My goodness, but I've been a busy little domestic goddess the past couple of days. Apologies for the lack of posting.
Whenever I read books on self sufficiency they always describe August as being the busiest month, harvesting and preserving non-stop to keep perishable goods for winter. We are, as you've possibly noticed, in no way self sufficient yet, but keeping on top of the fruit my mother grows and the blackberries in the hedges is exhausting enough!
It's been good doing this at my mother's, because as well as the fruit trees she has a lot of cooking equipment that I don't have (a jam sieve, big mixing bowls, lots of pans, etc), a more efficient oven, a functioning herb garden (mine aren't really big enough to steal large quantities from yet, while hers are in danger of murdering the vegetables and taking over the world) and lots of spices, although I've had to buy even more! I went and bought about £20 worth of sugar and vinegar to make everything, but I'll do a bit more of a precise run down when I've finished the bake-fest. Suffice to say, I can now state with certainty that doing it yourself is a lot cheaper than buying, even if you have to spend a bit of money on pans and things rather than pinching from a willing/unwilling parent.
Over the past couple of days I've made:
1) Plum and apple jam
2) Spiced apple chutney
3) Spiced preserved whole plums
4) Apple butter
5) Blackcurrant jam
6) Apple and rosemary jelly
7) Apple and mint jelly
I'm too bake-weary to post all the recipes today, but I'll make a start. Apologies for all the imperial measurements, for some reason I automatically operate and note quantities down in imperial when I'm cooking.
Plum and apple jam
Ingredients:
3lb apples, peeled and chopped (place cores in a muslin bag, keep the peel if you want to make apple butter later)
3lb plums, washed
1pt water
4lb 8oz sugar (you could up this to more like 6lb if you use cooking apples. I used eaters so they were quite sweet)
Juice of two lemons
1 tsp cinnamon
Method:
1) Wash jars and a jug and place in an oven at 125 degrees C for 10-15 mins. Turn oven off and leave everything in there for now. Put a small plate in the freezer to chill.
2) Place apples and plums into preserving pan. You can either leave the plums whole, counting them in and counting the stones out (which is what I do), or you can halve and de-stone them before putting them into the pan. Add half the water and simmer gently until everything is cooked and squidgy.
3) Add sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, and the rest of the water if it's looking a bit drier than you think is healthy (I just add it regardless) and turn the heat up to a rolling boil (i.e. it boils even when it's being stirred)
4) After a few minutes of rolling boil, drop a little bit onto the side plate and pop it in the fridge for a few minutes. If the jam forms a skin (it wrinkles when you push it with a finger), the jam is ready. If not, boil for another few minutes and try again. For some reason, I noticed with this jam that it went from not set to quite a solid set very suddenly, so keep testing regularly!
5) Turn off the heat, ladle jam into jug and pour into jars (or ladle straight into jars if you have one that isn't the size of a whole soup bowl, like mine). Seal and label.
Spiced whole plums:
I have to say, I was a bit dubious about this recipe, as the idea of mixing sugar and vinegar freaked me out a bit, and I don't really like pickled things so generally was unconvinced by the presence of vinegar. But my mother assured me it's delicious, and having tried the spices vinegar syrup I can well believe it. I don't know whether these will be more of a cold meat accompaniment or something to eat with ice cream, but I've only done four jars so it's a bit of a test run for me. The recipe is adapted from a very ancient recipe book which is mostly held together with sellotape.
Ingredients:
1lb 8oz plums
3/4pt white vinegar (I used that clear malt stuff, no idea if that's what you're meant to use
1lb 8oz granulated sugar
1 1/2oz stick of cinnamon (I made this about 3 sticks)
1/2oz whole allspice
1/2oz cloves (I just chucked in a heaped tablespoon of all the spices that called for half an ounce, I couldn't get my scales to register such a tiny amount accurately)
1/2oz coriander seeds
1/2oz grated nutmeg (it's cheaper to buy whole and grate your own)
A few slices fresh ginger
Method:
1) Sterilise jars and jug as above and leave to cool in oven.
2) Boil vinegar, sugar and spices together for about five minutes until syrupy (drop it on a plate, when it cools a bit it should have the consistency of a light syrup).
3) Wipe plums with a cloth wrung out in hot water and arrange upright in jars. Discard any bruised/damaged ones.
4) When the syrup has cooled enough to put a finger in it comfortably, pour it over the plums, filling the jar brim full. The plums may float up a bit, but don't worry too much. Ideally you'll have a bit of syrup leftover, stick it in the fridge for now.
5) Leave for 12-24 hours, the strain off syrup, reboil it (adding the extra from the fridge), cool and pour over plums and seal jars.
6) Store in a cool, dark place for at least three months before using - at Christmas!
