This is the time of the year when folk memory tells me I should be busy squirrelling away all the wonderful fruits and berries of high summer and filling the larder with jars of ruby-coloured jam to add a touch of summer sparkle to autumn and winter breakfasts.
I'm not sure if my great great-grandmother made jam in the Pale of Settlement, but until recently jam-making and preserving was very much part of British Jewish cuisine - Florence Greenberg devotes 24 pages to it as late as the 1976 edition.
I was always reluctant make jam since it always seemed hugely time-consuming with unreliable results. Now, however, the picture has changed thanks to "jam sugar" (not to be confused with preserving sugar). Jam sugar, available at supermarkets, comes with its own "built-in" apple pectin that guarantees a perfect set in just four minutes' boiling time.
Makes 1.6 kg (4 lb). Store in a cool cupboard or fridge. If small strawberries are not available, cut larger fruit into 2 or 3 pieces.