Oooooo my River Cottage preserves book has arrived!

MrsTinks

Anyone else got theirs? I'm off shopping for vinegar, oil, sugar and gin :rotfl:

It's a definite now! I'm going to MAKE the christmas presents this year!

2cats1kid

Mine is on order - looking forward to it arriving. Maybe we can compare notes on recipes as we try them?

nuttywoman

Just looked this up and am interested in what the blackberry&strawberry leather is? Do you eat it,lol
The book looks really good btw

nuttywoman

Sorry, blackberry & apple leather, just checked again ! lol

2cats1kid

I'm guessing it is like those fruit roll-up things that you get. I'm betting my DD will love that stuff!

MrsTinks

Yep that's pretty much it - and I'll definitely be making that! I love them and at least there will be no artificial addatives in them! They do contain a fair bit of sugar tho

2cats1kid

Anyone tried any of these yet?

I have a batch of puree ready for the leather, and am now trying to work out when I can get a 12-18 hour stretch at home (and not asleep) as I really don't want to leave the oven on with no-one in or asleep upstairs, just in case. I'm playing already, as I made a batch of apple cider jelly with cider (well apple wine, theoretically) that I made and didn't like. It is similar in taste and consistency to honey, so I'm using that in place of the honey as we probably won't use the cider jelly that much. It smells divine and tastes pretty good too. I need to get some baking paper too, actually, so maybe that's a trip to Tesco.

I'm going to use the core and peel from the apples from the leather in with some more cooking apples to boil up for pectin syrup.

Not sure what I'm going to do next - it all looks yummy.

Gigervamp

I've been meaning to order that book since I got the email from RC about it.

billieboy_2

Got mine about a week ago. Read it from cover to cover and have already made rhubarb jam and pickled garlic (which is a bit of a faff to peel the garlic but hoping it's worth it!:j ). I'm looking forward to making the souper mix when I see fennel and celeriac in the shops. And the chutney recipe looks good.

billieboy_2

Gigervamp wrote: »

I've been meaning to order that book since I got the email from RC about it.

I got mine from Amazon, it was a bit cheaper.

2cats1kid

Well I have the leather on, and have discovered that my oven just doesn't cook cool enough for it! Even with the dial on 0, it's hotter than the book says LOL. (Thermostat is totally crocked, so have a thermometer in the oven - another reason I *need* a remoska!) So I am heating the oven a little (with the leather in it) and then turning off and leaving the leather to cook in the residual heat. And so on, until it hopefully dries out enough at some stage. It smells absolutely amazing though.