Preparing for Winter V

[Deleted User]

The news this morning announced that we are officially in recession in the UK, this comes as no surprise because it's been decline of the economy since the beginning of covid and the lock down.  Now is the time to review stocks and equipment that you might need to either replace, top up or aquire to see you through the colder months even if it is currently like being in a turkish bath all across the country.  If we're in recession companies will inevitable go into liquidation, bankruptcies will rise, all things will become more expensive and lack of availability will mean finding them will be more difficult no matter what they are.  Add in potential redundancies, job losses, illness even and we're heading for that perfect storm come January and the actual Brexit particularly as it seems there will be no deal to go with the exit from the EU.  If you have the wherewithall to do it look over what you need and buy it now while it's still here.

Nargleblast

I recently switched gas and electricity suppliers because my old supplier was charging ridiculous prices. Going on a price comparison site there were so many companies that worked out cheaper. You need to check your last bill, which should indicate somewhere how many actual kWh of each fuel you used in the preceding 12 months, as that info will be needed to get price comparisons. Now, with the uncertain times we are, anything that can be done to reduce costs in the winter will help. 

boultdj

Greenglockenspiel said:

boultdj said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

I think next year we should have a preparing for summer thread, as I count this heatwave as extreme weather! <melts>

One thing that makes flooding worse is paving/astroturfing over the garden so if anyone has done that, it is easier for the water to drain back into soil without a barrier. I suspect gravel without a membrane would be the best option for driveways. Sandbags around doors are the other obvious thing that springs to mind. And keeping your important documents upstairs!

Blackberries are starting to ripen here, have already picked some. We have what I think is a damson tree in our garden and I think some of the fruit on that is ready but I’ve never had damsons before so not sure what to do with them. Any suggestions?

Damson and green/ yellow gage are part of the larger plum family, when fully ripe I find them sweeter than plums, but you use them the same way.  They make a lovely jam, which is one of the expensive one's if you can find it in the shop's, that is if you like jam.

Thank you! I’ve only ever made jam once before (under more experienced supervision), but we have so much fruit it’s definitely worth a try! 

Lazy Jam
Wash fruit, put in a pan and cook till mushy on a gentle to medium heat.

Take fruit of the heat, have a large bowl, sieve, spoon and rubbish bag ready.

Put as much fruit in the sieve as you can handle and use the spoon to push the fruit pulp through the sieve, when you've done that the stones and skins are left in the sieve, discard into the rubbish bag and repeat till all the fruit is done.

Then you need a big pan on a set of scales, remember to turn 'em on if battery[ guess who forgot one time], put the fruit pulp into the pan, make a note of the weight and add the same weight in sugar.

Place on the heat, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to help with the set, stir till the sugar dissolves then bring to a rolling boil.
After 10 minutes at a rolling boil, take off the heat and check to see if it's reached setting point.

How to check for setting point can be done by using a saucer put in the fridge when you first start of cooking so the plate is cold, put a little bit of the mixture on the plate and spread it out a bit, leave for about 30-40 seconds then gently push the mixture on the plate with the side of a finger, if you see clear wrinkles forming then you've reached setting point. if not put plate back in fridge and mixture back on heat and rolling boil for another 2 minutes and repeat till setting point is found.

Put into jars, label and enjoy.


The proper name is fruit cheese, but my family has always called it lazy jam as you don't have to peel, destone fruit.
Also if you don't have lemon juice you can add 4/5 apples at the beginning with the plums as they contain pectin which is the setting agent in jam.
Also with this heat, remember you can put the fruit in the freezer and do it when it is cooler.

Floss

I thought fruit cheese was the more set stuff like membrillo?

Laura_Elsewhere

Floss said:

I thought fruit cheese was the more set stuff like membrillo?

My understanding is that it basically depends what you start with.

Jam: fruit, whole or cut up, with or without water added.
Jelly: clear liquid, strained and filtered, after simmering fruit in water
Cheese: sieved purée like a smoothie

The word 'cheese' historically just meant anything that was set in a straight-sided mould and could be then pushed out of its mould and wrapped in paper, leaves or cloth, and then sliced to eat - hence our modern cheese! 
When you make "smoothie-jam" it has a fairly solid texture usually. 

