Gooseberries are one of the easiest fruits to set as jam. They carry plenty of their own pectin and acid, so the recipe below, scaled down from a tested recipe, needs nothing but crushed fruit and ordinary sugar in a fixed ratio, a hard boil to setting point and a short water bath for the jars. Hard green berries from the June thinning pick work well in it.

Makes
about 5 jars of about 250 ml
Keeps
about a year unopened in a cool, dark place if water-bathed (step 12); once opened, in the fridge for a few weeks to a month or two
Ready to eat
once cool and set
In season
June for the thinning pick; July and August for ripe fruit (later in cooler gardens)

Ingredients

  • 1.5 litres (by volume, in a jug) crushed gooseberries
  • 1 litre (about 850 g) granulated sugar

The recipe is measured by volume, so measure the sugar in the jug if you can; for any other amount, keep to 3 parts crushed fruit to 2 parts sugar.

Method

  1. Sterilise the jars by boiling them for 10 minutes (11 minutes at 300–600 m, plus a minute for each further 300 m), which allows the shortest water bath in step 12. A hot dishwasher cycle, water above 90°C for 10 minutes, or the oven at 160°C (gas mark 3) for 10 minutes also work, with a longer bath. Check the jar maker's instructions; some (Kilner, for example) advise against the oven for their jars. Let them dry fully, keep them hot until you fill them, and have new lids ready (see the sterilising guide).
  2. Top and tail the gooseberries (pull off the stalk and the dry flower end) and wash them.
  3. Crush the fruit a layer at a time with a potato masher. Don't use a food processor.
  4. Measure 1.5 litres of crushed fruit in a measuring jug and tip it into a large pan.
  5. Measure 1 litre of sugar in the same jug and add it to the pan.
  6. There's no water in this recipe, so heat slowly, stirring now and then, until the sugar has dissolved and the jam comes to the boil.
  7. Boil rapidly, stirring often as it thickens, until it reaches setting point, about 104.5°C (see the setting point guide). For a softer jam, stop just short of it.
  8. Take the pan off the heat and skim off the foam.
  9. Stir gently for 5 minutes to cool the jam slightly, so the fruit doesn't float to the top of the jars.
  10. Fill the hot sterilised jars, leaving about 5 mm of space at the top.
  11. Wipe the rims and put the new lids on.
  12. Stand the lidded jars on a rack in a deep pan, cover with hot water by about 2.5 cm, bring to the boil and boil for 5 or 10 minutes, depending on your height and how you sterilised the jars (see the table under Sealing the jars).
  13. Turn off the heat, take the lid off the pan if you used one, and wait 5 minutes before lifting the jars out.
  14. Leave the jars to cool undisturbed. Screw-top lids pull down as the vacuum seal forms; keep any jar that hasn't sealed in the fridge and eat it soon. Label the rest with the date.
Gooseberries being crushed with a potato masher in a pan, a measuring jug of crushed fruit beside it
Crush the gooseberries a layer at a time with a potato masher, not in a food processor.

Ripe or under-ripe gooseberries

Firm, slightly under-ripe fruit is the best source of natural pectin for jam, and it is higher in acid too. Overripe gooseberries may not set with sugar alone.

In June, while the berries are still hard and green, every other fruit comes off the bush to give the rest room to swell, and those thinned berries can go straight into the jam. Ripe gooseberries from the July and August harvest make jam too; for jams without added pectin, a general rule is about a quarter slightly under-ripe fruit to three quarters ripe. Avoid soft, overripe berries. The two picks, and why they can run later in a cool garden, are covered in dealing with a glut of gooseberries. For the bushes themselves, see growing gooseberries.

Fruit, sugar and batch size

Sugar is the preservative in jam. It prevents most microorganisms growing, though some moulds and yeasts tolerate it, and it helps the jam set. Never cut the sugar in a jam recipe: with less sugar you get something closer to syrup, and a reduced-sugar jam loses part of that preserving effect, so it spoils sooner.

The recipe works on volume, not weight, so crush the fruit first and then measure it. You can make a smaller batch as long as the ratio stays at 3 parts crushed fruit to 2 parts sugar. Don't make more than 2.1 litres of crushed fruit in one batch.

Crushed gooseberriesGranulated sugarMakes about
750 ml500 ml (about 425 g)2 or 3 jars of 250 ml
1.5 litres1 litre (about 850 g)5 jars (the recipe above)
2.1 litres1.4 litres (about 1.2 kg)7 or 8 jars (the largest batch)

For a seedless jam, heat the crushed berries until soft, press them through a sieve, then measure the purée, add the sugar in the same ratio and carry on from step 6.

Testing for a set

A thermometer is the most dependable test. Jam without added pectin sets at about 104.5°C at sea level, which is about 4.5°C above the temperature water boils at. Setting point drops by about 1°C for every 300 m of height, so in a hill cottage check what temperature water boils at in your kitchen and add 4.5°C to it.

Without a thermometer, use the cold-plate test. Take the pan off the heat, put a little of the boiling jam on a cold plate and leave it in the freezer compartment of the fridge for a few minutes. If it gels, and the surface wrinkles when you push it with a finger, the jam is ready. If not, put the pan back on and boil a little longer before testing again. The setting point guide covers the tests in more detail.

Sealing the jars

Many cooks in Britain were taught to hot-fill and seal jam without a water bath. This recipe includes the bath, and the year's keeping time depends on it. Jars that are only hot-filled have no tested keeping time, so keep those in the fridge and eat them soon. Lids should always be new; with clip-top jars, that means a new rubber seal.

Your kitchenHow the jars were sterilisedBoil the filled jars for
Below about 300 mBoiled for 10 minutes5 minutes
Below about 300 mDishwasher, oven or water above 90°C10 minutes
Above about 300 mBoiled for 11 minutes or more (step 1)10 minutes
Above about 300 mDishwasher, oven or water above 90°CNo tested time: sterilise by boiling instead

The jars guide helps you choose jars and lids that suit jam.

Storing gooseberry jam

Water-bathed jars keep for about a year in a cool, dark, dry place. Once a jar is open, keep it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks to a month or two. Throw out any jam with mould on it or a fermented, yeasty or alcohol smell. The preserve storage guide has more detail.

Common questions

Do I need jam sugar or added pectin?

No. Gooseberries have enough natural pectin and acid to set with ordinary granulated sugar, as long as they aren't overripe. There is more on which fruits need help in the pectin guide.

Can I use the hard green gooseberries from thinning?

Yes. Firm, slightly under-ripe fruit is the best natural source of pectin and is higher in acid, so the June thinning pick is well suited to jam.

Can I reduce the sugar?

Not in this recipe. The sugar preserves the jam as well as setting it, and cutting it gives a runnier jam that doesn't keep as well.

Can I mix gooseberries with other fruit?

This recipe is for gooseberries on their own. Other fruits bring different amounts of pectin and acid, so follow a tested recipe written for the mix. Mixing fruit in preserves explains why. For other summer fruit on its own, try blackcurrant jam.

What if I can't make jam straight away?

Gooseberries can be frozen until you have time. Frozen fruit is best used within about 3 months for quality, though it stays safe for longer. The freezing guide shows how.

Sources

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