Dash for Damsons

I allowed myself to be so distracted with the courgette glut that I almost missed the damson harvest.  Our two damson trees, like all plums this year, have produced loads of fruits and they are at their peak now with a few just a little too ripe.

Anyway, i gathered as much as I thought I could process only to find that I had run out of jam jars, disaster!  So what to do with all the fruit gathered, well there's always damson gin and I did have a couple of large jars available and the required sugar and gin, so that solved the problem for about 1kg of the crop...

ready for shaking

Now what to do with the remaining 4kg?  Fortunately I have recently purchased a second freezer so I bagged up the damsons in 500g lots and into the freezer they went.


ready for freezing

I'm now sending begging emails to friends for jam jars and on receipt of these I'll be retrieving the damsons from their arctic conditions and turning them into jams and cheeses...and perhaps another batch of damson gin?

Easy, Peasy Damson Gin
Take 450g of damsons, prick with cocktail stick, and pop into a clean sterilised jar.  Cover with 225g sugar and then pour in 600ml of gin.  Seal the jar and shake vigorously.  Store in a cool dark place and shake every day for about 8 weeks.  Taste a couple of times during this period and add more sugar if required.  After about 10 weeks strain and bottle.

Note: Try to keep the gin as long as you can; it will definately improve with age, so make some this year for Christmas 2012.

A Set At Last!

Having had two recent attempts at jam making with neither providing a decent set I was beginning to think that I'd lost the knack.  Two batches of Opal plum jam have failed to set properly, though we are using it poured over icecream and added to plain yoghurt; which has proven a real hit.

sampling!

But I was longing for some proper jam...then whilst doing the weekly shop yesterday I bought a couple of punnets of British strawberries reduced in price for a quick sale.  My initial intention was just to eat these, they were beautifully ripe and smelt delicious.  Then whilst wandering down the baking aisle I saw some jam sugar with added pectin and, thinking of my recent failures and my need for jam, I bought a kilo and headed home to defeat the setting gremlins.

I didn't have quite enough strawberries for the recipe so I added a small box of Holly Grove raspberries that I had in the freezer. I have to say that I was exceedingly nervous, however...we have jam!  Can't wait to try it on my toast this morning, I may even make some scones later today...ooo, with a dollop of double cream...yummee!

all set and jarred up

Strawberry Jam with a Touch of Rasberry
Ingredients
Makes about 3.5lbs
800g strawberries
100g raspberries
1kg jam sugar
knob unsalted butter

Method
Hull the strawberries then put in a preserving pan with the raspberries and mash the fruit to extract juices.  Add the jam sugar and place the pan on a medium heat.  Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved - do not allow the fruit/sugar mixture to boil at this point.  When the sugar has dissolved add a knob of butter and stir until the butter has melted.

Gradually bring the mixture to a rolling boil stirring all the time.  When a rolling boil is achieved stop stirring and boil rapidly for 4 minutes - by this time the jam should be at setting point, I used a sugar thermometer to check.

Immediately remove from the heat and pour into sterilised jars and seal.
Et voila! strawberry jam with a touch of raspberry.

Autumn's Harvest

I can't resist the 2 for 1 offers on late season English plums in the local supermarket; plums being one of my most favourite seasonal fruits; but even I can't eat 2kgs of plums in the few days before they become overripe.

Variety - Sunset

Three seasons ago we planted a young apple tree, the variety Sunset, and this year we had a very reasonable crop from such an immature tree.  They are lovely eating apples but I have been pleased to see how well they hold up when used in pies and crumbles.  With a few remaining I thought I'd try to combine them with the supermarket plums in jam making.

Gleaming jars of lovely jam

The result is a beautifully rich coloured and fine tasting jam - so why not make the most of the supermarket offers or your own harvest or, like me, a combination of shop bought and homegrown - cost effective and delicious!

Plum and Apple Jam
Makes just over 2lbs
Ingredients
1lb plums, halved and stoned
1lb apples, peeled, cored and sliced
18 fl ozs water
juice of half a lemon
1.5 lbs granulated sugar

Method
Put the plums, apples, lemon juice and water in apreserving pan and bring slowly to a boil.  reduce heat to obtain a fast simmer and leave for about one hour, stirring occasionally, until the fruit is very soft and the mixture reduced by about half.

