Give us our daily bread

Years ago when my children were much younger I baked bread religiously every week. Three 1llb loaves; two in the freezer, one out for eating. No hassle, no-knead bread.

I used a recipe I found in the Cranks Recipe Book (it's a well used book as you can tell) which, in turn was based on Doris Grant's 1940's recipe. I adapted the Cranks version to half wholemeal & half white as a concession to the children and I think it made a lighter loaf too. I used malt or treacle instead of sugar too.

It kept well and made fabulous toast!

I recently, via a long & twisting thread through Facebook, came across a similar recipe for No Knead Bread and was inspired once more.

Recipe:

3 cups (750g) bread flour

1/4 tsp dried yeast

1tsp salt

1-1.5 cups (250ml-375ml) tepid water

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add 1 cup of water and stir. You're looking for a soft, very sticky mix.

Cover & leave 12-20 hours at room temperature.

Scrape the gloop onto a well floured board & gently shape into a ball. Tuck the ends under to tighten the skin on top.

As you can see from the bubbles, it just doesn't want to stop rising!

You'll need, preferably, a high sided pot suitable for the oven. Doesn't matter if you haven't got one, your bread will just be long instead of high. Perfect for an enormous picnic sandwich if you want to slice it horizontally!

Oil & flour the pot to stop the bread sticking, cover & leave for 2 more hours.

(I made some apricot jam while I was waiting!)

Difficult to tell here but it's now twice the size.

So, into the oven once your bread had risen. 250C for 20 minutes or brown & sounding hollow when the base is tapped.

I then turned it out if the pan & popped it back in for 5 minutes to crisp the base.

MrP & I couldn't wait until it cooled to test! The crust was crispy in a French stick kind of way and the taste was amazing, even before the buttering. Very crumpety!

Definitely a winner.

Rhubarb & Elderflower Jam

I recently read online that elderflower makes a delicious addition to rhubarb jam. One of the best spring jams in my opinion is gooseberry & elderflower so I'm game! Want to have a go?

1kg chopped rhubarb

1kg sugar or jam sugar

5-6 elderflower blooms

Juice of 1/2 lemon (omit if using jam sugar)

I had some early forced rhubarb in the freezer. It's such a gorgeous colour and delicate flavour I thought it might work really well with the flowers.

For my kilo of sliced rhubarb I picked about 6 heads of elderflower. Pick the blooms that are almost going over but not brown...smell them! They're the ones with the best flavour. If they smell good, they'll taste good.

 

After giving them a shake to dislodge any hitchhikers pop them in a muslin sheet or jelly bag (just in case there are any bionic crawlers surviving your shake) at the bottom of a large bowl.

Add the rhubarb on top then sprinkle with the sugar.

 

Cover with a clean tea towel & leave, in the fridge, for 24 hours if you can, or overnight if you can't wait. The sugar will draw out the moisture in the fruit which will in turn soak the elder flowers & absorb the flavour and perfume.

When you're ready to start jamming, drain the elder flowers over the rhubarb for 15-20 minutes and sterilise your jars & lids while your're waiting.

Pop the fruit, sugar & lemon juice, if using, mixture into a large pan and heat gently to boiling point. Turn up the heat & bring to a rapid boil, testing for setting point every 5 minutes or so.

When setting point is reached pour into your jars and get those lids on as soon as you can while the jam is hot.

Leave to cool, label then enjoy! 

Let me know what you think.

Lynn 

If stress burned calories...

My youngest is leaving home next week.

It's a fact of life...my children have grown up. How did that happen? I'm sure I kept an eye out for that sort of thing.

I savoured every moment, from them being small to tall, and it still doesn't seem enough.

Add this to house clearing for our own move out of the county and I should be a size 10 not this wobbly, sleep deprived harridan blogging at 3am on a Tuesday morning.

Squished plums.

In my mind there are few jams that are nicer than damson. It's such an old fashioned jam but, talking to my customers, it seems that all but the hardiest of jam makers won't bother with it.
Because of the stones.

