Gooseberry and Raspberry Jam

I have an old preserving book, published in the '80s by Time Life books.  It has been well used over the years as it covers all types of preserving methods.

Last week, my local farmer convinced me to try my hand at preserving gooseberries, a fruit that is new to me.  Had I known how much work goes into cleaning (topping and tailing) these tiny fruit, I might have reconsidered- they are a lot of work to prep, except for this recipe.  Thanks to my steam juicer, all I need to do is wash the berries and place them, stems and all, in the top of the juicer- perfect.  And, bonus, gooseberries have a lot of natural pectin, so it will set quite readily.

This gooseberry and raspberry jam is familiar (because of the raspberries) but with the gooseberry twist- a little tartness.  It is delicious!  This jam, I will make again!

To make 10 250 ml jars.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs      gooseberries, rinsed
3 lbs         raspberries, rinsed
                 sugar

Directions:

Place the gooseberries in the top portion of the steamer-juicer.  Put about three inches in the bottom portion and steam the berries for approximately 1.5 hours.  The beauty of the steam juicer is the clarity of the juice it produces.

Alternatively, you can remove the stem from the gooseberries and place them in a pan.  Cover with cold water and bring slowly to a boil.  Simmer gently for about one hour, until the berries are softened into a mush.  Pour into a jelly bag and leave the berries in the bag without squeezing or mashing until all the juice is extracted.  Measure the juice.

Pour the juice into your preserving pan, adding one cup of sugar for every 1 1/4 cups of gooseberry juice, plus four cups of extra sugar to sweeten the raspberries.  Stir gently until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil.  Add the raspberries.  Return to a boil and boil for about 15 minutes, until the jam reaches the jelling point (220 degrees on your thermometer).  Pour the jam into your prepared 250 ml jars, clean the rims of the jars, place the lids on and process in a boiling water bath canner for ten minutes..