Jam set up FYI

Hey folks I made a batch of apricot jam and thought I would do a post not just with a recipe but a bunch of pictures FYI facts about making jam in general.

 

My mom makes it very clear to me every time we make jam to do all the proper cleaning and set up so that the process goes smoothly and with very little stress.

 

Always make sure your counters are clean and you have a couple of plates,  a ladle, spoon, a wide mouth funnel used for jam making is also good, tongs(rubber ends would be best) and enough glass jam jars, and lid pieces needed for the batch. You also need a couple of clean dry towels some heavy duty rubber gloves semi heat resistant and a dish rag (sterilized)to wipe the jam jar lips.

 

All the jam jars and lids should be washed as should the ladle, spoon, tongs, plates and funnel if you have a dishwasher once through there would be good but hand washing is fine. For the lid tops they should not go through the washer but just be hand washed.

 

Two sauce pots one large enough for all the jam jars and smaller pan to place the lids. The pots need to be full of water and set to boil. Once the large pot is boiling place each jam jar in the pot filling them with the boiling pot water. Leave the lids aside for now. Let the jars boil in the water for ten minutes before you start cooking the jam mixture.

 

Once you start cooking your jam you can turn the heat under the smaller water pot to low and put the top lids in the water making sure the water never begins boiling.

 

Following your jam instructions for cooking once it is ready using the funnel wearing the heavy duty rubber gloves you ladle the jam to an 1/8th of an inch from the top using the sterilized dish rag to wipe the edge and threads of the jar then taking one jar top  and placing it on the top of the jar then close the lid firmly, invert the jar and place on one of the folded clean towels. Fill each jar in the same manner placing each jar at least 2 inches apart. Follow your jam cooking instructions for how long the jars stay inverted and how long they sit for the jam process.

 

Having everything set for the cooking and jam jar process makes everything go much smoother and prevents anything from going wrong or getting forgotten.

 

I am including some pics of the setup so you can see how it looks.