Red currants and gooseberries are from one of my neighbours. I have never tasted red currants before, they are like tiny little jewels, a little sour and have a tiny seed inside, the gooseberries are fab, they are like eating sour sweets.... only healthier, exept I am about to add vast quantities of sugar to the fruit.
I have read that the ratio is 1:1 so I have 2kg of mixed fruit so I am going to add 2kg of sugar. I don't have a heavy based saucepan, a jam sieve or a thermometer, so this is kitchen science at its best.... But to be honest, with that amount of sugar I think its going to taste brilliant. Step 1: In a saucepan at 1kg of redcurrant's and 1kg of gooseberries: Heat slowly without any water, the red currents breakdown easily and then the gooseberry's follow. (I did give them a squash) (whilst I am making this, I am drinking homemade sloe gin and tonic, chin chin!!) Step 2: The fruit has now broken down nicely so I have added 2kg of sugar. I found David's beer making thermometer but couldn't work out the measurements....... thats because it was not a thermometer but a 'gravity reader' for his beer! ops!!! Luckily I hadn't added it to the pan at that point, and David ran off to find the real thermometer for me. Step 3: I need to get the jam to 104 C. When it reaches that temperature, I turn off the heat and make a mess, trying to ladle the mixture into the jars. BEFORE YOU START! I should have mentioned that I washed the jam jars in the dishwasher and then sterilised in the oven, temp 170c with lids for 15 minutes: AND "Voila" we have jam: Our family doesn't really eat jam, so I have been giving it away to friends and neighbours...... If you have had a jar, please feel free to leave a message about the flavour. I love blackberry picking and I noticed yesterday that there were quite a few ripe ones where I walk the dogs so today I headed off, armed with a container, to pick the biggest, juiciest, raspberries. Pepper loves eating them and was helping herself to the lower ones. Rue wasn't that bothered, she just wanted her ball throwing.... I am not sure what I want to do with them yet so I have gently washed them to remove any bugs, dried on kitchen roll and placed them on a tray in the freezer so I can then bag them up. Today is a little bit of an experiment. I felt that the Mirabelle Plum Jam I made yesterday was too sweet, so today I have found a 1/2 eaten punnet of strawberries in the fridge, added a few of my own to make the weight up to 1Ib. Topped them and washed them then added 1Ib of "jam sugar" which has pectin already added, I also added a large squeeze from a lemon. I heated slowly until all the sugar had melted.
Then remembered to clean the glass jars and popped them into the oven. It was whilst washing the jars that I remembered the note to myself about the jam being to sweet yesterday, so I dashed outside and picked a bowl of plums, washed and de-stoned them and added them to the strawberries. I am not going to add anymore sugar. The pan is filling up with froth and yesterday I had read an article by Delia Smith that said not to worry about the scum that rises and that if I keep skimming it off I will end up with no jam. She says to wait until the jam has set, remove from the hear and stir in a small lump of butter, which will disperse the scum. We will see. With the help of a few books and my Facebook allotment/gardening friends I have made jam!
