Strawberry, Blueberry and Vanilla Jam or Compote in the Magimix Cook Expert

If you have a glut of strawberries, or just a punnet in the fridge that needs using, then this is a delicious way to use them and preserve them.

I had a huge box of Driscoll's in the fridge and it would have been a crime for any to go to waste, so I decided to preserve some with a punnet of blueberries that I had in this delicious jam. You could just make with strawberries if you preferred, but just be aware that the setting times might vary very slightly.

Huge thumbs up from the jam-loving famalam, for what they pronounced to be the tastiest strawberry jam they'd ever had - I have to say, jam isn't something normally made in this house as it's such a luxurious treat, but it's amazing to taste the depth of flavour from the fruit when you make it yourself!

Makes approximately three 340g jam jars.


Ingredients

• 425 strawberries (350g once hulled)
• 150g blueberries
• 1 medium green cooking apple, keep skin on (175g after quartering and coring - or you could use green-skinned eating apples to the same prepared weight)
• 30ml/g freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 medium lemon)
• Seeds from 1 vanilla bean or 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 325g granulated sugar (you could use caster, granulated has less impurities)

Equipment
Metal bowl with universal tool, XL dough blade (optional, but not tested without yet, so please let me know how it goes if you make this without)

Method

1. Put quartered, cored apple into the stainless steel bowl. Run EXPERT, 10 seconds / speed 12 (without heating). Don't scrape down.

2. Add hulled strawberries. Run EXPERT, 5 seconds / speed 8 (without heating). If you have an XL dough blade, carefully swap the blades over at this point, avoiding spilling any juices, to avoid any further cutting up of the fruit during cooking.

3. Add blueberries, lemon juice, vanilla seeds scraped out of pod (or vanilla extract) and granulated sugar in that order.  Add the vanilla pod on top.

4. Run EXPERT, 35 minutes / speed 3 / 110C (cap off). Check consistency by dropping some onto a cold plate and leaving to cool down for a couple of minutes - it will most likely be a fairly liquid consistency at this point (compote), with no real wrinkling when you push it across the plate once it has cooled. Depending on the pectin levels in your fruit, you will probably need to put on for a further twenty minutes for a firm set jam, but I would just do ten at a time and check until it reaches your desired consistency. ( EXPERT, 10 minutes / speed 3 / 110C then repeat ).

5. Using a jam funnel, pour into sterilised jam jars, seal and leave to cool before storing (fish out the vanilla pod when you see it). When the weather is warm, I store mine in the fridge, however it doesn't last very long with a family of four!