Take the pan off the heat and add the sugar.  Stir until the sugar has completely dissolved, then stir in a knob of butter.  Return to the heat and bring back to a fast boil, after about 10-15 minutes the jam should have reached setting point, if using a sugar thermometer this will be temperature of 105C.

Remove the pan from the heat and using a slotted spoon lift off any scum.  Now pour the jam into warm sterilsed jars and seal immediately.  Allow to cool, then label and store in a cool, dark cupboard.

Windfall Apples

Our two old apple trees continue to fruit heavily despite the vagueries of the British weather. However every year since we've been at Holly Grove we've consigned heaps of apples to the compost bins as the unripe fruit falls from the trees.










An attempt at cider is on the cards for later in the season when more fruit has matured and we have gathered together the basic equipment. In the meantime, what to do with these under-ripe windfall apples? Whilst browsing on the web I came across a recipe for an apple jelly with ginger - I love ginger and so the scene was set to try the recipe...

Windfalls and Ginger Jelly
Ingredients
a bag of windfall apples, washed and cut into chunks
(remove any damaged parts of the apple but do not core or skin)
cold water
white granulated sugar
stem ginger, finely diced










Method
Place the chopped apples in a large saucepan or preserving pan with enough cold water to just cover the apples. Cover and bring to the boil, then simmer until the apples are soft and mushy.

Put the apple pulp into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl and leave overnight for the juice to drip through. Do not squeeze the bag or the jelly will be cloudy.

The following day measure the juice and add to a pan with 1lb of sugar for each pint of juice. Bring slowly to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to a fast boil and check for setting point (105C) using a sugar thermometer. When setting point is reached remove from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, remove any scum with a slotted spoon. Add the chopped ginger and stir through the jelly. Put into small sterilised jam jars and cover and seal when the jelly is cold.

The result a lovely pinkish amber jelly infused with the warmth of ginger and a few less apples on the compost heap.


Note: I had a few 'challenges' getting the ginger evenly distributed through the jelly. In the end I filled the jars and then waited until the jelly was just warm and beginning to set and then stirred each jar of jelly to distribute the ginger and...phew...it seemed to work! Be careful not to introduce any air bubbles into the jelly when redistributing the ginger or your jelly won't keep well.

More Raspberry and Blackcurrant Fare

The soft fruit harvest continues; so much this year that I foresee lots of jam making, freezing and possibly an attempt at bottling looming.

So far I have gathered ten pounds of raspberries and just over four pounds of blackcurrants. The redcurrants should be ready around the end of July; sadly the whitecurrants have been taken by the birds, but I can't really complain as they seem to have left the raspberries and other currants alone (for the moment!).

So more baking and preserving; this time a raspberry and blackcurrant jam. I used the same method as the Almost Seedless Raspberry jam with two pounds of raspberries and one and a quarter pounds of blackcurrants. This produced a slightly tart jam, just the way we like it.

I found a recipe on another blog for a cake using raspberry and blackcurrant jams with chocolate, so using Holly Grove R&B jam I got out the baking tin and tried out the recipe for Chocolate, Raspberry and Blackcurrant Cake. The result is a rich and dense cake, not too pretty to look at, to accompany the cake I made a raspberry couli and the Handyman added a little cream drizzled over the coulis. The resulting dessert tasted delicious - not sure the photo does it justice.


Raspberry Couli
Makes about quarter of a pint
Ingredients
8ozs raspberries, rinsed
1.5ozs castor sugar

Method
Place the raspberries in a bowl and sprinkle over the sugar. Cover and leave for 30 minutes. Then place the contents of the bowl in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add more sugar if required and blend again for a few seconds. Strain the liquid through a fine nylon sieve to remove the seeds. Put into a container, cover and store in the fridge until needed.

The coulis can be stored for several days and used over cakes, icecream, pancakes etc.

Note: if you don't want to get the blender out you could just press the fruit and sugar mix through a sieve, a bit more work but the same result.

Scones and Jam

Holly Grove kitchen garden has been swinging into full production; amongst the produce have been raspberries and blackcurrants...lots of the little blighters! Yesterday, though the garden was tempting me out, I remained resolute and stayed in the kitchen for a bit of baking and preserving.

