No muslin bag?

[Flummery]

I use a jelly bag. Useful for wine making too

[piskieinboots]

cheers Hazel and Flums - I'll not be influenced by him again hehehe

Jam is made and it takes delish and looks reet good too

Next question:
How soon can one eat home-made jam?

[scarey55]

Next question:
How soon can one eat home-made jam?

As soon as the homemade bread is ready silly

[kentvegplot]

OK, how about the funny little bag that comes with the washing tablets? There's a new one in every box - we've got lots we haven't used and they are recycled for things like collecting together small bulbs, keeping labels in which always fall out of their packets....don't see why you couldn't use in food, as long as you sterilise first?

[Flummery]

cheers Hazel and Flums - I'll not be influenced by him again hehehe

Jam is made and it takes delish and looks reet good too

Next question:
How soon can one eat home-made jam?

When it's cool enough not to raise blisters in your mouth!

[Winged one]

For small things like a piece of ginger, a cotton hankie should be fine. If you do want muslin for larger things and don't want to buy a proper bag, either try a local haberdashery for a yard of muslin, or else buy a pack of a dozen muslin nappies for newborns - you can keep as many as you want and pass the others to a new mum for burb cloths!!

[piskieinboots]

As soon as the homemade bread is ready silly

you can see I never did the jam making thing before can't you

When it's cool enough not to raise blisters in your mouth!

hehehe - see above

[Elijay]

Muslin is recommended because it's thin, flimsy and has a low thread count (not many threads to the inch). It doesn't matter if the fabric is cotton, linen or man made, any thin cloth will do.

I use J cloths - but only after they've been through the wash.

Good idea to use string. Washing tablet net bags are OK provided you remember to remove the plastic closure.

[ClayGarden]

You use J cloths? They have soap in dont they?

[piskieinboots]

one last really really last question - having put the lids on all the jars, there is condensation (of course there is silly Piskie, the jam was hot!) showing on inside of kilner jar lids - should I:
a) leave it
b) remove it
c) shouldn't have put the lids on till jam was cold silly Piskie
d) get a life
d) go and watch the Newkey & Makham match

[Elijay]

No, J cloths don't have soap in them. I did say I always wash them first!!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Regarding the Jam, don't worry, just leave it alone as the condensation will disappear when they are cold. If you have done it right the cooling process will have formed a tight seal.

a) leave it - YES!
b) remove it - NO!
c) shouldn't have put the lids on till jam was cold silly Piskie. NO-NO-NO-NO!
d) get a life - NO!
d) go and watch the Newkey & Makham match - YES!

Putting lids on after they have cooled is a bad thing to do.
Removing condensation - Ditto.

[piskieinboots]

*prints out Elijay's advice and pins it on nose

[Polly Fouracre]

Any thin old cloth will do.Never throw away old tea towels,old white T-shirts,gone over pillow cases etc. They will all come in handy at preserving time!

[Hazel at the Hill]

Prolly too late for the MOST IMPORTANT piece of advise:

'using a number of small jars to pot the jam both enhances appearance, the taste and enables the jam maker to show off with presents to her advisers and other assorted relatives, friends and hangers on.'

You have my addy still??



Tee hee!

[piskieinboots]

ah ha - well now see lovely lady Hazel ....I did just that - use small jars and guess why....beetroot chutney

Oh and Snowdrop said 'are you sending a jar to Hazel?' and I said 'I would like to, but she is up to the gunnels is preserves and would most likely prefer a bar of G&B'