Orecchiette on their way. Just semola, water and a toothed knife to shape them #housewife #inthekitchen #pastamaking

@EvilCartyen oi, young man, are you calling me a granma?!? while no longer technically young, I'm not that old either!
I know what you mean, I wish it was enough for me but unfortunately it isn't... I am an aging serial migrant, one has to build up a pension before one's body fails entirely to perform! Besides, I've had a couple of cool jobs in the past, like sole kitchen gardener on an organic estate, head of comms for an agroecology conference and head of membership for BGCI

@EvilCartyen funny that you say that, crostata is also what I use it for, almost exclusively! I do make liqueurs or keep fruit in alcohol too. I guess the loss of confidence is due to a mix of factors, possibly related with not finding a job and hence losing confidence in general: I can't be sure my head is all there when making the jam. Another reason is that being surrounded these days by so many arrogantly confident people arguing for the whackiest of ideas makes me doubt myself more

@EvilCartyen pound for pound would be too much for me, we don't like it too sweet either, I generally do half sugar to fruit. It's still quite sweet. In the last couple of years I've trusted myself less and less with preserving, though. We'll see if I'll hold on to this year's jam. I do still trust the jars I made before coming here, that was 7 years ago, are safe.

@EvilCartyen interesting. I only use a squirt of lemon juice and sugar, sometimes a glug of rum, but my berries' jams have never fermented, even when forgotten in the cupboard for a few years . Berries in an open jar, sure, and I have made vinegar when it happened. I wonder if the lemon juice is what stops them then.

@EvilCartyen that's what I do too but I am told that when drying they might catch some odd spores and bacteria. What do you mean by preserving agent?!?

@EvilCartyen yes, I use Italian ones too, it appears that turning them upside down be a way to sterilise the lids a bit further, as the hot jam heats the glass but the lids remain a lower temperature

Earlier discussion in the fruit group on jam making left me exhausted. Some go around saying that turning the pots upside down while cooling causes corrosion in the lids. Somebody went on to specify the fault lies in EU rules imposing BPA-free plastic - which, you know, sounds like the usual anti-EU shit. But everybody chipped in & still no clearer picture - I think it has to do with creating a better seal. Anyone care to add some science? For wanting which I am apparently a wijsneus #preserving