Brain Food's top tips for making jams, pickles, chutney and relish
Richard Cornish
Photo: Marina Oliphant
Jam and marmalade
Jam jars must be spotlessly clean.
Photo: Marina Oliphant
When I first arrived in London as a backpacker in the 1990s I remember being amazed at the way Australians were attracted to each other, forming raucous braying mobs in pubs and clubs. Sugar molecules, even when dissolved in liquid as they are in jams, like to form into groups - or crystals. They love a party starter and will consolidate around a nucleus, which could be an air bubble, a fleck of dust or – most likely – another sugar crystal.