The Preserver's Year

Patchwork_Quilt

Have now run out of jars for bottling and jamming so am asking friends and neighbours. I don't feel too bad because they would have been recycled or thrown away anyway but someone suggested (can't remember if it was this thread) buying value products at Mr T's instead of going to the hardware shop and buying new jars. I checked it out today and the cheapest jar from the local shop cost 85p, the value pasta sauce was 36p. The ingredients don't look awful, either.

Another use for an excess of pears is fruit salad - cubed pear, peaches and grapes in syrup. Have bottled some myself.

clareyPINKfairy

wow, this thread is absolutely wonderful. i really wish i had a garden so i could grow lots of stuff (unfortunately in a flat just now- hoping for a house soon!)
MIL 2 b has given me lots out of her garden tonight.
Got some plums, rhubarb, onions, tomatoes and green tomatoes and red and green cabbage. lucky me - i cant wait to start cooking it all up at the weekend - have been collecting LOTS of jars - making things for xmas hampers

Planning on Plum jam, or plum chutney
Rhubarb jam
green tomato chutney
and pickled red cabbage.

Janine2225

Seakay wrote: »

You can either chop the apples in as they come and then sieve or mouli the cooked fruit (also good if you don't like blackberry pips)
or you can peel and core the apples, chop the flesh into the jam and put the peel and cores into a jelly bag (use a rubber glove to squeeze it out after cooking to get every drop of pectin out)

Thanks for this. Did my apple, elderberry and nutmeg jam today and its lovely. Might seive all my jams from now on, gives a really nice texture.

Carrying on with the jar issue, my tesco driver must think I'm completely insane. my shopping tonight was basically, along with a couple of other bits, 10 jars of value mint sauce, 5 bottles of value ketchup and 3 bottles of vodka!!! He must think I've got a fetish for mint sauce and a drink problem...not helped by me staggering and limping to the door (I have back issues but he's not to know this!!) :rolleyes:

Anyone know what I can make with 1650g of mint sauce??! :rotfl:

powershopper

Hi Patchwork, just a quickie, jars........Lidl.........marmalade..........27p.
I bought 10 jars £2.70, bout the cost of one Kilner, and bottled loads of damsons, just enough in a jar for a pie for the two of us. That was last year, and have re-used them again for this years apples................

Confuzzled

Janine2225 wrote: »

Anyone know what I can make with 1650g of mint sauce??! :rotfl:

one very very nervous flock of sheep!

Confuzzled

powershopper wrote: »

Hi Patchwork, just a quickie, jars........Lidl.........marmalade..........27p.
I bought 10 jars £2.70, bout the cost of one Kilner, and bottled loads of damsons, just enough in a jar for a pie for the two of us. That was last year, and have re-used them again for this years apples................

morrisons does their value curry sauce for 6p/jar at my local morrisons, appearantly sainsburys/asda/tesco/morrisons are having a curry sauce war on the value products end

some stores will have different prices for the same chain but i don't think a single one of them is more than 20p a jar which is how much it would cost me to buy used jars with lids from the charity shop

which reminds me, i need to eat more curry, i've got elderberries to pick soon!

Chris25

Chris25 wrote: »

have some plum & ginger chutney on the go at the moment but the plums are much juicier than last year - have had to add more sugar so then added more garlic to counteract the sweetness. Just hoping for the best now :rolleyes:

aargh - it didn't set properly - will have to boil it all up again this morning .........................but it tastes delicious :T

thriftlady_2

Chris25 wrote: »

aargh - it didn't set properly - will have to boil it all up again this morning .........................but it tastes delicious :T

Chutney isn't supposed to 'set'. Just cook it until it is thick;)

Chris25

no - I mean it's too runny

catznine

Quote:
Originally Posted by Janine2225

Anyone know what I can make with 1650g of mint sauce??! :rotfl:


one very very nervous flock of sheep!


:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Thank you! This has given me such a chuckle this morning!

Yesterday my kind neighbour gave me a large carrier bag of plums and some apples with the promise of more to come!:j

I made up a couple of batches of plum jam in the jam maker. The first batch was made with jam sugar and was perfect but by the time I made the second batch I had run out of jam sugar and used pectin instead - It hasn't set so I am going to pop it all back into the jam maker for a while, fingers crossed!

I have courgettes that are more like marrows so will make some more of Aussielass's courgette relish.

Big problem now is finding enough jars!