Jam making isn’t just the preserve of the Women’s Institute. With seasonal summer berries coming into their own, rediscover the traditional culinary art. Jane Hall reports.

IT was in 1957 that Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously declared Britain had never had it so good. It heralded the start of the throwaway society: bargain clothes, affordable package holidays, competitively priced white goods and mass produced, cheap food.

The waste-not, want-not attitude that had prevailed was consigned to the rubbish bin as the nation willingly marched towards a brave, new prosperous future.

Keeping up with the Jones’s had never been easier.

Fast-forward 52 years and would-be Macmillan heir, David Cameron, is singing a different tune. With the economy struggling, he believes we have never had it so bad.

Now the trend isn’t for spending money – but for saving it.

The make-do and mend ethos of past generations so willingly abandoned in the post-war years, has come into its own again.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the kitchen. Home-baking and making is back in vogue.

Buying in-season in bulk is one of the ways it used to be done, with the excess preserved for leaner times. Summer is just around the corner, and with it comes a vast selection of seasonal fruits, ready for picking, eating and preserving.

It is perhaps no surprise, therefore, that homemade jam is now big news.

Caroline Dickinson runs Brocksbushes on the A69 near Corbridge in Northumberland. The business started out as a pick-your-own venue 29 years ago before developing into one of the North East’s premier farm shops selling and championing local produce.

But the PYO side of the venture is still thriving, with 34 acres now given over to everything from strawberries to raspberries, gooseberries, tayberries, plums, blackcurrants, blueberries, blackberries and broad and runner beans.

Caroline is expecting a bumper summer on the PYO front as consumers collectively tighten their financial belts.

“The pick-your-own side of the business has always been popular. We get lots of customers who say they can remember coming to Brocksbushes years ago with their mum and dad for the pick-your-own, which makes me feel really old.

“Children, especially, love being let loose in a field of strawberries.

“But I think this year pick-your-own is going to be even more popular. I think everybody is looking for value, and pick-your-own is. You can do so much with soft fruits; if you’ve picked them you’re not going to let them go to waste.

“Take strawberries, you can turn them into jam, smoothies, ice cream, a glorious dessert like Eton mess, or even strawberry soup, which is gorgeous.”

The strawberry season is set to start at Brocksbushes this weekend and will run through to October. Gooseberries are also ready for picking with the first raspberries expected to ripen within the next couple of weeks.

Pick-your-own prices have been pegged at 2008 levels, with strawberries at £3.30 a kilo or £1.50lb and gooseberries at £1.98 a kilo or 90plb.

Caroline – a keen jam-maker herself – says she can think of nothing more evocative than the aroma of sweet strawberries or raspberries bubbling away in a pan on the stove top.

And she adds: “In the middle of winter there is nothing quite like getting your own home-made strawberry jam out of the cupboard and spreading it thickly on home-made scones. As you eat you can think back to the lovely summer day you spent picking the strawberries and look forward to the warmer days to come.”

As a service to PYO customers, Brocksbushes hands out jam-making and preserving recipes cards. And the farm shop sells everything the would-be jam-maker needs from sugar to glass jars, pot covers and labels.

Contrary to popular belief, Caroline says jam-making is surprisingly easy and satisfying. The equipment needed is minimal – a good-sized pan and wooden spoon – and the ingredients are basic too.

“It’s usually just the fruit, sugar and perhaps a setting agent. These days, though, you can buy jam-making sugar with added pectin, so it makes the job even easier.”

Jam can even be made in the microwave.

Caroline says the appeal of home-made jam – like freshly picked fruit – is obvious.

“Both taste better and are cheaper. What can compare with the taste of a freshly picked strawberry?

“Nothing compares with the taste of fruit grown in fresh air. We grow real, old-fashioned strawberries for their taste, not for their shelf life.”

Brocksbushes makes its own brand jam and freezes fruit to sell in the farm shop over the winter, as well as serving it fresh in the tea room.

“We much prefer people to pick the fruit fresh, though,” Caroline says.

Just about any fruit can be made into jam. But the level of pectin needed to help it set varies from fruit to fruit. Some fruits, such as apples, oranges, plums, lemons and quinces, are naturally high in pectin. Others, such as pears, and strawberries need to have pectin added.

“Give jam-making a try,” Caroline advises. “You won’t regret it.”