The Clever Bachelor

New Zealand Listener, Volume 14, Issue 344, 25 January 1946, Page 21

The Clever Bachelor

Dear Aunt Daisy, On the air one morning you talked of Golden Sausages. I want you to talk about golden syrup! The problem is this. I have plenty of fruit-but no sugar. I made some black currant jam with golden syrup and beyond a dull purple colour it is O.K. Now will this keep as if boiled with sugar? I have asked my lady friends about the use of golden syrup, but they have never attempted it, so it was left to a bachelor to give it a go. Poor things, they were only made out of the rib of a man, and I.hardly expected: any had the gumption to make an effort! New Brighton Bachelor. Could it.be that your lady friends have far TOO MUCH "gumption" .to make jam with golden syrup! The flayour of the jam will be certainly not quite the same, and I think the acidity of the syrup will cause fermentation. However, don’t let me discourage so adventurous a spirit; but do watch’ your jam, from week to week, and if it does ferment, just take it out of the bottles and boil it up again, adding a little citric acid, and then re-bottle. If I, too, may be a lady friend, will you let me

‘know what happens, both as to flavour and keeping quality? Honey, now, is a very different proposition. Lots of people use it for jam making, very often using half sugar and half honey. Honey being a natural sugar does not lead to fermentation. Use a little less honey than you would of sugar-a little over % cup instead of a whole cup; and it water is used, cut it down by at least one-fifth. Add half the honey to the prepared fruit. Stir it well and allow it to stand for one hour. Heat rather slowly, stirring constantly, boil for 10 minutes, then add the remainder of the honey. Stir till well dissolved and then boil fast till it will set when tested.