Starting with the raspberries, I made a very simple fruit yoghurt - basically greek yoghurt layered with raspberries. I used the ripest berries for this, leaving it overnight for the juices to run into the yoghurt and ready for my breakfast this morning. One and a half pounds of raspberries I used to make raspberry jam, only a small quantity, but full of fruit. The remainder of the raspberries together with some of the blackcurrants were used to make another Berry Crumble cake.

Then on to the blackberries; aside from the small quantity in the cake, one pound of fruit was used to make Blackberry jam and the rest, about two pounds, was juiced.

With the jam gleaming at me through the glass jars I felt that I really ought to make some scones - you can't spend time making jam and not have scones to eat it on.

So a productive day in the kitchen and here are the recipes for scones and jam...

Almost Seedless Raspberry Jam
Makes about 1lb
Ingredients
1.5lbs raspberries
1tsp lemon juice
12ozs granulated sugar

Method
Put the raspberries in a heavy-based pan and bring slowly to the boil, mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon to release the juices. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes until the fruit is very soft and lots of juices have been released.

Press the fruit pulp and juice through a fine sieve into a bowl, this may take a while and you may end up with a few pips in the pulp if, like me, you press too hard to release the pulp for jam. Discard the raspberry pips left in the sieve and measure the pulp in a measuring jug - I had about three quarters of a pint.

Return the pulp to the clean pan and add the lemon juice together with the sugar - 1lb of sugar for every pint of pulp and juice. Bring slowly to the boil stirring to ensure that the sugar has dissolved. Boil rapidly until a set is achieved. Remove from the heat and stir in a knob of butter, this will help to clear the jam. The pour into prepared jam jars and seal and label.

Plain Scones
Makes about 8
Ingredients
8ozs self raising flour
1tsp baking powder
2ozs butter
1oz castor sugar
a little milk

Method
Sieve the flour and baking powder into a food processor. Add the butter and blitz to fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and pulse to mix through the crumb mixture. With the processor running, slowly add a small amount of milk until the mix comes together forming a soft dough. Be careful not to over process or you'll end up with dry scones.

Turn out the dough onto a floured board and bring together into a ball. Gently press the dough out into a round about two inches deep and cut out scones with a two inch cutter. Place the scones close together (but not touching) on a baking sheet and brush the tops with a little milk.

Place in the preheated oven at 230C for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheet and place on a clean cloth on a cooling rack and cover with the cloth. This will ensure that your scones stay soft, that's if you can resist eating them almost immediately with that delicious raspberry jam that you've just jarred up!

Note: You can, of course, make the scones without a food processor. Simply create the crumb mix by rubbing in the butter with your fingers to make the fine breadcrumbs. Then add the sugar and stir in. Finally bring the dough together by hand using a little milk.

Crab Apples and Mint

So hedgrow crab apples and loads of garden mint - makes Apple Mint Jelly. As it was such a pretty September day I took the apples, chopping board, knife and pot outdoors to prepare the apples for the jelly. A mixture of hedgrow apples and crab apples from our two small trees.

The mint for the recipe is Holly Grove Apple Mint, soft, almost furry, very minty leaves...here's the recipe...

Apple Mint Jelly
Makes about 2-3lbs
Ingredients
2lbs 8ozs crab apples, washed and chopped
1pt water with 1 tbsp lemon juice added
1pt distilled vinegar
3 sprigs HG apple mint leaves

1lb 8ozs granulated sugar
3tbsp HG apple mint, chopped
green food colouring, optional

Method
Put the prepared apples, sprigs of mint and the water in a large pan. Bring to the boil then reduce heat, simmer for about 40 minutes until the apples are very soft and pulpy, stirring occasionally. Add the vinegar and bring back to the boil. Boil gently for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and place apple mixture in a jelly bag and strain overnight. Do not squeeze the jelly bag or your jelly will end up cloudy.

The following morning measure the liquid and put into a large pan and discard the pulp. Add 1lb of sugar to each pint of liquid. Bring to the boil stirring continuously to dissolve the sugar. Boil rapidly for 10 minutes and test temperature - when it reaches 221F the jelly has reached setting point. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the scum from the jelly with a slotted spoon, stir in the chopped mint (a quarter teaspoon of green colouring may be added at this point) then leave to cool for about 5 minutes. Stir the jelly to disperse the mint and then pour into warmed, sterilised jars. Seal and label.