Right, I'm off to make another batch of jelly and take photos of my wares so far to add to this post (check back in a couple of hours, they'll be here). It's perfect stay-in-and-bake weather, so I'll probably get more done today:
Whenever I read books on self sufficiency they always describe August as being the busiest month, harvesting and preserving non-stop to keep perishable goods for winter. We are, as you've possibly noticed, in no way self sufficient yet, but keeping on top of the fruit my mother grows and the blackberries in the hedges is exhausting enough!
It's been good doing this at my mother's, because as well as the fruit trees she has a lot of cooking equipment that I don't have (a jam sieve, big mixing bowls, lots of pans, etc), a more efficient oven, a functioning herb garden (mine aren't really big enough to steal large quantities from yet, while hers are in danger of murdering the vegetables and taking over the world) and lots of spices, although I've had to buy even more! I went and bought about £20 worth of sugar and vinegar to make everything, but I'll do a bit more of a precise run down when I've finished the bake-fest. Suffice to say, I can now state with certainty that doing it yourself is a lot cheaper than buying, even if you have to spend a bit of money on pans and things rather than pinching from a willing/unwilling parent.
Over the past couple of days I've made:
1) Plum and apple jam
2) Spiced apple chutney
3) Spiced preserved whole plums
4) Apple butter
5) Blackcurrant jam
6) Apple and rosemary jelly
7) Apple and mint jelly
I'm too bake-weary to post all the recipes today, but I'll make a start. Apologies for all the imperial measurements, for some reason I automatically operate and note quantities down in imperial when I'm cooking.
Plum and apple jam
Ingredients:
3lb apples, peeled and chopped (place cores in a muslin bag, keep the peel if you want to make apple butter later)
3lb plums, washed
1pt water
4lb 8oz sugar (you could up this to more like 6lb if you use cooking apples. I used eaters so they were quite sweet)
Juice of two lemons
1 tsp cinnamon
Method:
1) Wash jars and a jug and place in an oven at 125 degrees C for 10-15 mins. Turn oven off and leave everything in there for now. Put a small plate in the freezer to chill.
2) Place apples and plums into preserving pan. You can either leave the plums whole, counting them in and counting the stones out (which is what I do), or you can halve and de-stone them before putting them into the pan. Add half the water and simmer gently until everything is cooked and squidgy.
3) Add sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon, and the rest of the water if it's looking a bit drier than you think is healthy (I just add it regardless) and turn the heat up to a rolling boil (i.e. it boils even when it's being stirred)
4) After a few minutes of rolling boil, drop a little bit onto the side plate and pop it in the fridge for a few minutes. If the jam forms a skin (it wrinkles when you push it with a finger), the jam is ready. If not, boil for another few minutes and try again. For some reason, I noticed with this jam that it went from not set to quite a solid set very suddenly, so keep testing regularly!
5) Turn off the heat, ladle jam into jug and pour into jars (or ladle straight into jars if you have one that isn't the size of a whole soup bowl, like mine). Seal and label.
Spiced whole plums:
I have to say, I was a bit dubious about this recipe, as the idea of mixing sugar and vinegar freaked me out a bit, and I don't really like pickled things so generally was unconvinced by the presence of vinegar. But my mother assured me it's delicious, and having tried the spices vinegar syrup I can well believe it. I don't know whether these will be more of a cold meat accompaniment or something to eat with ice cream, but I've only done four jars so it's a bit of a test run for me. The recipe is adapted from a very ancient recipe book which is mostly held together with sellotape.
Ingredients:
1lb 8oz plums
3/4pt white vinegar (I used that clear malt stuff, no idea if that's what you're meant to use
1lb 8oz granulated sugar
1 1/2oz stick of cinnamon (I made this about 3 sticks)
1/2oz whole allspice
1/2oz cloves (I just chucked in a heaped tablespoon of all the spices that called for half an ounce, I couldn't get my scales to register such a tiny amount accurately)
1/2oz coriander seeds
1/2oz grated nutmeg (it's cheaper to buy whole and grate your own)
A few slices fresh ginger
Method:
1) Sterilise jars and jug as above and leave to cool in oven.
2) Boil vinegar, sugar and spices together for about five minutes until syrupy (drop it on a plate, when it cools a bit it should have the consistency of a light syrup).
3) Wipe plums with a cloth wrung out in hot water and arrange upright in jars. Discard any bruised/damaged ones.
4) When the syrup has cooled enough to put a finger in it comfortably, pour it over the plums, filling the jar brim full. The plums may float up a bit, but don't worry too much. Ideally you'll have a bit of syrup leftover, stick it in the fridge for now.
5) Leave for 12-24 hours, the strain off syrup, reboil it (adding the extra from the fridge), cool and pour over plums and seal jars.
6) Store in a cool, dark place for at least three months before using - at Christmas!
Right, I'm off to make another batch of jelly and take photos of my wares so far to add to this post (check back in a couple of hours, they'll be here). It's perfect stay-in-and-bake weather, so I'll probably get more done today:
Any more ideas for using up half a tree's worth of eating apples gratefully received!
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