Strawberry jam

There were too many strawberries at the allotment again - and this time they were a bit squishy. So we made some jam, to eat with croissants at breakfast.

This makes 3-4 jars (standard jam/marmalade size of about 454g), and is dead easy. You'll need:

850g strawberries, hulled and washed
1 kg jam sugar (the sort with added pectin in - if you've only got ordinary sugar, add the juice of a lemon instead)

You'll need to wash 3-4 glass jars thoroughly in hot soapy water, and then place them on a tray in a low oven to keep warm. (Using them straight from the dishwasher also works.) Remember to stick a small plate in the fridge - you'll need it later on.

Tip the strawberries into a large pan, and attack with a potato masher until you have a glorious-smelling pulp that looks like something out of a horror movie. Warm on a low heat, and then tip in the jam sugar. Stir until it's dissolved.

Bring the mixture slowly to the boil, stirring all the time so the sugar doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Now you need to reach a 'rolling boil' (when the mixture is bubbling away, and keeps doing so even if you stir it). Keep the jam at a rolling boil for 4 minutes, then quickly dab a small bit onto a cold plate (that's the one you put in the fridge at the beginning of the process), and see if it wrinkles when you push it with your finger. If it does, you're in business - retrieve your jars from the oven, and decant the jam into them.

Screw the lids on, and then leave to cool on the worktop. Don't worry if you hear popping noises about half an hour later - it'll be the little vacuum disc in the top of the lid popping out.