Many of my older customers prefer the stones being left in & claim the resulting jam is tastier. Personally I can't tell the difference and I hated it when my mum made it because she left the stones in & I couldn't be bothered picking them out.

I have to confess it was a dilemma when I first started making it a few years ago though. There was no way I wanted to sit de-stoning the kilos of fruit we collected!

I finally came up with the following method which works just as well on small wild plums and cherries.

Damson Jam
You will need:
Damsons (or wild plums)
Sugar
water
2 large pans
colander

Add your fruit (fresh or frozen*) to a large pan and add sufficient water to just touch the bottom of the fruit on the top layer.

Bring to the boil and simmer gently for a few minutes until the fruit is soft.

Leave to cool to a temperature comfortable enough to handle with your hands.

Tip the fruit & water into another pan through a colander then, using your hands, begin to squeeze the fruit through the colander (I use a kneading motion, like making bread). 

Wild yellow plums

This will ensure you get some skins in with your pulp but very few stones. If you prefer no skins use a sieve instead of the colander.

Continue until just the stones and some skins are left. Make sure all the fruit pulp is scraped off the colander and pick out more skins if you have a preference (I love them, they add 'fizz' to the jam).

Now measure the amount of pulp in the pan.

Damson pulp

You will need equal quantities of sugar to pulp. Here I had 2 litres of pulp so added 2kg of sugar.

Bring the contents of the pan to a boil, stirring from time to time until a roiling boil is reached.

Damson Jam coming to a rolling boil.

There is usually quite a lot of foam with damsons. This can either be skimmed off if you find it unsightly or adding a knob of butter will help disperse it. Sometimes it can be stirred evenly through the jam once it's off the heat. This particular batch was very foamy so I skimmed it but the yellow plum only had a small amount which I stirred in once it was off the heat.

Continue to boil until setting point has been reached then pour into sterilised jars and cover with lids.

2kg of damsons, with the sugar, will make approximately 7llb of jam.

*damsons, plums & cherries are excellent to freeze 

Love cheese?

I'm beginning to get worried. We're three weeks away from Christmas and not once have I had my ' it's Christmas Day, where is the tree & why haven't I bought any presents?' dream. In fact I'm dangerously calm. I suspect the It's Christmas Day, Where Is The Tree & Why Haven't I Bought Presents? Dream may about I come true.

Ah we'll...we've plenty of jam!

Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas generosity I thought I'd share a quick & easy recipe for a preserve that can double as a sweet  and savoury treat. I made some today for a customer and I'd forgotten how delicious it is. I love it on cheese on toast.

Spiced Carrot Marmalade

500g grated carrot

3 lemons ( you will need the zest of 2 and the juice of all 3)

1 large orange (juice & zest)

1tsp either cumin OR coriander seed OR cardamom seed

1kg jam sugar (with added pectin...essential for a quick set with this marmalade)

Put all the ingredients (including the spice of your choice) in a large pan and bring to the boil slowly allowing the sugar to dissolve. Check for set immediately the boil is reached; you should find its ready to set almost before it boils.

Pour into sterilised jars and pop the lids on as quickly as possible.

If the carrot floats to the surface leave for 10 minutes, invert the jars quickly to distribute the 'peel'.

Makes about 5llb

Try serving with cheese or on toast.

Sharing - Part II

I had a tweet last week from one of my customers @eatupshrewsbury telling me they were making rock cakes with my raspberry jam. Instant transportation back to Domestic Science classes in school and one of the first things we were taught to bake.
I've checked the recipe out again and here we go:

Raspberry Buns or Rock Cakes

Ingredients:

200g self raising flour

75g granulated or caster sugar

50g butter or margarine

1 large egg

Raspberry Jam (or jam of your choice)

It’s the same recipe for Rock Buns, simply substitute the jam for 50g sultanas.

Pre-heat oven to 180°C (360°C), Gas Mark 4

Lightly grease a baking tray

Cream sugar into butter/marg

Add flour and egg,  mix until mixture comes together (you may need to use a little milk)

Divide mixture into 12 and roll into balls

Indent the top of each ball using your thumb and add approx a teaspoon of jam

Transfer to baking tray and cook for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown

Leave to cool

Life, the universe and everything...

