Preserving and cooking!!!

Comment by Debi Williamson on January 4, 2011 at 0:17

I was wondering if strawberry jam was a myth in your house too?  Do you have a little strawberry mouse that takes them all before u can even have a bowl of strawberries and cream (by mouse I mean 8 yr old daughter)?  The only solution would surely be to put electric fencing around the strawberries???????   Or is that a little extreme?  Perhaps I should just grow more!!!! x

Comment by Una Bee on January 4, 2011 at 12:04

None of our berries ever make it to the kitchen! I try to grow a bit more every year, so there's always hope! :) 

Comment by Debi Williamson on January 4, 2011 at 12:18

I got six more currants bushes this year and two apple trees, and I have some alpine strawberries that I sowed last year, if they survived the snow!!  I tend to eat the tomatoes straight from the plants more. 

Comment by Jo on January 4, 2011 at 12:33

Hi, I hope you don't mind me joining the group, I haven't done any jam making or preserving yet but I'm hoping to pick up lots of hints and tips here. I asked for a preserving pan for Christmas, and I've just ordered some more strawberry plants, I've already got one strawberry bed and another in the making, so I'm all set to go.

Comment by Rob Duffin on January 4, 2011 at 16:04

It's not a myth in our house, but then it took a few years to get to the stage where we had enough to make jam whilst they got established. I know have around 40 plants and you can never have too many!

Comment by Debi Williamson on January 4, 2011 at 22:39

I probably have about two dozen and some apline's (if they have survived the snow).  Im not really a jam person, though hubby is,  I made some kiwi jam last year which was a success, but its a shame we are too far north to grow kiwi's.  Same with some of my chutneys like my Mango, Ginger and Lime!  None of which we can grow, but its just the experimentation of preserving I suppose,  we have had numerous tomato chutneys, smoked, chilli, chunky etc etc, even ketchups have seemed to have gone down well.  However I dont pickle beetroot!  I tend just bake it with butter salt pepper and some parsley!  Its absolutely lovely!

Comment by Jan Willetts on January 5, 2011 at 23:59

I hope to make lots more jam this year, especially strawberry-I have made a new strawberry bed and will try to be disciplined and remove the flowers to get good growth, in the meantime the old bed will be kept specifically for jam making! 2010 was a disaster, found that something was tunnelling and eating the fruit, suspected moles but-had to destroy it all when the local pest controller confirmed a rat infestation due to the neighbours chickens

Comment by Rob Duffin on January 12, 2011 at 23:59

I've just made 8 jars of marmalade. Took forever to set, followed the recipe in River Cottage Handbook, had it on rolling boil for ages. Seemed to be a lot of liquid in the recipe, but it did eventually set after some of the liquid had boiled off.

I'm not a great fan of this book to be honest as I had some 'issues' with the strawberry jam recipe as well - I've made both marmalade and many jams successfully before.

I've got just over another kilo of Seville oranges to use up, any one got a good recipe/recommendation?

Comment by Debi Williamson on January 18, 2011 at 21:48

Rob the recipe I go off for marmalade asks for 675g - 1kg of sugar to a 450g of fruit, so 1kg oranges juice of two lemons 2 1/4 litres of water to 1.8kg sugar cooking for in and around 11/2 hours before adding the sugar!  I add and alter it Ive added grated fresh ginger in quite a few times!  The best book I have found for Jams is called 'the right way to make jams' by Cyril Grange for £3.99 isbn 0-7160-2126-9  great book covering jams marmalades and chutneys!  I even won a few rosettes for the basis of there jams and marmalades!  Oh sometimes its the oranges that make it harder to set I have noticed, depending which country they have been grown in!  You can always use jam sugar with the added Pectin in!  And dont forget your lemons!  Let us know how u get on, good luck x

Comment by Jan Willetts on January 23, 2011 at 19:15

Just came in from the greenhouse and enjoyed a pot of tea and bread and jam as it will be ages till dinner is ready- I have quite a few pots stored in an outhouse. Blackcurrant is my favourite, but i don't grow enough-luckily a neighbour sells her surplus. Today I had plum and ginger, a recipe from Sarah Raven's Garden cookbook-its very good and not so sweet you can't enjoy it with cheese as well.

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