Edible Xmas gifts that can be made well in advance.....

Winged_one

I got 3lbs blackberries and 2lbs damsons yesterday. The damsons need a little more ripening so are on the windowledge (we were in PIL and won't be back for a month, so it was now or never) and I will make jelly with those in a week or 2. I have 2.5 lbs blackberries in a pot on the stove to make jam tonight (washed and measured, with sugear measured and ready for oven as soon as we get home!). And I put a half pound into freezer for pies in the winter.

Not all will make it into hampers, but a few jars will!!

And I also checked the progress of the sloes in the area - coming along nicely! So our next visit will also require a good wander one of the mornings!!

lunar

I posted a link to www.selections.com earlier this month for a sale they were having on kilner jars. My order arrived this morning but I have been charged the full price. The money has now been refunded but I wanted to make sure anyone who ordered checks that the same hasnt happned to them.

Sorry for the rubbish recomendation. The jars are lovely and well worth it at the sale price but not really the hassel of getting overcharged.

cdsmiler

SmlSave wrote: »

Hi Clare

The only Lime vodka reciep I found was put lime zest in vodka and leave for a while! It may be an idea to follow the same recipe as Limoncello: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1087/limoncello

Happy lurking

Brill, thank you. Thanks mum2one too!

foxy219 - the tomato relish is my Mums, so I haven't got it yet! And the Sweet onion one I'm going to try is here: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1404/red-onion-marmalade No idea what it's like yet though!

Angela - so let me get this right. You were reaching out for handfuls of blackberries (and nettles by accident) and you weren't putting them in tubs, just putting them straight into your mouth??? :rotfl:Like naughty children berry picking and eating them all rather than saving. Tut tut!!

Alfie - thanks for the recipe! I'll have to have a look at that! What would you normally eat it with? And do you reckon I could swap celery for onion? (can't stand celery!)

SmlSave - ouch! That could have been nasty!! Glad nothing too bad happened!

Clare x

elysia2003

Well, we made the jam - it's the best I've ever tasted! Only made three jars but they were very large ones. Mum turned up while they were cooling - 'Oh, what's that?' and snaffled a jar, there and then. I couldn't tell her it was xmas pressies as she'd know.

The recipe was off the back of the sugar packet, so I can recommend it. I will definately be making some more.

Thanks for the recipe link Clare, I wanted to make tomato relish too.

alfieroux

cdsmiler - the sweetcorn relish will be great with any barbeque/grilled meat, as well as a side pickle for cold meats (such as Boxing Day turkey and ham!)

I have picked the first lot of chillies from my four plants today and put them into bottles of (cheap) Vodka. I will scrub off the supermarket label and put my own labels on. I plan to throw in a carton of tomato juice and a pair of long glasses for a B.Mary hamper.

I also want to give a couple of shot glasses with my raspberry/blackberry drinks but have yet to find any basic glasses I can hamper up!

Off to water the garden now and encourage my courgettes along a little...

Alfie

chasingsunshine_2

Hi everyone! I'm joing too if thats okay?!
I have got all my bits and pieces ready for preserves for christmas! ....but I have never made any before, have no ingredients as yet and no recipes (other than ones I've looked at from this thread) all sounds quite tricky but I'm sure once I get going I'll be okay.

If I make them now(ish) how long will they last? I cant seem to find many recipes that actually say how long they'll last and as they are for Christmas pressies I should probably put that on the label.
Thanks

SmlSave

Hi chasingsunshine (what a great name!)

I just date the chutneys/jam when I made them and say to store them in a cool dry place.

I have tomato chutney in my cupboard from 2008 which still looks and tastes great and plum jam from 2009 in the fridge which is good too

Any jam that grows mould just gets it taken off and the underneath eaten in my house!

Guess I'm trying to say that I don't know how long they keep for! Those who get them from me will have to use common sense.

Rosie1978

I stumbled across this thread by accident and now I am fired up!

I'm planning on making jam (going blackberrying Sunday!), onion marmalade, lime pickle and more if I can. I'd also like to try some of the flavoured vodkas as well.

I was wondering a few things though - is Lakeland the cheapest place to buy jars and bottles? Also, how do you sterilise the jars before putting in the chutneys etc? Also what kind of pot/jug/jar do you make the vodka in? Just any that can be sealed tight? Then you transfer it to a sterilised bottle?

I'm really excited - I'll make a start in a few weeks time I think. I know Christmas will be tight this year so this is a great idea !! Is anyone making anything other than chutney, vodka and jam? I cant think of anything that will keep till Christmas, although I'm planning on making snowman soup as well.

Wish I wasn't sitting at work so I could make a start now :T

Winged_one

Does anyone have a recipe for an onion cutney (either sweet or spicy) that would keep? I looked at (and printed off) the BBC onion marmalade recipe, but that says "keeps 3 months in fridge". I need something that I can make now (I have a kilo or 2 of red and a couple of yellow onions which all bolted - so they are perfectly fine to use now but they really won't keep) but can use over the winter and give a couple away at Christmas.

Anglea

Hi everyone

SML - oh my, that kitchen incident you had has topped our list of postential disasters. I bet you were shocked when you saw smoke coming out of bowl. Really glad everything turned out ok in the end.

hi Rosia and Chasingsunshine welcome to the thread

Rosie you can sterilise the jars in the dishwasher if you have one , or there is an oven method, depends on which would be more convenient. (see the post below this one)

Bottles - like those cider bottles with the screw tops. The Thatchers ones are good as they are dark glass - minus side, the labels don't come off, however depending on which one you have, they can be very attractive with rosy apples on them so could be used for apple recipes e.g. apple and cinnamon vodka (recipe in the thread above).

Or ketchup glass bottles.

How long preserves last - I've been eating jams that were given to mum years ago and she forgot about them - some were about 10 years old and they still tasted really good!