I noticed yesterday that there are HUGE amounts of raspberries growing along the canal, i'm just off out to collect as many as possible!

I'm thinking of making jam with some so does anyone have any tips seeing as i've never done it before.

Do i need to add water to the fruit or just mash 'em & boil 'em before adding the preserving sugar?

P.S. – what the hell is preserving sugar??????

I would guess that preserving sugar is sugar with added pectin. I was going to say it's also called jam sugar but SilverSpoon list both jam and preserving sugar:

http://www.silverspoon.co.uk/home/products/sugar-and-syrups-for-cooking/preserving-sugar

Without being at home to look at a book, I couldn't tell you what quantities of fruit / water / sugar to use.

Super quick and easy recipe

Makes: 3 x 200ml jars
Ingredients
450g raspberries
450g granulated sugar

Method
1.Preheat the oven to 170°C, gas mark 3. To sterilise the jars, place 3 thoroughly clean 200ml jars on their sides in the oven for 10 minutes. Then turn off the oven, leaving the jars inside until the jam is ready to pot. Place 2-3 saucers in the freezer to chill.
2.Rinse the raspberries. Place in a pan and cook over a gentle heat for 2-3 minutes until the juices are just beginning to run.
3.Add the sugar and stir over a gentle heat for 1-2 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. Then increase the heat and bring to a vigorous boil for 5-10 minutes.
4.Remove from the heat and test the jam by dabbing a little on one of the cold saucers. Cool for a few seconds, then push the jam with your fingertip. If it wrinkles, it has reached setting point. If not, boil for a further 2 minutes then test again. When the setting point is reached, spoon the jam into the jars. Cover the surface with a disc of waxed paper and seal with a lid. Label and store in a cool dark place for up to 3 weeks

No need to use preserving sugar, just use ordinary white sugar. Preserving sugar has slightly larger granules, which supposedly stop burning, and it's slightly purer so you don't get a frothy sugar type scum on the top, but it really makes no major difference.

I make filling for pies etc by just adding a tiny amount of water at the start to stop them burning and then they just mash themselves down and produce their own water/juice. Re' sugar I just add to taste.

I make Toe Jam 😀

Ah, now I read the SS site…

Jam sugar has added pectin (to make the jam set)
Preserving sugar doesn't have added pectin

Whether or not you need jam sugar (sugar with added pectin) depends on the pectin content of the fruit. You definitely need it for strawberry jam (I speak from experience) but I've never tried to make raspberry jam.

cxi – Jam sugar is similar to Preserving sugar, but used for fruits which aren't high in pectin.

match the quantity of sugar with qty of fruit. i.e. 1lb fruit = 1lb sugar. add the same number in tablespoons of water. so 1 tablespoon per 1lb of fruit.

cook fruit and water on stove top and heat gently. when the fruit starts to soften pour in sugar and stir until dissolves. then turn heat up and bring to a rolling boil until it starts to set. put a plate in the fridge and periodically put a few drops of jam on the plate. It should set when it cools. When all that's done, jar it up hot. make sure you get a good seal on the lids by wetting the seal slightly. When it cools it pulls a vacuum in the jar and prevents mould. Should keep for ages/years.

Fruit with low pectin content doesn't set so readily, strawberries are a nightmare. Adding some gooseberries sorts this.

Used to make raspberry and redcurrant jam. That is the business. No extra pectin required.

At the weekend made 15lb of blackberry and apple.

mmmmmm JJJJJAAAAAAMMMMMMM!

Don't overcook it like we did last year. Came out like rubber.

Much more successful this year, tasty blackcurrant and blackberry mix.

What everyone else said, except I always use less sugar (usual recipes are 1 to 1 sugar to fruit) to keep more of the fruit's zinginess, and add pectin if it's needed to get a set (either bottled – Certo – if the fruit is low in pectin, or for eg blackberry and apple put in the apple pips etc in a muslin bag). We just made some greengage jam with 3 sugar to 5 fruit (had to argue with Mrs F over that – she wanted to go with 4 sugar to 5 fruit – but she said 'mmm, that's delicious' to the end result, so it's all good). We have 7kg of blackberries in a bucket waiting to be made into jelly tonight…

no need for water. 650-700g of sugar for 1kg of fruit. 1 sugar for 1 fruit will make it way too sweet. the above quantity is enough to make it set.
cook the raspberry gently until they become mush. add the sugar and cook more (on low heat).
put in jars.
(if you don't want the seeds then it's considerably more work as you have to seive out the seeds but keep the pulp which is what give the consistency to the jam and makes it set)

Jam made!

1kg of raspberries (collected in the monsoon) 700g jam sugar.

Made 2.5 jars of jam – hope it sets now.

How long before i can eat it?

Was about to post "make sure you test it for setting" before putting it into jars otherwise you'll have to boil it again* but as you've done it …….

* speaking from experience.

Well, i did the 'cold saucer' trick and it seemed to be going wrinkly s it cooled so we'll see.
Jars are still warm to the touch – can you freeze jam?