more.
Lemon brightens a flat pan, and sugar softens a sharp one.
where the sugar cubes go
Plant gooseberries, figs, a grape arbour and the old quince, and buy a bigger copper pan.
Three hard classes judged from one cart, with rosettes for the best totals.
Every pot stands as a jar with its recipe card behind it, set or not.
A free pan with no labels and nothing spent, for trying odd ideas.