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Summer Pudding Jam

Time 1 hour
Yields Makes 5 half-pint jars
The classic berry quartet combines in this jam to bring the taste of British summer pudding to your morning toast.
(Silvia Razgova/For The Times; Prop styling by Jennifer Sacks)
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This jam is a great solution for those times when you come home from the farmers market with a half-pint of every berry you couldn’t resist buying but aren’t sure what to do with them. I came up with this recipe when I moved to a house with my first real honest-to-God garden in the ground and started planting the berries I’d always dreamed of growing: black and golden raspberries, black currants and jostaberries.

The trouble is most berries take a few years to get established, so I had only a handful of each the first few years. On their own, each bush’s harvest was just a snack, but together they made a jam. This recipe also works very well with frozen fruit. If you buy an extra half-pint of berries every time you go to the market, throw them in the freezer and come November, when you’re facing the true onset of winter, you can make what tastes like British summer pudding, a mixture of juicy sweetened berries encased in soft white bread.

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1

In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients and macerate for at least 15 minutes, or up to 1 week, covered, in the refrigerator. Prepare jars for canning, if you like.

2

Transfer the mixture to a pot or preserving pan. Heat on medium-high and bring to a hard boil, stirring frequently. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the mixture reduces slightly and just begins sticking to the bottom of the pot when you stir, about 10 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and test to see if the setting point is reached.

3

When the setting point is reached, remove from the heat and pour into the prepared jars to within 1/4 to 1/8 inch of the rim. Wipe the rims if necessary, seal and invert for 1 to 2 minutes. Flip right side up and let the jam sit, undisturbed, for 24 hours.

Note: I leave most of the berries whole, but if the strawberries are large, I smoosh them by hand once they’re macerated.

Adapted from “Jam Bake” (Appetite, 2021) by Camilla Wynne.