Damsons for Jam

We have a number of damson trees in the hedgrows at Holly Grove. The first year at HG I picked the damsons too early, though I did make some good damson cheese with them, and last year we had no damsons at all, I put that down to a very wet and windy April. This year we have a fantastic crop and I've resisted picking them until they are fully ripe.















The Handyman has been keeping an eye on them for ripeness and with the news that they were ready, yesterday morning I selected the first batch to make some damson jam. A simple jam recipe, the hardest part is extracting the stones from the jam before potting. And this morning I was rewarded with Holly Grove Damson Jam on my toast - it had set beautifully and retained the sharpness of the fruit - lovely!















Holly Grove Damson Jam
Makes about 5lbs
Ingredients
2lbs 8ozs HG damsons
3lbs granulated sugar
15 fl ozs water

Method
Wash the damsons and place them in a preserving pan with the water. Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for about 30 minutes or until the fruit is soft and liquid has reduced. Remove from the heat and add the sugar, stirring until dissolved.

Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil. Boil rapidly, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and test using a sugar thermometer - when a temperature of 221F is reached the jam is ready. Remove from the heat and leave to cool for 15 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon remove the stones from the jam and then pour into warmed, sterilised jars. Cover and label and store in a cool, dark place.

More Marrow (and Apple) Magic

Marrow from the greenhouse and apples off the tree, add time to prepare and a little care and you have Marrow and Apple Chutney. This is a recipe from one of my Mum's cookbooks - Good Housekeeping 1985 edition. I love using my Mum's books and finding her scraps of paper marking the pages of her favourite recipes or a new one she wanted to try - I've inherited the practice, lots of paper markers in my cookery books, and a new one now marking this recipe:

Marrow and Apple Chutney
Makes 6lbs
Ingredients
4lbs marrow, peeled and cut into chunks
3ozs salt
2lbs HG apples, peeled, core and chopped
1lb HG onions, chopped
1lb soft brown sugar
2pts distilled vinegar
1 level tsp ground ginger
½oz pickling spice 

Method
Put the chopped marrow pieces in a large bowl layered with the salt and leave overnight. This will draw out the excess liquid from the marrow. Next day rinse the marrow pieces and drain off the water and place them in a preserving pan.

Add the apples, onions, sugar, vinegar, ginger and spices. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer gently, uncovered, for about 2 hours, stirring from time to time, until the chutney becomes thick with no excess liquid.

Pour into warmed, sterilised jars and seal immediately. Label when cool and store in a cool, dark place for 1-2 months before using.

Pickling Spice

Pickling spice is a mixture of various spices to be added to the vinegar when making pickles and chutneys. Black peppercorns, red chillies, allspice, cloves, ginger, mustard seed, fennel seed, cardamom may be included. Here's a mix for pickling spice that can be varied according to your taste:

Ingredients
1 level tbsp mustard seed
1 level tbsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken in 2 pieces
4 cardamom pods
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf, crumbled

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and store in an airtight jar in a cool dark place (not the fridge). Will keep for up to one month. Weigh out the required amount for your recipe and tie in a muslin bag to use.

Hedgerow Bounty

I walked through the lanes near Holly Grove yesterday morning scouting for blackberries. Such a slowpaced and pleasant activity, scanning the hedges for the beautiful black jewels, a lovely way to spend a late August morning. Time to let thoughts drift and allow eyes and ears to contemplate the diversity of an English hedgrow and its wildlife. The hedgrows surrounding our garden are made up of holly covered in green berries, hawthorn with its red berries, ivy, damson, hazel, dog rose, honeysuckle, sycamore and brambles.

So, after an hour or two of forraging I returned to the HG kitchen with one and a quarter pounds of hedgrow blackberries - so what to do with them...blackberry and apple cheese. Fruit cheeses are firm and can be cut into wedges or slices. Best served as an accompaniment to cold meats or dairy cheeses, or cut into slices and dredged in sugar and served as a sweetmeat.

So with the apples on one of the trees ready to pick I gathered the last of the red and white currents to augment the blackberries and set off to make:

Blackberry and Apple Cheese
Makes about 2lbs
Ingredients
2lbs blackberries (I used 1lb 4ozs blackberries and 12ozs red and white currents)
1lb apples, cut into chunks with skin and core intact
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon
1lb 12 ozs granulated sugar, warmed

Method
Put all the fruit and the lemon rind and juice in a preserving pan and pour in enough water to come half way up the fruit. Bring to the boil, then uncover and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the fruit is very soft.

