The next thing you need is a recipe! If you use recipes from the internet or books it’s important to follow the ratio of sugar to fruit or vinegar to the pickle recipe as they are what actually preserve the recipe and stop the food from spoiling. Now the first time you make jam you’re probably going to freak out and swear off eating the jam forever but personally I’d rather eat my 3 ingredient cherry jam instead of the 6 ingredient preservative riddled jam you can buy at the shops.

Homemade jam tastes better and it makes you feel accomplished knowing where your food came from and what you put into it.

For my recipes I’ve used the Australian Woman’s Weekly Preserves and Jams cookbook which you can find at any store that sells the Woman’s Weekly cookbooks. I’ve also used taste.com.au, and just googled recipes when I found a whole lot of fruit for cheap and wanted to use it up.

For preserving I followed the recipe as directed and poured them into sterilised jars and placed the hot lids and rings on the jar and place them in the water bath.

The time for processing time in the water bath varies recipe to recipe and I suggest you follow the guide that will be on your recipe, or turn to google! Make sure you only count the time from when the water bath is at a rolling boil because that’s what will kill any bacteria.

Lastly make sure to label and date your jars and keep in a dark cupboard and refrigerate after opening!

This is all the Jam’s, Pickles, Preserves and Sauces I’ve made since December.