School and Community Sustainability Project (Food Preparation – Jam Making

The students brought figs, apples and pears from their own orchard. We also brought wooden spoons, cooking pots, wooden chopping boards, a grater, knives with blunt edges, glass jars and a hand blender. For flavouring, we used unsprayed lemons, cinnamon and vanilla sugar, as well as regular sugar, which we hardly needed to add at all because the fruit was naturally sweet. The students cut the fruit into smaller pieces. They put the figs into one pot and the pears and apples into another. They took turns continuously stirring the fruit over low heat to prevent it from burning. While stirring, we added the spices and lemon zest. Once the fruit had softened and almost completely broken down, we blended it further using a hand blender.When the jam was ready, the school cook sterilised the glass jars, which we then filled with the freshly prepared jam. After lunch, we tasted the jam together. Some students tasted it with a spoon, while others enjoyed it with pancakes.