Too many plums and apples? Yesterday's recipes for plum and apple jam and spiced whole plums not enough for you? Then read on, my fried. Here's another batch of plum/apple/freezer leftover recipes. There's not a lot other than recipes, I promise that when I'm less bake-weary I'll add photos and some of my usual wit, charm and drama. Ahem.
Spiced apple butter
Ingredients:
4lb plums
1 1/4pt water
1 1/4pt medium cider (you could probably replace this for water without an enormous difference to the taste)
1tsp ground allspice
1 1/2tsp ground cloves
3tsp ground cinnamon (all the spice quantities are quite generous, I like spices. Feel free to reduce slightly)
Method:
1) Wash jars and a jug and pop into the oven at 125 degrees C for 15 mins or so. Turn the oven off and leave in there for now.
2) Chop the apples, cores and peel included, discarding stems and any badly bruised bits
3) Place into a pan with the cider and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until the apples are very soft and pulpy
4) Rub the pulp through a nylon sieve (a metal sieve might taint the colour and taste of the butter) and discard the leftover pulp. Weigh it before returning it to the pan.
5) Add 10-12oz of sugar for every 1lb of apple pulp (more if you've used cookers, less for eaters), as well as the spices, to the pan.
6) Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
7) Continue boiling, stirring occasionally. I didn't quite know how long to boil it for, as it didn't seem to want to set quite like normal jam, so I boiled it at a rolling boil (bubbles remain even when you're stirring) for about 10 minutes, then potted it. I'll let you know at a later date whether that was a success.
Herby apple jelly
There are a number of different options for this, but they all start by making apple juice. if you have a good juicer (i.e. one that makes clear, not cloudy or thick), use that. If not, a jelly bag is far cheaper to buy, so use the method below.
Ingredients:
3lb apples
2pt water
Granulated sugar
Herbs of your choice (see below for more details)
Method:
1) Chop fruit, including peel and cores. Put in a large pan and cover with water (add more if it looks remotely dry - you want there to be plenty of water to get the maximum juice, but not so much that you end up with flavourless liquid when you strain).
2) Put fruit in a pan and simmer very gently for at least 30-45 minutes, probably more like an hour, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has completely disintegrated.
3) Strain through a jelly bag overnight (suspend jelly bag over a bowl, but hanging it from a hook or the legs of a tall stool, and fill with apple pulp), then measure the volume of juice. If the apple pulp is still strong tasting, you could boil it again with more sugar and repeat, storing the first lot of juice in the fridge.
4) Sterilise jars and jug as above and pop a small plate in the freezer.
5) Pour juice into the pan (you may want to divvy it up if you've got a lot of juice and want to make a few different types of jelly), adding 12oz-1lb of sugar for every pint of juice (less if you've used eating apples, more for cookers, unless you want a fairly tart jam).
6) Bring to the boil stirring until sugar is dissolved.
7) Boil vigorously until setting point is reached (a spoonful on the cold plate, when left for a few minutes to cool, forms a skin if you nudge it with a finger), stirring frequently.
8) Skim (I often don't bother skimming with jam, but I think it's quite useful here, as the jelly can be cloudy otherwise), pour into sterilised jars and seal.
Herbs:
All quantities assume you're using at least a pint of juice, add more if more juice, less if less. Not complicated. Blanch all leaves in boiling water for a few seconds then rinse in cold tap water before using, to get rid of any nasties.
1) Mint - add a good handful of mint leaves as soon as the sugar is dissolved, reserving another handful and chopping them finely. Before potting the jelly remove the leaves and stir in the finely chopped ones.
2) Rosemary - Add a small handful of small sprigs once the sugar is dissolved. Remove before potting, and wedge a large sprig in each jar. The sprig needs to be quite well wedged in place so it doesn't float to the top and either go off or make your jelly look like there's a many legged creature hanging from the inside of the lid.
3) Tarragon - as for rosemary
4) Cinnamon - add a couple of cinnamon sticks once the sugar has dissolved. Assuming they don't lose their shape, you could use these in the jar too, as they'll still look nice and have plenty of flavour left to infuse into the jelly.
You can actually add pretty much any herb, spice or flavouring to go with any meal - basil, cloves, ginger, thyme and marjoram would probably all be nice if you were eating something that they might go with. You could try making a jar of each and see which is successful. This is very much a trial year for me too - I've made jellies and jams before, but not on this scale!
Dried apples
Ingredients:
Apples
Salt
Water
Method:
1) Peel and core apples (if you have a corer). If no corer presents itself (does anyone actually have one of these?), do what I did and quarter them, remove cores and slice into thin wedges, about 2-3mm max at the fattest point
2) As you slice, put the apples into a bowl of weak brine (about 1 tsp of salt to a generous pint of water). This stops them going brown.
3) Once all the apples are sliced, rinse under a cold tap, drain and arrange on a wire oven shelf.
4) Turn the oven on to its lowest temperature (ours is 50 degrees C), put the shelves back in the oven, and almost close the door, wedging it a little bit open to allow moisture to escape.
5) The apples will take anything from 2-8 hours to dry.
I don't know whether these will last as long as shop bought dried apples. I'm planning on putting them in sterile airtight jars and seeing how long they last - we have enough of a glut to try things like this, and we'll know what we can and can't do next year. I'm also trying plums, but six hours in they aren't yet dry, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm prepared to give them.