The plums are not incredibly ripe, but they are soft and this is a good time to pick them for jam. I had some help from Ellie who picked a large bowl full. I washed them and removed any stalks, leaves etc, then chucked them in a large pan and heated gentle, without adding any water. I had, before I started with the jam, washed and removed all the labels from the jars (I used pesto jars because they are quite small) and put them into the oven, wet, at 140oC to sterilise them. When they had dried (about 30 minutes) I turned off the heat and left them in the oven until I needed them, this meant the glass was still warm and so wouldn't crack when I added the hot jam I didn't add the sugar with the fruit at the begining because apparently sugar has a hardening effect on the fruit, so fruit like plums which have tough skins should be simmered and softened first, but soft fruit like strawberries and blackberries are better if soaked in sugar first, helping to keep the fruit whole. With lots of different advice, I decided not to stone the plums first, next time I will because I felt I had lost a lot of the flesh trying to remove the stones and ended up sieving the mixture to remove them all. It took about 15 minutes before the fruit started to soften enough to turn up the heat, I cooked the plums for about 45 minutes before I added the sugar. I heated slowly until the sugar had dissolved and then turned up the heat to boil, boiled for about 10 minutes at "jam" temperature according to the themometer. Then I poured the jam into the jars, ladled some first but this was just messy so I poured straight from the saucepan, filled to the top, added the lids and wiped the jars down, then made sure the lids were tight using a tea towel, because the jars were HOT! Voila, Rhubarb and Cinnamon bites:I initially picked the rhubarb today to freeze, but then decided to have a look at some recipes, I found most recipes' where for really large amounts and I only had 200g, but I found one that sounded OK although it was made with ginger and I decided to make it will cinnamon as I know Ziggy and Ellie love cinnamon. It's in the oven at the moment so I will let you know later what it tastes like. Ingredients for the base: 45g butter 25g sugar 60g flour (I used 1/2 plain 1/2 wholemeal) pinch salt Ingredients for the topping: 200g rhubarb cut into small chunks 30g sugar (divided) 1/4 tsp cinnamon 2 small eggs Juice from 1/4 lemon tbsp cornflour (which I forgot to add) Oven 180C... 1. Beat together butter and sugar then add in the flour and press mixture into the tin, bake for 15-20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 160C. 2. Heat the rhubarb in a pan with 1/2 the sugar and the cinnamon for about 10 minutes, until it is all soft (no lumps - if lumps blend). the leave to cool. 3. Whisk eggs, lemon juice and remaining sugar and when the rhubarb mixture is cool, add to the whisked eggs, pour onto the base and cook for a further 25-30 minutes. Well I forgot the cornflour, but actually I'm not sure it would have made a difference to the flavour. The majority vote was...... Ew thats disgusting. Except for Luis, who I am pretty sure said it was nice out of sheer politeness. Actually Ellie has just come downstairs and confirmed that Luis was being polite, what he was actually going to say was "you should feed it to Pepper because she is used to eating shit" - she is a beagle after all.
Today I've been learning a little about the history and the properties of hawthorn, also known as Maythorn because it flowers in May, or Bread and Cheese as the leaves are very filling and good at lowering cholesterol, so I think I am going to start using them from today in salads and in my sandwiches.
I am also going to collect the berries later in the year to make Hawthorn Jelly, the berries are rich in vitamin C. You can make tea from the flowers, just pinch a couple of flowing tops and step them, I didn't really find the flavour to be much of anything so I would definitely mix with a taste I like, perhaps a mint leaf or Lemon balm. Actually I bought a Chocolate mint at the weekend and this would be lovely added to the pot. There is also an older hawthorn, crataegus laevigate, English or midland hawthorn, the leaves are a slightly different shape and the English Hawthorn is said to have a "putrid" smell. Fortunately our hedgerow is definitely Crataegus Monogyna. It is said hawthorn is good for the heart, improves high blood pressure. In one of the books I have, it says when Hawthorn is grown together with ash and oak, the place is steeped in fairy lore, because of the thorns it is considered protective and it certainly protects our property. The shape of the flowers with five petals are said to make a pentagram, a magical sign. The smell of the blossom is believed to enable you to access the "other world" and this goes hand in hand with Beltane. Today I was introduced to Peppermint and Lemon Balm tea and it was lovely, I had not thought of making my own herbal tea until today, so I have been out and bought myself the lovely tea pot and am writing this blog drinking my second cup of the day.
Infusion: Lemon Balm is used for anxiety, depression, nervous tension and related digestive disorders.. Peppermint is used for nausea, indigestion and flatulence. Cuppa of the day is Nettle and Cleavers, picked growing together along the side of The Drock.
I grew up with the name sticky willies for cleavers and still have great fun picking them and throwing them at peoples backs when out walking...... Detox Infusion: Nettles nourish the blood and cease the body through increased "peeing" Cleavers help reduce fluid retention in the skin and improve the complexion. |
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June 2021
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