Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alistaircandlin]

My wife has been talking about doing this recently. We made a lot of our own jam when we lived in England. It's nice - walking down the River Nene, in Cambridgeshire, picking bags of blackberries and boiling 'em all up. Oh, England!!

sorry, getting all nostalgic there. Anyway, my question is: has anyone made their own jam while living over here? If so, do you know anywhere we might buy equipment from? I'd be quite happy doing it without any specialist equipment, but it would be nice to know what's available. As I remember, having a thermometer is quite useful. Guess I'll ask the other half to look online.

Those French jars with the old-fashioned rubber seals and the pull-down lids would be great, too.

[northway]

I don't have specifics, but I looked into it last summer and the supplies seemed prohibitively expensive (the jars in particular, IIRC). That said, best of luck.

[Hyeon In]

I've made it the last 3 years.

I guess I didn't follow the proper 'rules' in terms of equipment. I simply used a pot to cook it in, and old pasta sauce etc. jars to store it in.

I've had good success with strawberry jam, using simply strawberries, sugar and lemon juice. I think the best time to buy strawberries passed about a month ago.. you could get big containers of them quite cheaply in the markets. I spent less than 20,000won on strawberries and sugar and made about 12-15 jars of jam.

I'm not sure what other fruits would be good for making jam from here. I tried to make marmalade with the mandarins in the winter but it didn't set properly.. probably need pectin powder or something. IF you can find blackberries or raspberries growing they'd be good I guess, but it's too early in the year for that. I never seem to find where they're growing here though, unlike the UK where they grow everywhere.

[alistaircandlin]

Hope i haven't missed the strawberry season, although I know it comes at a weird time over here. I would have thought the weather this week is perfect for strawberries. I know it's kind of perverse of me, but I'm a big fan of peanut butter and jam sandwiches, made with strawberry jam.

Never tried marmalade, but yeah, it would be good with mandarins, if you could get it to set. I'll put pectin on my list of things to get next time I visit the UK.

I'm just thinking: I wonder if you could do something with persimmons? I hate them, actually, but I'd bet they'd make good jam.

[laynamarya]

Yeah, I make jam Hyeon In's way, too. I think strawberry and persimmon are easiest, but persimmon season is still a long way off. You can find raspberries at outdoor markets for approximately two weeks in June, and then they are gone. I bet those blackberry-esque berries (the ones you make bokbunja with) would work, too. I haven't seen pectin for sale, but for strawberries, at least, you won't need it.

You can use old jars, or you can buy new ones at EMart for about 2,000 won each, which I personally think is a bit steep. But if you want to give your jam as a gift, it might be the way to go.

[Lazio]

Hurry up if you want to make strawberry jam. I bought some last week for 5000Krw/kilo. the season is not over yet but will be soon.
Keep in mind that huge strawberries are not ideal for jam as they contain a lot of water. The smaller the strawberries are the better (and they are cheaper as well)
Daiso sells jars for 1000-2000 won depending on the size.
What sort of equipment would you need? Just a good sized pot and something to stir with.

[alongway]

is there a certo replacement over here?

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

I made a wine jelly (the American usage of that word, which is a jam made from juice--or wine, in this case--and not fruit,) a few months ago that turned out pretty nicely. I used a bit less pectin, so it wouldn't be too solid, as I wanted to be able to spread it over soft goat cheese with a spoon.

My friend found powdered pectin on a Korean website, so it is definitely available.

I also make kumquat marmalade a couple of years back. I didn't need pectin for that. Just a lot of time and sugar.

[Hyeon In]

[alistaircandlin]

Wine jelly with goat's cheese sounds amazing.

Where's the baking market, Hyeon In?

[northway]

[Hyeon In]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

[Dazed and Confused]

My friend found freezer jelly in a cookbook. I hace no idea what it is but it seems instead of canning you store it in the freezer.

Are you planning to can your jams/jellies? If so, where did you get your canning equipment and how much was it?

[alistaircandlin]

I've never canned jam, no. What we've always done is saved up old jam jars, olive jars, coffee pots, or whatever.

When we were last in England we made a ton of blackberry jam and decided to give some away as presents to friends and family. We bought these jars from a French company, Le Parfait, which are really nice if you want to give some away as presents:

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/p3813/Preserving-Jars?src=ggkit&gclid=COP_--_F668CFQdKpgodIjcB0w

Not sure if they are available in Korea, but you'd probably find something similar. I like these jars, there's something really nice about them - nostalgic, perhaps.

When we we've made lots of money and have the English country house as well as the penthouse apartment in Seoul, I'm planning to have an old-style pantry-larder stuffed full of different jams, jellies, chutneys, pickles, and preserves.



I guess I'm a bit of a foodie, really.