The Preserver's Year

Sessie

Goodness floyd, how quick??!

Thanks a lot for your reply.

I did think jam would be OK but wanted to check. I was planning on making a massive amount in the summer and giving some in hampers at Christmas (I made sloe gin in 2010 and already have a number of re-orders!!) but poisoning someone as a Christmas gift wasn't top of my list!

I've read all about sterilising my jars (hot soapy water, oven etc..) and was planning on doing that so I guess I'm good to go!

Now I just have to wait until summer... darn it, I'm all fired up and want to get started NOW!!!

Again, many thanks

x

moo2moo

milosmum59 wrote: »

I am going to buy my jam sugar early this year, like now.
The last couple of years it has been really difficult to get hold of come jam making season. So I thought I might give everyone a reminder to stock up early. I know some people don't feel they need to use it to get a set, but I often use a 1/4 or 1/2 of the sugar in jam sugar to ensure success :beer:and avoid 'wasting' or getting a runny set.

If you boil up surplus apple cores and peelings that aren't used in recipes in a tiny bit of water you can then freeze the liquid in ice cube trays and add a couple to ordinary sugar for those fruits which need extra pectin thus saving the hassle and added expense of buying overpriced sugar with added pectin.

Triciaxx

This is more of an additional query about elderflowers than a reply but I wondered if you could freeze the flowers themselves and use them later? I do it with herbs like thyme. I just freeze bunches still on their stalks and they flake off into the cooking as I run them through my fingers. The price of elderflower cordial is ridiculous in the supermarkets and even worse in the tourist trap gift shops. :eek:

Change of topic. I dry bay leaves to use in the winter - £1.19 for a tiddly little pack in the shops. I only have a small one which I've trimmed to grow as a bush - more young leaves that way. I'm wondering if some of those would pack in hampers this Christmas?

Triciaxx

Found the answer to freezing elderflowers. There is a whole thread on here about elderflowers which I stumbled into by accident and they say yes. Most excited about that.

valentina

I've just been given a load of old chutney/jam/marmalade recipes (wartime through to 1970's by the looks of them)
Lots that I haven't heard of, including "high dumpsie dearie jam" and gooseberry cheese.

Trouble is, I really don't need to make any more jam or chutney... it'll take about a year to get through what's already in the cupboard...:o

marmiterulesok

valentina wrote: »

I've just been given a load of old chutney/jam/marmalade recipes (wartime through to 1970's by the looks of them)
Lots that I haven't heard of, including "high dumpsie dearie jam" and gooseberry cheese.

Trouble is, I really don't need to make any more jam or chutney... it'll take about a year to get through what's already in the cupboard...:o

The book sounds intriguing...what's it called?Any chance of sharing some recipes?

Last year was my first year of making jams and chutneys.I've made enough to last me a few years....

Triciaxx

valentina wrote: »

I've just been given a load of old chutney/jam/marmalade recipes (wartime through to 1970's by the looks of them)
Lots that I haven't heard of, including "high dumpsie dearie jam" and gooseberry cheese.

Trouble is, I really don't need to make any more jam or chutney... it'll take about a year to get through what's already in the cupboard...:o

I googled the high dumpsie dearie jam and found it is what my mum called mixed fruit jam :rotfl: Dead cheap to make and throw anything in. The jam equivalent of bottom of the veg box soup!

One google result made me laugh and groan! see here Up your income, anyone?

dunworking

I have been forcing my rhubarb for the last 2 weeks so i can make rhubarb and ginger jam it is my partners fave hoping for a nice shade of pink rather than murky green when made with later rhubarb:j

p00

This will be my first year of jam making. Im not sure about jar lids. Do I need to buy new ones each time or can you reuse the ones that came of the jar - say beetroot? Really looking forward to this as a hobby now.

xxp00

ampersand

Triciaxx wrote: »

I googled the high dumpsie dearie jam and found it is what my mum called mixed fruit jam :rotfl: Dead cheap to make and throw anything in. The jam equivalent of bottom of the veg box soup!

One google result made me laugh and groan! see here Up your income, anyone?

##########

..and these are straitened times! Probably reduced from £6.99 per jar atm.