How to use berries

WelshKitty85

meritaten wrote: »

don't just freeze berries, cherrys apples etc - dry them too. use as you would any dried fruit. very slow oven - the lowest mark - about an hour or two depending on size and water content. then you can put them in an airtight container. lasts for months.

Thank you, I hadn't thought of drying them.

Mojisola

WelshKitty85 wrote: »

Thanks. I am fully aware that a community orchard is meant for the community. Unfortunately, it seems that many of the community either don't know it exists or just choose not to use it. I have never seen another person there and the ground is just littered with over-ripe fruit that has fallen from the trees/bushes.

Lucky you! You'll benefit from their indifference then.

If you have a dehydrator, you can use that for most fruits. The intensity of the flavour is amazing and really livens up cereals, yogs, etc.

meritaten

can I just give you one piece of advice when making jam? if the recipe says to boil hard for ten minutes and then test for setting - test after four or five minutes! I have ruined many pounds of fruit by not testing for setting point early - my jams could have 'tarmacked' the roads! and I couldn't understand why until I left the thermometer in the jam and realised that the jam was at setting point after just 5 minutes of boiling. now I test early and as soon as setting point is reached - take it off the heat and stir madly for a minute! then put into the warmed jars.

WelshKitty85

meritaten wrote: »

can I just give you one piece of advice when making jam? if the recipe says to boil hard for ten minutes and then test for setting - test after four or five minutes! I have ruined many pounds of fruit by not testing for setting point early - my jams could have 'tarmacked' the roads!

Thank you. Do I need a special sort of pan for making jam?

meritaten

the largest one you have! stockpots are good. but I have successfully made jam in the largest pan in a set. with small amounts of fruit though - enough for one or two jars. if you want to make more it means you need really big pans. even catering size - my best pan for jam is a catering saucepan.
when the recipe says 'hard boil' it means to get the jam foaming up - you need a good four or five inches above the fruit for that. and when you stir the jam when its boiling it shouldn't 'settle down' - if it does it isn't boiling hard enough. so put it on your largest ring.

recipes don't usually tell you that - I have found out through trial and error (mainly error, lol).

WelshKitty85

meritaten wrote: »

the largest one you have! stockpots are good. but I have successfully made jam in the largest pan in a set. with small amounts of fruit though - enough for one or two jars. if you want to make more it means you need really big pans. even catering size - my best pan for jam is a catering saucepan.
when the recipe says 'hard boil' it means to get the jam foaming up - you need a good four or five inches above the fruit for that. and when you stir the jam when its boiling it shouldn't 'settle down' - if it does it isn't boiling hard enough. so put it on your largest ring.

recipes don't usually tell you that - I have found out through trial and error (mainly error, lol).

That's really helpful, thank you.

[Deleted User]

If you are going to use rosehips be aware that the seeds inside have tiny hairs on them that are very irritant and inedible in fact small boys used to make itching powder from rosehip seeds many years ago. To use the hips you need to split them open and remove every last tiny bit of seed and hair before you cook with them, the best tool for this is a narrow teaspoon which does the job a treat. If you make rosehip syrup the best way to store it is in smallish plastic bottles in the freezer leaving a space at the neck of the bottle to let the liquid expand as it freezes. Syrups stored like this will keep a very long time and keep the opened bottle in the fridge when you use it as it will keep good for about 6 weeks that way. If you don't keep the syrup cool it tends to ferment and go off.

meritaten

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

If you are going to use rosehips be aware that the seeds inside have tiny hairs on them that are very irritant and inedible in fact small boys used to make itching powder from rosehip seeds many years ago. To use the hips you need to split them open and remove every last tiny bit of seed and hair before you cook with them, the best tool for this is a narrow teaspoon which does the job a treat. If you make rosehip syrup the best way to store it is in smallish plastic bottles in the freezer leaving a space at the neck of the bottle to let the liquid expand as it freezes. Syrups stored like this will keep a very long time and keep the opened bottle in the fridge when you use it as it will keep good for about 6 weeks that way. If you don't keep the syrup cool it tends to ferment and go off.

I didn't know that! I have found some wild roses (and devoutly hope that no one else knows about them) and planned to make some rosehip syrup for the first time. the recipe doesn't mention de-seeding them. but, you are right - when I was a child the local boys delighted in putting them down your back! they itched like bu99ers/ Thanks!

CupOfChai

Looking with interest, as I want ideas for things to do with my frozen blackberries that aren't pie, crumble, jam or booze! One thing I have successfully done before is used them in flapjacks. I just mixed some of them straight from frozen into the flapjack mix before spreading in the tray and baking.

WelshKitty85

Thanks again for all the tips everyone. We have been fruit picking again this evening and now have loads of apples, pears, plums, blackberries and elder berries. So, I will be spending the day tomorrow making muffins, having my first attempt at making jam and, if I can get out of the house for a bottle of vodka, starting to make elder berry liqueur. I also have loads of carrots in the fridge, so will prep and freeze these in meal size portions so they don't go to waste.