Sleep. *laughs hysterically*

2.30 am…ping…wide awake. Again.

Then it hit me.

I’m so busy during the day that time passes me by; I thought yesterday –Monday- was Tuesday, I’d worked so hard I thought I must be Tuesday, surely?  

I, obviously, need to be grateful to my brain for waking me up; when else would I find time to catch up on my reading, worry about the meaning of life, panic about missing deadlines & re-run all the bad decisions I’ve made in my life?

So, really, my brain is doing me a favour. No, honestly. I’ve much more time than I think. Yeah, that’s it! Maybe I shouldn’t waste it in bed…zzzzz

Wild thing...

I was slightly worried when we went on holiday at the end of August that we would miss the best of the foraging. There was a last minute trek over towards Shrewsbury on the Monday evening, before we were due to leave on the Thursday, to collect as many wild plums as we could before we lost the light. 

MrP's patented foraging method complete with shepherd's crook

And a good job we did too. There were only yellow ones left...the red & black had just either gone over or already been had. Fortunately the yellow ones are the best in my opinion and we should have enough to last well into next year now.

Wild Cherry Plums - ready for washing before going in the freezer

It's been a great year for fruit and I didn't miss it all. We've had damsons, elderberry, rowan, blackberries, and apples. I've been told there's a quince tree somewhere nearby on public land but I haven't found it yet & it breaks my heart to think of that lovely fruit going to waste!

A couple of years ago I made rose-hip syrup which went down well with my older customers who, like me, could remember having it as a child. Back when I was a child it was the answer to my mother's wish to get enough vitamin C into us as possible (a hangover from her war time experiences as a child I suspect). I loved it.

Instead of syrup this year I made a jelly. Not as limiting in its uses.

Wild RoseHip Jelly

1kg rosehips

3kg crab apples or other foraged apples (cooking apples will do if you can't find any or haven't got a fella handy with a shepherd's crook)

About 1.8kg sugar

Makes about 14 200g/8oz jars

Spend some time picking over your rosehips removing any stalks, leaves, smushy hips and foreign bodies of the insect variety (eeeew earwigs)

Blitz the hips in a food processor (or leave whole if you haven't got one, it'll just take a little longer for them to soften). 

Roughly chop the apples. No peeling or coring required. These apples were neither crab apples of bramleys..they tasted slightly like a fresh golden delicious and they were collected from a hedgerow about 5 minutes from our house.

Place the hips and the apples in a very large pan. Mine are 8 litre jam pans & are full!

Add 2.5 litres of water and bring gently to a simmer. Pop a lid on and continue to simmer until all the fruit is soft (about an hour)

Remove from the heat and cool slightly while you get your straining equipment ready.

You will need a scalded jelly bag or a clean piece of muslin. I have a jelly bag but frankly it scares the poop out of me to use it as there have been many an over balancing disaster so I prefer muslin and a colander. Either way, make sure you have a large enough bowl (or another jam pan) ready to catch your juice.

Now, word of warning. Rosehips contain tiny hairs that can irritate so do not be tempted to just sieve the mixture. It needs to be filtered through the cloth slowly, over night preferably and try not to squeeze the juice out as your finished product may be cloudy.

Once you are happy with the amount of liquid you have I recommend a second filter just to make sure you've got all those hairs out. Just repeat by running the liquid through a clean jelly bag or piece of muslin...it won't take long this time.

And don't forget to compost the pulp from the bags!

Now measure your liquid and allow 450g of sugar for every 600ml of juice.

Boil until setting point has been reached, pour into sterilised jars & pop a lid on.

At this point I'd show you a picture of the finished product only I forgot to take one!

Try it on toast, warmed up & runny in ice cream or with lamb, pork, duck, turkey....be brave & adventurous.

Neighbours, Everybody needs good neighbours...sing along now...

Last week MrP was threatened at knife point, on our own doorstep, by a neighbour. 

Surreal or what? 

He was calm, his tone of voice almost annoyed as he shut the door on her. She then proceeded to stab our front door & lop off the heads my pot of welcoming margaritas with her cheese knife.

