WITH the harvest upon us and hedgerows brimming over with fruits of the season, now is the perfect time to have a go at making Britain's favourite mealtime treat - jam.

Everyone loves jam, whether it is on breakfast toast, afternoon tea scones or suppertime crumpets.

But nowadays most of us are more likely to pick up a jar of ready-made strawberry or blackberry jam from the supermarket rather than make it ourselves.

For many, especially the younger generation, jam-making conjures up an image of an old-fashioned hobby enjoyed by grannies.

Busy working mums think they wouldn't have time to cook up a batch of home-made blackcurrant jam.

But that is where they are wrong. Jam-maker Renee Robinson, of Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, has always enjoyed making jam, even when she was running a busy grocer's shop.

And it is a craft she would like to see preserved for the next generation.

Renee said: "I have grown up making jam. It was something I learned from my mother, although I must admit my daughter says she hasn't got time to make it herself.

"It is so quick easy and cheap to make but a lot of people believe it is really difficult and involves standing over a cooking pot for hours on end."

Jam can be made out of practically any fruit, from strawberries and blackberries to plums, redcurrants, rhubarb, rosehips and even rose petals.

It is the perfect way of using any fruit you have growing in an allotment or garden, or you can take a walk in the country and pick your own. Renee said: "My husband grows various fruits so we use that but when I was a child we used to pick our own from the hedgerows. It is lovely to go out for a walk in the country, pick your own fruit and then go home and make it into jam or fruit pies.

"Jam is one of the easiest things you could cook. Basically all you need is one pound of sugar to one pound of fruit, add it to water and boil it in a pan until you get the texture and consistency that you want.

"It might cost more to buy than one jar of jam but that would make you three jars-worth. And the best thing about making it yourself is you know exactly what is in it.

"There are no preservatives, colourings or additives and it is delicious."

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