Up and down the country wedding tables are buckling under the weight of wedding jam favours. Popularity is certainly not waning and so i thought i would experience myself, for you, the process of creating wedding jam favours.

I went through three stages, picking my fruit, making the jam and decorating my jar.

 

Harvest Your Fruit

 

To have the full jam making experience picking your produce is a must do. Whether you are making chutney, marmalade or jam, finding your local farm or suppliers can also save you money.

I decided to go for in season raspberries, as there was a simple recipe i found online to make raspberry jam.

It is also a great idea to scavenge your garden for rouge plum trees, or ask loved ones if they have any spare fruit going. You don’t need to give everyone of your guests the same flavour after all.

Making Jam

 

Find a recipe, google is your friend. Or perhaps you have a seasoned jam maker in the family with a secret heirloom recipe. Gather your ingredients and tools. We sterilised our jars in the oven, cooked the raspberries to equal sugar in a pan, waited for the right setting point before popping in jars. It was surprisingly simple. However, i only made one gigantic jar (it was all i had hehe!) and didn’t attempt to make a batch. You will need to set aside a day to create several batches of jars. Rope in family or friends to make their own batches or get them to pop down to your kitchen to give you a hand. G and i had a ball in the kitchen.

 

 

Prettify Your Jars

 

Try and use second hand jars for the ultimate in cost cutting. Ask those around you to collect them for you, and you can have cute mismatching jars decorating your tables. Alternatively i would recommend getting smaller jars than me, which are easier to decorate, and the jam you make will go further.

I kept decoration simple, there are hundreds of decorating jar ideas on the web. Pinterest has some fab ideas. You could print of your own designed labels, add fabric to the lid, paint the jars in glitter, add lace.. the options are endless.

I picked up a label maker, neon tape, wool and a luggage tag to decorate mine. If you have a 100 to make, it’s good to keep it simple and create a production line to keep the process efficient.

 

 

My Top Tips

 

* Make sure you research the health and safety/hygiene standards for making jam. Where you must sterilise jars and store them appropriately.

* It’s also a good idea to label with the ingredients on the bottom of the jar alongside date you made it.

* Look at other options for favours other than jam, chutney or marmalade can work really well. Using seasonal produce will keep everything fresh, local and a little bit cheaper.

* If you are unsure if you want to give jam making a go, have a test run before doing the whole batch you need.

* Try the jam before the wedding :-)

 

I hope that gives you a little insight into the process of making jam wedding favours. G and I had so much fun having a day out at the pick your own followed an afternoon in the kitchen.

I think jam at weddings will be sticking around for a little longer ;-) XOXO Lou