The oldest recipes involve no boiling, just simmering the sieved pulp and sugar for hours until the water evaporates enough that drawing a spoon through the mixture leaves a clear trail showing the bottom of the pan - but it's also been made in roughly the same way as jam for a couple of centuries at least, so I think by now it's just personal preference as to whether you boil it up like jam til a setting point, or simmer it til you get a very firm-set cheese like membrillo. 

We just do ours like jam, but to be honest you can still slice it and it stays as a slice anyway  

PipneyJane

@boultdj thanks for the recipe.  @Floss, if cooked for long enough, it will set solid, if not then you can spread it like jam.  To make a solid "cheese", keep stirring until you can draw furrows through it and see the base of the pan.   (I make Crab Apple Chilli Cheese every couple of years.)

Speaking of floods and living on flood plains... Does anyone remember the floods during the winter of 2001-2?  I was working in Worcester at the time and the water lapped the road deck on the "new" bridge (normally 30+feet above the river).

We need to design our housing better, so that flood waters don't affect the living areas.  I grew up in Australia where houses are often built on stilts, so that they don't flood during tropical storms.  Even barns are elevated, in certain areas.  The land where my parents built there house was only 3 feet above sea level.  They spent a fortune getting additional soil shipped in, to get another 3 feet of elevation.  I can only remember one flood, when the tail-end of a cyclone hit us.  Our street was flooded but the house wasn't. (A street or two over, people weren't so lucky.)  If I was buying a new house in the UK, I'd go for a mews style, with the garage on the ground floor and most of the living areas upstairs.

- Pip

boultdj

Floss said:

I thought fruit cheese was the more set stuff like membrillo?

The basic recipe I described is called fruit cheese in a very old book I had many years ago, to do with jams, pickles and the like. It's the only recipe I can remember, which shows how often I've used it as the book fell to bit's 20 plus years ago. 
I think Laura's answer is more likely the right one.   But it's tasty which is all that matter's in my book. I'm basic like that.

Greenglockenspiel

boultdj said:

Wash fruit, put in a pan and cook till mushy on a gentle to medium heat.

Take fruit of the heat, have a large bowl, sieve, spoon and rubbish bag ready.

Put as much fruit in the sieve as you can handle and use the spoon to push the fruit pulp through the sieve, when you've done that the stones and skins are left in the sieve, discard into the rubbish bag and repeat till all the fruit is done.

Then you need a big pan on a set of scales, remember to turn 'em on if battery[ guess who forgot one time], put the fruit pulp into the pan, make a note of the weight and add the same weight in sugar.

Place on the heat, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to help with the set, stir till the sugar dissolves then bring to a rolling boil.
After 10 minutes at a rolling boil, take off the heat and check to see if it's reached setting point.

How to check for setting point can be done by using a saucer put in the fridge when you first start of cooking so the plate is cold, put a little bit of the mixture on the plate and spread it out a bit, leave for about 30-40 seconds then gently push the mixture on the plate with the side of a finger, if you see clear wrinkles forming then you've reached setting point. if not put plate back in fridge and mixture back on heat and rolling boil for another 2 minutes and repeat till setting point is found.

Put into jars, label and enjoy.


The proper name is fruit cheese, but my family has always called it lazy jam as you don't have to peel, destone fruit.
Also if you don't have lemon juice you can add 4/5 apples at the beginning with the plums as they contain pectin which is the setting agent in jam.
Also with this heat, remember you can put the fruit in the freezer and do it when it is cooler.

That’s ace, thank you! 😊 We didn’t get the promised thunderstorms here (although places nearby did) so the heat hasn’t eased at all so I may well cram them into the freezer for a few weeks!

boultdj

I'm glad the recipe will be helpful, with no next generation for my family the knowledge will be lost when I'm gone, this way it's passed on to help others enjoy the lovely fruit for longer, and it's even better if it's free. 
Any fruit can be used for the recipe, I use to do different each time depending on what fruit I could forage or get off the garden.

Si_Clist

PipneyJane said:

 Does anyone remember the floods during the winter of 2001-2?

Gosh, that's made me feel really ancient.  I can remember the East coast floods of 1953!  We lived in Cleethorpes then and little me was fast asleep in my bed.  Mother woke me up, took me downstairs in the dark, opened the front door, stoof me on the doorstep, said "Look at that!" and there it was ... somebody's garden shed, stuck in the running flood water in the road just outside our front garden.  I thought that was very strange.  And that's all I remember about it!