How terribly British we were, MrP was undamaged, we needed a new front door anyway, the margaritas would bounce back and the nice policeman didn't want a cuppa...

We don't have much to do with our immediate neighbours. There's was an 'incident' a few years ago involving their boy, a sharp implement & MrP's car's paintwork that was never resolved...and I don't foresee a time when that will get better now.

I don't feel I can pop over for fear they'll think I'm after an apology & I suspect they're too mortified to come over and offer one anyway.

Lets pretend it didn't happen eh?

It's jam, not rocket science.

I've been cleaning the cooker after another day of messy creative preserving thinking about a blog post from Rosie Makes Jam. The more I thought about it the more frustrated & annoyed I became. Not about Rosie, but about the whole nonsense of this Nanny State we appear to be living in.

New DEFRA regulations appear to be poised, set at reducing the overall sugar content of jam and similar products and have, seemingly, totally missed the point.
We have to have a certain amount of sugar in the jam to PRESERVE the fruit. We've been doing it for hundreds of years.

Part of the trouble is, I feel, that the articles written on the subject are, hopefully unintentionally, misleading and try to appeal your conscience fooling you into thinking that DEFRA are doing right by you.

In order for jam to last it needs to have a sugar content of 60%. That's science. Proven science.
But, before you panic, that's the TOTAL sugar content including the naturals sugars from the fruit.
Let me give you an example. Jam typically its made with 50% fruit and 50% added sugar but will have an overall sugar content of between 60-69% on average, depending on the fruit & the time of year.
Half the content of that jam is fruit.
Doesn't that make you feel better?
It should. It's true, traditional jam. Preserved fruit.

So, if these regulations go through it seems I will have two options:

•  reduce the amount of added sugar (which will give a sloppy product with reduced shelf life & less value for money)
• call my 'jam' something else

Quite frankly I think DEFRA are going about this the wrong way. 

The regulations should follow, surely, that those companies who want to make reduced sugar products, those with the technology for mechanical filling and sealing that allow for long life, those that add artificial preserving agents & chemicals, should not be allowed to call their product 'JAM'.*

Yes, there IS a market out there for reduced sugar jam but keep it separate. 

Stop making choices for us.

This is bureaucracy at it's most idiotic and, while seemingly not terribly important to the majority of people, it seems to me that once again the 'little people' are losing out in the name of commercialism.

Wake up & smell the jam people!

Suggested reading:

The Daily Mail have a good article about the new regulations, featuring Vivien LLoyd and you can sign Vivien's petition for real jam here

Please read Rosie's blog and have a look at the links she provides

*(Having reached this conclusion, I've just read an open letter by Rosie to DEFRA here and she says the same thing at the bottom of her letter.)

From the ashes of disaster...

Thought for the day here in the Jammy Cow kitchen, super tune from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and pretty much how are things with me.
Anyhoo, before I go off on one again, let me explain.

A while ago I made some Spiced Rhubarb & Orange Chutney. It was lovely & sold really well. I came across the recipe again to day and, having some rhubarb left over from making Rhubarb & Ginger Jam, thought it would be a great choice for the Food Festivals & Fairs in June.

After standing over it AND still having it catch on the bottom of the pan (changed pans 3 times) for 4 hours and it still not being ready I was all for throwing it in the bin.

I hate waste but I didn't have the time or the energy for another 4 hours. It would've been a shame. It really tasted nice but it wasn't reducing.

Then, ta dah! 

I blended it & bottled it and invented my own 'Rhubarb Ketchup'!
I'd like to say it was on purpose. I'd like to say I'm a creative genius. But frankly...
I just wing it!

Beat me to it.

I bought some (more) new books. I like books. I like books on preserving. I keep being asked to write my own - not by folk who know anything about publishing, but nonetheless...

Some books are so annoyingly full of unnecessary complications. Take this one for example:

It's an American publication & they do things slightly different when it comes to preserving & I can make allowances BUT, by the time I'd got through 30 pages of introductions, contradictions, equipment, acknowledgements & 'before you starts', frankly I didn't give a monkey's about the recipes.

