preserving

Crabapple jelly

35 Comments / preserves /

I was reading Cathy’s post about the beauty of design in nature and found it very inspiring.  I immediately felt the need to take a walk to experience some of this beauty just outside my door.  The perfect excuse for this was provided by the heavily laden crab apple in the hedge.  It has been a few years since I have seen such drooping branches.  The crab apple is a beautiful fruit, a miniature apple made all the more beautiful by its scars and blemishes. I filled a large bucket with carefully picked beauties and wandered back admiring the beginning of autumn and the hues of red, brown and gold peeking between the green.

A quick rinse of my 2½ kilos and they were destined for the preserving pan.

How a green bitter fruit can turn into an amber jelly is one of the magical acts of cookery. When you cook those apples into a green sludge you do wonder how the jelly will be transformed into something that you may want to eat alongside your roast lamb. But, honestly, you will enjoy every sweet appley mouthful and it feels even better that all you paid for was the heat and the sugar.

As many crabapples as you want to use ( I picked 2½ kilos)
Enough water to just cover them in the pan
Granulated sugar  450g for every 600ml of strained juice
If you wanted a little spice then feel free to add a cinnamon stick, 4 cloves, coriander seed or  a star anise into the pot

Method

Rinse the crab apples and place whole into a preserving pan (if you have time and patience you could quarter then to reduce the cooking time a little).  Add enough water to barely cover them (I needed 3 litres for my 2½ kilo). Bring to the boil and simmer until the fruit has turned to a sludgy mush. You can give them a stir to help them break up a bit.

Allow to cool a little and then pour into a jelly bag and leave to strain overnight into a large bowl. Do not squeeze the bag or the jelly will be cloudy.

Measure the strained juice and pour back into the preserving pan.  Bring this slowly back to the boil.  measure out 450g sugar for every 600ml of juice you have and then add this to the boiling juice.  Stir until the sugar dissolves and then leave the juice boiling rapidly until setting point is achieved.  You can tell setting point by placing a few saucers into the fridge when you start to boil the fruit and then testing the jelly by taking a spoonful of the mixture and pouring onto the cold saucer.  Leave to cool and then push your finger through.  If it wrinkles it has reached setting point.  Carefully pour the hot jelly into hot sterile jars and seal immediately.  Leave to cool before labelling. My 2½ kilos made 7 jars.

To sterilise your jars and lids, wash well in warm soapy water and rinse with clean water.  Place in a roasting pan, lids as well and place in a low oven for 10 minutes (the simmering oven of the Aga is ideal). They should still be hot when you pour the mixture into them.

 

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Damson or Plum Jam

31 Comments / damsons, jam, The Ordinary Cook /

Damson jam is a big favourite in this house.  I love it and my youngest adores it too.  We are lucky enough to have a couple of damson trees in the garden and they produce well most years.  I usually make something with them before freezing some for that lovely winter treat stewed damsons.  Sometimes I will make pickled damsons, otherwise damson vodka (very popular round here for some reason) or damson jam and if I am feeling especially productive I will manage all three.  This week is the turn of the jam. It is very easy to make and very delicious to eat. The same recipe can be used for plums of any description.

This makes about 6-7 jars of varying sizes or 8 lb jars

1.5kg damsons
1.25kg granulated sugar
400ml water

Method

I can never be faffed to stone my damsons before making this jam and so I cook them whole and then scoop most of the stones out before pouring into the jars and then take the rest out when spreading on my  bread. But if you have more patience than I do then go ahead and stone the damsons/plums.

Put the prepared damsons/ plums (i.e stems removed, any over ripe ones removed, washed) into a preserving pan with the water.  Simmer for about ten minutes until the fruit is soft. It may take longer for some varieties and some may be ready sooner so keep an eye on things.

Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.  Bring to boiling point and boil rapidly until setting point is achieved.  Setting point can be tested by placing 4 saucers in the fridge before you start making the jam and then you pour a teaspoonful of the jam onto a cold saucer.  Leave to cool for a minute or so and then push the jam with your finger, if it wrinkles, it is at setting point. If it doesn’t wrinkle then boil for a few more minutes and then test again.  Otherwise use a jam thermometer and it is ready when it reaches 104.5°c.

Remove any scum that has risen to the surface. Pot into sterilised jars and cover whilst hot.

 

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Preserving horseradish

17 Comments / preserves /

We grew some really good horseradish in the garden this year, although the caterpillars (of the white cabbage butterfly variety) ate the tops.  The little monsters.  I was surprised that they found them delicious, but perhaps the tops aren’t as strong-tasting as the root.  I adore horseradish sauce, especially when it is freshly made with cream.  This is the horseradish I retrieved from the garden and I can tell you it takes some digging out.

There was about 225g (8oz) in its unpeeled form and about 175g (6oz) once peeled.

You can grate it a lot finer on a microplane but I just didn’t think I could bear the eye-watering, so I used the grater attachment in my food processor and whizzed away.  It was still eye-watering, it has to be said, but not as bad as actually standing directly over a grater. This has left me with longer strands, but I am hoping these will give an interesting bite to future horseradish sauce.

To preserve it, mix the grated horseradish with one teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of salt and then pack it into a sterile jar.  Add enough white wine vinegar to cover the horseradish (about 125ml, 4 fl oz) and seal the jar tightly.

I am looking forward to seeing how successful this is as a way of preserving one of my favourite things.

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