One of my most favourite things to do .....

is make jam . It always amazes me that you can take simple ingredients such as sugar and fruit  and boil together to make a fragrant, glossy, delicious preserve. It's all to do with chemistry, which at school was never that interesting. All I can remember from my classroom lessons are a few useless facts learnt by rote, but the chemistry invoved in jam making is a different matter! The naturally occuring acid in the fruit draws out the pectin, which is mostly found in the pith, pips and skin and when combined with sugar produces a gum like substance which causes the jam to set. Mysterious and wonderful!!

With our rhubarb plant, only in its second year, producing copious amounts of fruit I thought it was a good time to make some rhubarb and ginger jam.

The recipe came from this book, a Christmas present from my sister last year.

The rhubarb was layered with sugar and left overnight.

In the morning the sugar had more or less dissolved.

I added the ginger .... and boiled for the required time.

Hey presto!