Leave the fruit to cool slightly, then press the mixture through a sieve into a bowl, using the back of a spoon. Measure the puree into the cleaned preserving pan adding 14ozs sugar for every 1 pint of puree.

Gently heat the puree, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat slightly and cook for around 50 minutes, stirring frequently, until very thick - you should be able to see the base of the pan when a wooden spoon is drawn through the mixture.

Spoon the blackberry and apple cheese into warmed, sterilised jars. Seal and label the jars, then store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 months to dry out slightly.

Tomato and Apple Chutney

The Holly Grove tomato harvest is in and another use for the apple glut - Tomato and Apple chutney. I know, another chutney recipe, but it's that time of year and I need to do something with all this produce.


Most of these chutneys and jams I'll give to friends and colleagues, a few jars will make their way into Christmas hampers for neighbours and the rest the Handyman and I will munch our way through between Bonfire Night and next Summer. The most important thing is that I love making preserves...seeing lots of lovely fruit and vegetables turned into pretty jars of colourful and tasty goodness - no artificial preservatives, colours or other chemicals, just good HG produce, sugar and vinegar and...a great sense of satisfaction.

This is a dark and rich chutney, a spoonful of this on top of a baked potato filled with a mature Cheddar cheese - food heaven!















Tomato and Apple Chutney
Makes about 5lbs

Ingredients
3lbs HG tomatoes, peeled and chopped
3lbs HG apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 large onions (or 4 small HG onions), chopped
2 HG garlic cloves, crushed
9ozs pitted dates, chopped
2 red peppers, seeds removed and cut into chunky pieces
2 dried red chillies
1tbsp black peppercorns
4 cardamom pods
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp sea salt
1 pint distilled malt vinegar
2lbs 4ozs granulated sugar (I used unrefined granulated)

Method
Put the prepared tomatoes, apples, dates, onion and garlic into a preserving pan. Slit the chillies lengthwise and add to the pan. Put the peppercorns and remaining spices into a grinder (or mortar and grind with a pestle, if you need the exercise) and roughly crush. Add the spices and salt to the pan.

Pour in the vinegar and the sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the red pepper and cook for a further 30 minutes - you may need to turn the heat up to reach a faster simmer - stir more frequently as the chutney becomes thick and pulpy.

Spoon the chutney into warmed, sterilised jars. Seal the jars , label and store in a cool, dark place. The chutney will be ready to eat in 1 to 2 months time.

Plums Galore!

The Handyman spent a precarious hour plucking fruit from our knarled old plum tree. When we first came to Holly Grove we almost cut it down as we thought by the state of the trunk that it was diseased or dead or both. Thanksfully we were distracted by everything else that needed attention and left the plum tree alone.

Low and behold our first August here the tree provided a bumper crop of delicious and juicy Victoria plums (at least we think they are Victorias?). This year the wee tree has worked its magic again and I've had a tub of plums to preserve.

I've made about 7lbs of jam, 3lbs of hot plum chutney and 3lbs of stewed plums for the freezer; plus we've eaten rather a lot of fresh plums over the past week, oh, and a plum custard tart - yummy!

So here follows the recipe for Hot Plum Chutney:

Makes 3lbs

Ingredients
2lbs HG plums, halved and stoned
1 HG onion, finely chopped
3 inch piece fesh root ginger, peeled and grated
3 whole star anise
12 fl ozs white wine vinegar
8ozs soft light brown sugar
5 celery stick, thinly sliced
3 green chillies, seeded and finely sliced
2 HG garlic cloves, crushed

Method
Put the plums, onion, ginger and star anise in a preserving pan ans pour over half the white wine vinegar. Bring to the boil then simmer gently over a low heat forabout 30 minutes, or until the plums have softened.

Stir the remaining white wine vinegar, sugar, sliced celery, chillies and crushed garlic into the plum mixture. Cook very gently over a low heat, stirring until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Bring the mixture to the boil then simmer for about 45 minutes, or until thick with no excess liquid. Stir frequently as the mixture thickens to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Spoon the chutney into warmed and sterlised jars. Cover with greasproof circles and seal immediately. Store the chutney in a cool, dark place and allow to mature for at least one month - use within 2 years.

Delicious with cold cuts and cheeses on Boxing Day - if you can resist temptation for that long!