Greengage jam recipe
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Jam Jelly and Preserves | 26 comments
Photo: Greengage
Photograph courtesy of ilco
“Do you think that my greengage jam has set enough?”
The chicken lady passed me a teaspoon filled with greengage loveliness. It was excellent, not too runny. And the taste was superb.
“I used less sugar than the recipe as we don’t like jam to be too sweet.”
“I heard once that if you include some kernels it helps it to set.”
“Funny that you should say that. My grandmother always included almonds in her greengage jam.”
“Perhaps they were kernels?”
TCL had given me a haul of greengages and I couldn’t wait to get home and make jam. Greengages are my favourite fruit and they are so difficult to get hold of around here.
Pam Corbin in her book Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2
Choose firm greengages and eat the soft ones as they do not make nearly such good jam.
Greengage jam recipe
Ingredients:
900g/2 lbs of greengages
675g/1.5 lbs of white granulated sugar
Half a pint/275ml of water
The juice of a small lemon
Method:
1. Wash the fruit and discard any damaged ones.
2. Put the fruit, lemon juice and water into a large heavy bottomed saucepan (or preserving pan) and simmer gently until the skins split and they are soft.
3. Meanwhile, warm the sugar in a low oven for ten minutes and add to the fruit.
4. Stir gently over a low heat until you are sure that all the sugar crystals have dissolved.
5. Turn up the heat to a medium high setting and, stirring frequently, let the fruit boil rapidly for 10 minutes (this is called a rolling boil).
6. Remove the stones with a slotted spoon during the boiling process.
7. Test for set (What is set/setting point? See tricks and tips below).
8. If the jam has not set, continue to boil rapidly and test at five minute intervals.
9. When the jam has set carefully pour into warm, sterilised jars, using a ladle or small jug. (How to sterilise jars? See tricks and tips below)
10. Cover the jars with tight fitting screw-top lids, or waxed disks and cellophane pot covers (waxed disks, wax facing downwards and plastic covers secured with plastic bands).
11. Label when cold and store in a cool, dark place, away from damp.
Tips and tricks:
Jam “set” or “setting point”:
Getting the right set can be tricky. I have tried using a jam thermometer but find it easier to use the following method. Before you start to make the jam, put a couple of plates in the fridge so that the warm jam can be drizzled onto a cold plate (when we make jam we often forget to return the plate to the fridge between tests, using two plates means that you have a spare cold plate). Take your jam pan off the heat and return the plate to the fridge to cool for approx two minutes. It has set when you run your finger through it and leave a crinkly track mark. If after two minutes the cooled jam is too liquid, continue to boil the jam, testing it every few minutes until you have the right set. The jam is far more delicious if it is slightly runny.
Sterilising the jars:
We collect jars all year round for our jelly, chutney and jam making sessions. I try to soak off labels and store the clean jars and metal plastic coated screw-top lids in an accessible place. The sterilising method that we used is simple. Just before making the jam, I quickly wash and rinse the jars and place them upside down in a cold oven. Set the temperature to 160c/140c for fan assisted. When the oven has reached the right temperature I turn off the heat. The jars will stay warm for quite a while. I only use plastic lined lids for preserves as the all-metal lids can go rusty. I boil these for five minutes in water to sterilise them. If I use Le Parfait jars, I do the same with the rubber rings.
NB Damson Jam: This recipe works well with damsons.
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Lovely recipe! My first time making greengage jam and may I ask…
Is it meant to be green?
I think mine caught on the bottom of the pan and its a golden colour.
Is that ok? It still tastes lovely but I’m sure it could be better :/
Carmen x
What sort of kernils are we talking about,i have a glut of greengages and would like to use this recipe
Followed recipe and jam is fine but is red ! Any idea why ?
Just made this Jam, Wonderful Recipe, taste is Great, and so easy. Thank You
Can I make the apricot and peach jam usind dried fruit If so what quantities?
Hi Avril
I have no idea. I reckon that it might taste very strange. If you do have a go soak the fruit and weigh the soaked fruit using the same measurements as fresh. Use the fruit juice instead of the water.
Lemon juice features in ingredients but is not mentioned in recipe!
Ooops! I’ve updated the recipe. Add the lemon juice to the fruit and water at the begining of the recipe 🙂
I’d not made jam for years (kids grown and flown) when an American pen pal asked what greengage jam was, she had read about this jam called the Champagne of jams in a novel. So made some and sent it to her. The gages in 2010 were not ripe and the stones did not come out, my pal asked if she washed one and planted it would it grow into a tree!!! This years gages – are so much earlier and the stones have all come out when I cut them in half. Ive heard that putting a vanilla pod enhances it, so I dug out my trusty pod. Can’t wait to try it tonight on some home made bread.
had never made jam before – ever and made this one about a week ago. It was so easy and it is fantastic. Thank you
Made this jam yesterday. Perfect balance of sweetness and gage flavour, best recipe on the web.
Hello Folks, As a manic preserver of all manner of fruit grown in our orchard, I’m following your posts with great interest. I suspect the browning is the same chemical action that turns cut apples brown – not pretty but not harmful either. I’ve just finished harvesting the gages (50lb from 2 small trees, and we have 6 gages alone – do you live near and have a trailer??!) and began on the Victoria plums today. I poach all my fruit before I freeze it and find it much easier if you cook it gently (the fruits are still whole), let it all go cold, wash your hands and nails really well, and then get in there and pick out the stones. We then pot the pulp into large empty yoghurt pots and freeze them. Later, we take the portions out of the yoghurt pots and bag them up. It’s then all ready for pies, crumbles, smoothies, jams etc later in the year. It works for us. Just a thought.