Va Voom Vanilla & Strawberry Jam - For Foods Sake

[JulieO]

I made this following the recipe to a T.

I bought 2 punnets of strawberries, trimmed them then weighed in the 400g.

I usually cook my jam on 100C then finish off for 5 mins on V temp so was interested to see how it would fare cooking completely on V temp.

It was very reduced down, too much so and after leaving to chill overnight is now more of a thick paste.

Tried it on toast this morning and it spreads okay on the hot toast but is drfinitely not of a 'dollop' consistency like I like it.

The flavour is really good and I think the green apple helps to cut down on over-sweetness. I couldnt really detect the vanilla bean.

I will definitely use this recipe again, however will cook my usual way to get a better consistency (for me).


This was straight after cooking.  After chilling overnight in the fridge, I found it very set and paste like.  Still tastes nice though. 

[cookie1]

Thanks for that Julie. I did that with my quince jam last year. I ended up with quince paste. I'll try and get some strawberries and try this.

[EmeraldSue]

I picked up some beautiful,but cheap strawberries at the market, so I decided to give this recipe a try. I have used my Thermo Chef to make strawberry jam before, but it has always been on the runny side. This has been fine for our Sunday morning pancakes, but not so good for toast or scones.
I had rather a lot of strawberries, so I washed and hulled them before weighing. I had just under one kilo of strawberries, so I used 500g raw sugar, one very large Granny Smith apple and a large vanilla pod. I cut the apple into 8ths and put it in the bowl with the strawberries, sugar and vanilla pod. I had meant to mill the raw sugar to caster sugar, but totally forgot to do so. I placed the steaming basket upside down over the hole in the lid, so it became a dome.
I mixed at speed 2 on the "cook" temperature (equivalent to the Varoma temp on a Thermomix) for 1 1/2 minutes. I then reduced the speed to 1 and cooked for 45 minutes. I increased the time due to the increased amount of strawberries.
At the end of the time, the jam was bubbling away nicely. In fact, it kept bubbling away for at least a minute. I waited for it to stop bubbling and then I bottled it. It made 4 smallish jars as it had reduced down quite a lot.
I had it on toast the next morning, and it was  a perfect consistency. It's not overly sweet either which was nice.
My only (slight) problem was that there was some burnt jam on the bottom of my jug. About 1/4 of the bottom had a black toffee residue which I had to clean off. I was able to dissolve some of this with hot water and detergent, but I soaked it overnight in Bi-carb soda and white vinegar. It wasn't then too difficult to clean it the next morning.
I would rate this 4 1/2 out of 5.

[AmandaN]

I love this jam!  I am not usually a huge jam fan.....but I simply must have this in the fridge, and could happy tuck into it with a spoon!

[goldfish]

I think this is the second time in my entire life I've actually made jam.  Followed the recipe to a T except that I split the vanilla bean end to end before cutting it up and followed  JulieO - I think it was you in another thread- to cook at 100 first and then do the last 10 or so minutes on varoma.  It worked beautifully and the taste we all agreed was wonderful!  5/5 for us!

[Brumington]

Has anybody tried this with other fruits?  Would it work with Raspberries?  I have some in the freezer I'd like to use up.

[KarenH]

This jam is absolutely to-die-for.  The last time I made it, I pulverised the vanilla pod in with the sugar before adding everything else.  Still had that wonderful vanillla taste but without the black crunchy pieces of the pod in it.

[goldfish]

Excellent suggestion KarenH!  have made a note to do this next time!  thank you!

[Brumington]

I didn't think I liked jam very much until today. Then I realised I don't actually like over processed store bought jam! I made this purely as an experiment as I had a glut of strawberries.  I didn't have the vanilla pod so used a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and no green apple but used a pink lady.  Also used jam sugar instead of caster sugar.  It fitted in two small baby food jars perfectly.
It is a very thick jam and I struggled to get it in the jars with the funnel but other than that I love it.  Had a taste from the cold plate and fell in love.  I will make this time and time again.  Can't wait until breakfast.  I have a loaf of Isi's basic bread waiting to be thickly sliced into toast and now some beautiful jam to go on top.  Thanks Tenina!

[cookie1]

I made this yesterday (at last). I cooked it for the exact time and mine was too thick to. The taste more than mmade up for it, it is Va Voom. Absolutely lovely. Next time I will do as I usually do, just finish off on Varoma. In fact I plan to buy some more strawberries today to do it. The flavour is 6/5

[Cornish Cream]

I make a jar of this yesterday,Took on board what tweaks forum members did and would do again Like Karen pulverized the vanilla bean,used a granny smith apple and chopped that as well 2sec/speed5 as our granny smiths have a fairly thick skin.Follows Julie's suggestion and cooked it 30 minutes/ 100c then 5 minutes/ varoma.Mine wasn't quite set so did an extra 5minutes/ varoma.Perfect spreading consistency It's delicious

[JulieO]

It's lovely isn't it Cornish.  I made more myself last week and I had to do 10 mins on V temp at the end too. 

[Cornish Cream]

It's lovely isn't it Cornish.  I made more myself last week and I had to do 10 mins on V temp at the end too. 

I agree Julie, it certainly has a lovely flavour.

[shan_k]

Does anyone know what the maximum amount of strawberries I can use for this recipe in the Thermomix - I read that doing 1kg in the thermochef ended up with burnt bits on the bottom and I don't want that.

But I bought a tray of strawberries yesterday for $5 at the markets and I am keen to use them!

[maddy]

Lovely 



I tried to blitz the vanilla bean first, but the ones I have are lovely, plump & juicy....so it didn't blitz up finely.  Next time I might just add vanilla paste as someone else had, instead of the bean.
Chopped up apples like CC, and cooked the same way as Julie did.