It's going on the bookshelf to gather dust.

This one however is the one I wish I'd written.

Friendly, simple, unpatronising and empowering...darn it.

It's a DK publication with all the great photographs you'd expect but with a slightly more grown up look.

There are some quirky recipes in there that appeal to my Jammy Cow head plus a fabulous idea for making pectin from leftover lemon shells (my compost bin won't thank me).

Darn it (again)! Now I'm going to have to rethink my master plan for world domination....

Sharing

I spoke to a lovely lady in Shifnal at the weekend, She'd really enjoyed the last posting here and was keen to try the Clementine Marmalade recipe.
I love chatting about jamming.
I'm not interested in celebrity gossip & I feel my opinions on world affairs are neither knowledgeable nor of much value BUT I can talk jam!
I did say I would post more recipes but for now I thought I'd let you into a little secret for making the best bread & butter pudding (in my opinion) in the world.


Bread & Butter Pudding with Clementine Marmalade.
You will need:
8 slices of fruit loaf (I used Warburton's Fruit Loaf with Orange )
good butter
jar of Jammy Cow Clementine Marmalade with Cointreau
400ml milk (or a mix of 350ml milk & 50 ml of double cream)
2 eggs
25g sugar
15-30ml Cointreau (depending on your preference)

Grease a 1 litre dish with butter.
Butter the fruit loaf generously with butter and marmalade then cut each slice in half (I like mine on the diagonal).
Arrange the bread, buttered side up, on the dish in layers, pointed crusts pointing up.
Beat the eggs into the milk together with the Cointreau if using extra.
Pour the egg mixture over the bread slices then leave for about half an hour while the bread soaks up the custard.
While it is soaking, pre-heat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas4
Before putting into the oven sprinkle with sugar for an extra crispy top.

Cook for about 30 or 40 minutes until the custard is set & the bread is toasty brown.

Serve with cream, custard or ice cream.

You'll need to excuse me now....strangely, I have the need to make pudding.

How did it get so late so soon?

*hangs head in shame* Look how long it is since I last posted!
Anyhoo, its not like I've had time on my hands or anything. For one thing I've had to buy a third jamming pan! Oh and a new kitchen...

Old kitchen

No kitchen

New kitchen

Needless to say the new kitchen isn't this tidy any more!

Its been a whirl-wind  8 months since taking voluntary redundancy from my library job and going full time with The Jammy Cow and I don't think I've ever worked so hard or such long hours (being a mum doesn't count).

Christmas was very exciting with a couple of magazine features...

Shropshire Life (looking a bit like an serial killer here...)

and an operation on my shoulder that put me out of action for a month, but at least I had an excuse to put my feet up!

See...I've had plenty of time...

If you only ever buy one recipe book...or maybe two

If there's one thing I lack confidence in, it's making things up from scratch. I need inspiration. I like taking an idea and running with it. It's not always pretty!

.A small selection of inspiration

I have a few recipe books for preserves. 

OK, I have a lot of recipe books for preserves.

Some of them, quite frankly, are rubbish. They're over complicated & often make you feel like its just all too much trouble. I hate books that hint at 'leave it to the experts'.

While I was waiting for my gooseberry & elderflower jam to boil yesterday I was flicking through one of my favourites.

'Preserves' by Pam Corbin

This would be my Can't Do Without Book. It brings me back to my reason for The Jammy Cow in the first place and, if I ever feel I've lost the plot, out it comes. I'm reading through it quite a lot at the moment!

But I really, really like this one too....

It, also, has no pretensions and was my sole inspiration to make marmalade.

But, there's no way I'm stopping looking for more books...all in the name of research, of course!

Mellow Yellow...not quite

Not-so-Mellow Yellow Chelly

We can't keep this on the stall very long at the Farmer's Markets so I thought I'd share the recipe.
I can't take all the credit; I got the idea from Nigella & you can make it as hot or as mild as you like.
It's much easier than making a jelly from apples and only takes an hour at most to make.

