The Preserver's Year

dogstarheaven

btw, the cordial was a recipe - Family 'Beena by River Cottage Preserves book.. just sugar and a bit of water, really simples! and it tastes delish.. nice with sparkling water if you wanna fool your kids that it's the alt. to Ribena.. without the nasty additives!

i picked the last of my damsons yest. they're still in the fridge (last lot kept for 6 days) but shall find the time to make more cordial this saturday on my w/e off.

last night went foraging for the walnuts near me, and as predicted they all got picked by some one/ppl. so OH went into some council flat green behind some railings and managed to salvage some windfalls off the dirty, littered ground where the trees were. we only got 20 in all.. but at least i got some. last 3 yrs since i noticed them, i never got one nut off this road...

and then, we went to another part of town in a grubbier area to a pear tree. but sadly, again, no pears.. someone has finally noticed them and took them all, bar 3 that i found in the grass!

oh well, shall just make do with my lotti damsons and elderberries then - ho hum!

Magpie27

Owl wrote: »

Today we (my friend and I - cos I didn't want to chop everything by myself!!) made:-

Onion Marmalade
Red onion Marmalade
Tom and Mango Chutney
Tongue Tickle Chilli Pickle

Next in line os Piccalli and Mustards... My house smells!!! :-(

Hi what recipe did you use for piccailli? I want to give this ago tomorrow, did onion chutney last night and I think I can still see it

floyd

I am absolutely shattered now.
I have just finished off potting 10 jars of HFW Glutney Chutney which I intend to call '2 mile chutney' as all of the fresh fruit and vegetables in it were grown by myself, friends and family within a 2 mile radius of my kitchen.
I also have a batch of rosemary jelly, one of mint jelly and 4 litres of sloe gin steeping with another 7lbs of sloes in the freezer for when I get some more containers.
Things can only get more chaotic as FIL is dropping off some apples and plums tomorrow and a work colleague is bringing blackberries and damsons in for me to do something with. Not sure what else to make as I'm up to my eyes in chutney and gin isn't exactly cheap to make.

Sunnyday

Magpie27 wrote: »

Hi what recipe did you use for piccailli? I want to give this ago tomorrow, did onion chutney last night and I think I can still see it

I can highly recommend this one for piccalilli if you still need one.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=14940701&postcount=10

I make it each year.

HTH

SD

Magpie27

Thanks Sunnyday and even better I have all those ingredients in the cupboard Bit cheeky to ask for a 2nd recipe but my friend is going to give me a load of apples of her tree so I thought I'd make applesauce any one got any recipes that work well for them? I've no ideahow sweet the apples are until I get them.

jennyjelly

Apple sauce is so easy.

Peel, core & chop as many apples as you want, put them in a casserole with a small splash of water and blitz them in the microwave till they are pulp. Add a small knob of butter & stir it in, then add sugar a bit at a time, while it's hot so it dissolves quickly, and keep tasting till it's right. Freeze it in small pots or icecube trays so you can uses as much or as little as you want.

Magpie27

Thanks jennyjelly I really need a apple sauce which I can jar as I never have any room in my freezer. Do you know if the recipe is the same for storing in a jar and I assume I sterlise and seal the jar in the normal way.

jennyjelly

I haven't tried jarring it but I imagine as long as you get it up to a high temperature and sterilise the jars it would be exactly the same as any other preserve. However once it's opened I think it would need using fairly quickly as there are not huge amounts of sugar or vinegar to preserve it.

Magpie27

Made the piccailli today had a complete blond moment and put far too much turmeric & ginger so its a interesting shade of brown - hopefully it will taste ok but OH will eat anything rather than waste it Will try the apple sauce at the weekend when I can face peeling all the apples as they are all very small :O

diadeb

I have loads of damsons for the first time (with access to more if I have time) and wanted to make jam. Is it nice as a jam? Should I add anything else to improve it? I have never tasted it!

Any other suggestions to use them?