So I made a guess and overcooked my first lot. Like baking one should not be trying this when a little below par..... Having binned that attempt I went back to the internet and did some more research. I was also wanting to check the charts reference altitude cooking as one must allow a little extra time for the standard English jam/preserve recipe.
I had cottoned on to this problem because here in Spain I never seemed to have a good cup of tea despite appearing to adhere to the normal rules of tea making. I finally had to come to the conclusion that the water was not getting hot enough and checked this out on the internet.
Many people do not realise that Spain is in effect the highest country of Europe after Swizerland. The highest of Iberia's mountains is down the road in the Sierra Nevada – Mulhacen at 3479 meters.
Generally northern Spain is at an average of 800 meters above sea level and southern Spain averages 400 meters. We live at 750 meters.
This charts the difference in boiling point at a variety of altitudes:
Alt in ft Alt in mtrs Boiling pt F. Boiling pt C.
Because of the changes in air pressure food starts to bubble before reaching boiling point at sea level. This has implications for a lot of food preparation and preservation.
The point of all this is, it is very often necessary to cook jams and say, chips in fat, for some minutes longer and possibly invest in a pressure cooker if in Spain. You may need to experiment with baking as well.
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