More tomorrow!
Spiced apple butter
Ingredients:
4lb plums
1 1/4pt water
1 1/4pt medium cider (you could probably replace this for water without an enormous difference to the taste)
1tsp ground allspice
1 1/2tsp ground cloves
3tsp ground cinnamon (all the spice quantities are quite generous, I like spices. Feel free to reduce slightly)
Method:
1) Wash jars and a jug and pop into the oven at 125 degrees C for 15 mins or so. Turn the oven off and leave in there for now.
2) Chop the apples, cores and peel included, discarding stems and any badly bruised bits
3) Place into a pan with the cider and water and bring to the boil, then simmer gently, stirring frequently, for about 30 minutes or until the apples are very soft and pulpy
4) Rub the pulp through a nylon sieve (a metal sieve might taint the colour and taste of the butter) and discard the leftover pulp. Weigh it before returning it to the pan.
5) Add 10-12oz of sugar for every 1lb of apple pulp (more if you've used cookers, less for eaters), as well as the spices, to the pan.
6) Bring to the boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved.
7) Continue boiling, stirring occasionally. I didn't quite know how long to boil it for, as it didn't seem to want to set quite like normal jam, so I boiled it at a rolling boil (bubbles remain even when you're stirring) for about 10 minutes, then potted it. I'll let you know at a later date whether that was a success.
Herby apple jelly
There are a number of different options for this, but they all start by making apple juice. if you have a good juicer (i.e. one that makes clear, not cloudy or thick), use that. If not, a jelly bag is far cheaper to buy, so use the method below.
Ingredients:
3lb apples
2pt water
Granulated sugar
Herbs of your choice (see below for more details)
Method:
1) Chop fruit, including peel and cores. Put in a large pan and cover with water (add more if it looks remotely dry - you want there to be plenty of water to get the maximum juice, but not so much that you end up with flavourless liquid when you strain).
2) Put fruit in a pan and simmer very gently for at least 30-45 minutes, probably more like an hour, stirring occasionally, until the fruit has completely disintegrated.
3) Strain through a jelly bag overnight (suspend jelly bag over a bowl, but hanging it from a hook or the legs of a tall stool, and fill with apple pulp), then measure the volume of juice. If the apple pulp is still strong tasting, you could boil it again with more sugar and repeat, storing the first lot of juice in the fridge.
4) Sterilise jars and jug as above and pop a small plate in the freezer.
5) Pour juice into the pan (you may want to divvy it up if you've got a lot of juice and want to make a few different types of jelly), adding 12oz-1lb of sugar for every pint of juice (less if you've used eating apples, more for cookers, unless you want a fairly tart jam).
6) Bring to the boil stirring until sugar is dissolved.
7) Boil vigorously until setting point is reached (a spoonful on the cold plate, when left for a few minutes to cool, forms a skin if you nudge it with a finger), stirring frequently.
8) Skim (I often don't bother skimming with jam, but I think it's quite useful here, as the jelly can be cloudy otherwise), pour into sterilised jars and seal.
Herbs:
All quantities assume you're using at least a pint of juice, add more if more juice, less if less. Not complicated. Blanch all leaves in boiling water for a few seconds then rinse in cold tap water before using, to get rid of any nasties.
1) Mint - add a good handful of mint leaves as soon as the sugar is dissolved, reserving another handful and chopping them finely. Before potting the jelly remove the leaves and stir in the finely chopped ones.
2) Rosemary - Add a small handful of small sprigs once the sugar is dissolved. Remove before potting, and wedge a large sprig in each jar. The sprig needs to be quite well wedged in place so it doesn't float to the top and either go off or make your jelly look like there's a many legged creature hanging from the inside of the lid.
3) Tarragon - as for rosemary
4) Cinnamon - add a couple of cinnamon sticks once the sugar has dissolved. Assuming they don't lose their shape, you could use these in the jar too, as they'll still look nice and have plenty of flavour left to infuse into the jelly.
You can actually add pretty much any herb, spice or flavouring to go with any meal - basil, cloves, ginger, thyme and marjoram would probably all be nice if you were eating something that they might go with. You could try making a jar of each and see which is successful. This is very much a trial year for me too - I've made jellies and jams before, but not on this scale!
Dried apples
Ingredients:
Apples
Salt
Water
Method:
1) Peel and core apples (if you have a corer). If no corer presents itself (does anyone actually have one of these?), do what I did and quarter them, remove cores and slice into thin wedges, about 2-3mm max at the fattest point
2) As you slice, put the apples into a bowl of weak brine (about 1 tsp of salt to a generous pint of water). This stops them going brown.
3) Once all the apples are sliced, rinse under a cold tap, drain and arrange on a wire oven shelf.
4) Turn the oven on to its lowest temperature (ours is 50 degrees C), put the shelves back in the oven, and almost close the door, wedging it a little bit open to allow moisture to escape.
5) The apples will take anything from 2-8 hours to dry.
I don't know whether these will last as long as shop bought dried apples. I'm planning on putting them in sterile airtight jars and seeing how long they last - we have enough of a glut to try things like this, and we'll know what we can and can't do next year. I'm also trying plums, but six hours in they aren't yet dry, and I'm not sure how much longer I'm prepared to give them.
More tomorrow!
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