Spiced Pear & Toffee Jam

There’s nothing like giving someone a jar of homemade jam at Christmas to make you come over all Barbara Good. You feel like you just stepped out of a Country Living feature and the recipient can only enjoy it, can’t they?

Well, only if it’s decent jam. I have been presented with (and probably given too, if I’m honest) jams varying in consistency from wallpaper paste soup and in flavour from sickly sweet to acrid and charred. And that’s because jam is quite technical. The boiling temperature matters, the pectin level in the fruit matters, the type of sugar matters, the jars matter, heck even the saucepan you use matters. Get everything right and you will have a perfectly set, sweet, fruity jam. Get any one wrong and you have a waste of time and a messy kitchen.

Or will you? Because there is another way. A more relaxed approach. An approach that abandons jam-making convention, doesn’t worrying about set and burnt sugar and actually intends to make a soft set, slightly toffee-flavoured jam. That’s what I’ve done here and the result is a) a forgiving, fuss free recipe, b) a composed and unfazed jam maker and c) a very tasty jam.

There are two factors in breaking jam conventions: low pectin and over-boiling. Pears are low in pectin so don’t make a very firmly set jam. It’s firm enough to slather on toast on Christmas morning, but you might just as well spoon it over vanilla-flecked ice-cream for a quick wintery pud. The toffee flavour comes about towards the end of the boiling stage when it’s almost inevitable that the bottom of this unusually thick jam mixture will catch. This creates the burnt sugar vibe that goes so beautifully with the Christmas spices. Take care to avoid too much burning though or the whole lot will taste acrid.

(Yes, alright, I will now admit that when I first made this jam I intended it to be both fully set and non-toffee-flavoured. But they say the best inventions come out of mistakes. Not only did I discover a tasty jam, but I also liberated myself from the shackles of jam making tyranny.)

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Spiced Pear and Toffee Jam

Yield: 3 x 1lb jarsPrep time: 20 MinCook time: 1 HourTotal time: 1 H & 20 MChristmas in a jar. Warm festive flavours with pears and a toffee tang. This soft set jam is great on toast, but can also be spooned over ice-cream for a quick and winter simple dessert

Ingredients

• 2kg peeled, cored and chopped pears (weight refers to usable pear flesh after peeling and coring)

• 700g caster sugar

• 1tsp ground cinnamon

• ½ tsp ground allspice

• 1 tsp ground ginger

• 10 cloves

• 1 star anise

Instructions

1. Put the pears in a large metal saucepan and add cold water until they are just covered (around 700ml). Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until the pears are very soft.

2. Add the sugar and the spices then continue to simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved, around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The pears should be broken down by now, but give them a mash to help them along if needed.

3. Once you have a mushy, sugary soup, turn the heat up and boil until the mixture reaches 104C, which is the setting point (or as set as it’s likely to get). It will take around 10 minutes. Stir the jam regularly to prevent it catching too much on the bottom, but take care because it will erupt volcanically and splutter.

4. Sterilize your jars and lids by washing them in hot water then putting them in the oven, pre-heated to 140C (120C fan, gas mark 1) for 15 minutes.

5. Spoon the hot jam into the hot jars and seal the lids. The jam will keep for several months in a cupboard and a month or two in the fridge once opened.

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