We're jammin, jammin and I hope you like jammin, too

I'm sure all those fruit pickers who spend their summer slaving away in fruit fields must wonder why right minded people choose to do it for fun. It makes sense. On the occasions when I've had to go back into the office at the weekend I haven't been my usual sunny self. But maybe that's because I can only help myself to pencils and post-it notes rather than free berries.

No, nothing says summer to me like going to Spilman's farm in Sessay and eating, I mean collecting, a few punnets of fruit. This year I gathered enough to make jam. I carried the fruit back to London on the train (getting a few raised eyebrows at the sight of the giant tupperware container bulging with berries) and spent a happy afternoon producing homemade strawberry jam.

There's a wealth of posh jams on the market at the moment but if you are a jam fan, nothing beats homemade. True, you're denied the excitement of finding the lone berry in the whole jar of gloop (berry to gloop ratio being much, much higher when you make it yourself) but this is a small price to pay.

The recipe below is very, very simple and can be used with all sorts of soft fruit whether strawberries, raspberries or the blackberries I've noticed starting to appear on the sides of the road. Grab your tupperware and go collecting...

The original recipe calls for 1kg of sugar but I found this to be too sweet, so went down to as low as 750g. Feel free to play around to suit your tastes.

Sessay Strawberry Jam

1kg fresh strawberries, washed, drained and hulled
1kg jam sugar (the jam sugar has added pectin to help it set)

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

Knob of butter

Heat the strawberries and the lemon juice/zest in a large pan to soften the fruit and let all the juices leak out.

Stir the sugar into the fruit until it dissolves and bring the mixture to a rapid boil until setting point is reached. You can use a sugar thermometer to test this (105 degrees Celsius). Alternatively you can use the 'cold saucer' test.

If the mixture looks like it will over boil before setting point has been reached, you can add a knob of butter to calm it down.

Once the jam is ready, pour it into sterilized jars and cover with waxed circles. Make sure you leave a jar or two open to enjoy on toast.