Small-Batch Strawberry & Elderflower Jam

The jam that built Hedgerow Preserves’ reputation: English strawberries picked at full ripeness, macerated overnight with a spoonful of elderflower cordial, then cooked fast in a copper pan to keep the fruit bright and whole. Set comes from the fruit and a squeeze of lemon — no added pectin — which is why the texture stays loose and spoonable rather than rubbery.

Each 340g jar is from a numbered batch of no more than forty, with the picking county and jarring date on the label. Opened, it keeps three weeks in the fridge; unopened, a year in a dark cupboard. It is a jam for toast, yes, but also for a warm sponge, a scone split with cream, or folded through good vanilla ice cream.

Because fruit, not sugar, leads: about 70g of fruit per 100g, well above the 350g-fruit-per-kg reserved-fruit threshold for a premium jam, and it tastes like it.