Chelly (Chilli Jelly) - Mild

INGREDIENTS

150g long fresh red chillies (Remove seeds if you want it even milder)

150g red peppers - seeds & white membrane removed.

1kg jam sugar

600ml cider vinegar

6 x 250ml sealable jars, with vinegar-proof lids

METHOD 

Makes approx. 1.5. Litres Keeps sealed for 12 months

Wash your jars & sterilise (I do mine in the oven)

Put the chillies & peppers into a food processor and pulse until they are finely chopped.

Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a wide, medium-sized pan over a low heat without stirring.

Scrape the chilli-pepper mixture out of the bowl and add to the pan. Bring the pan to the boil, then leave it at a rolling boil for 10 minutes.

Take the pan off the heat and allow it cool for about 10 -20 minutes depending on your patience* (this helps distribute the fruit mixture & prevents it floating to the top of your jars)

Ladle into your jars & seal.
*If you've had no patience, like me, bottle immediately & after 15 minutes or so invert each jar to distribute the chilli & pepper flakes (continue to invert every 15 mins until the little devils stay suspended!)

Hotter version:

Replace red chillies with yellow scotch bonnet chillies & red peppers with yellow or orange peppers

If you can't be bothered at all, here's the link to buy some! Chelly

Too good to be true.

Back in October I mentioned making marmalade...and the easy recipe I'd found. And it's a good job I did find it; if I'd had to make the Oxford Marmalade I've finished today I'd probably never attempt marmalade again.
Cheeses wept! What a faff!
I'm going to have to work on that recipe & get the setting point time down.
In all fairness to the marmalade, I did double the quantities so it took an age to reach the boil then my pan was too full for a rolling boil...but I now have a vast quantity and still 16kg of oranges to go!

Oxford Marmalade cooling

Oh dear....

Anyone who knows me will appreciate that I’m sooo beyond being a ‘yummy mummy’. 

I'm neither young enough, slim enough or attractive enough. However, I've just found myself overwhelmed with a feeling of yuppy, yummy mummy-ness that a trip to Waitrose was only just narrowly avoided.

I have a new (to me) car. I had, previously, a black & pink striped Suzuki Swift. It was me! Modest enough yet cheeky enough to shout (quietly) ‘look at me, look at me’. 

Totally useless for transporting a 6’ table, 3 meter gazebo & 20 crates of jam and their associated display hardware.

The new one is perfect – it has no personality – but its perfect. And, my goodness, it’s got a magnificent boot space!

But...as I drove to work , past my neighbour walking his dog, he failed to recognise me and, at that point, I realised that I had become a ‘grown-up’.  Not only a grown-up but a Volvo driver too.

Now...where are my wellies?

Me Made Marmalade

Its been a bit of a love/hate relationship. I love making it but don't really like eating it too much. Which is odd really since I like drinking gin and the bitterness of the marmalade always reminds me of gin! But give me some thinly sliced brown bread, toasted & slathered with butter (not margarine), & I'll tuck away a slice now & then.

I'm quite willing to openly admit that I have been afraid of making marmalade. No logical reason, given that twelve months ago I'd never made any.
Its always seemed shrouded in mystery to me. One of those things that, I think, those that are in the know like to maintain is difficult to master. Like baking.
Baking, recently thanks to TV, has been elevated to a fine art form that celebrity chefs & personalities seem to be spending hours telling us that now 'anyone' can do. Temperature this, pop it in the fridge that, measure carefully, use this, don't tie your apron too tightly...Of course we can do it & we should do it, just don't try to scare us into not doing it by telling us how easy it is while trying to convince us its complicated but you'll do us a favour by explaining it to us! It's not rocket science. Its a thing to be enjoyed not feared. I keep trying to say to Himself, relax; so what if you've not got the 'right' size tin or the...oh wait, I'm off on one again aren't I?
And, breathe.....
Lets get back to the marmalade.
I came across a recipe for pink grapefruit & cranberry marmalade that I thought would be lovely for Christmas. It was in a book by the Australian Woman's Weekly. If you've ever used them you'll know how simple & straight forward their recipes (for anything) are. It was an epiphany! Why had I been so afraid?
Sure, it's a bit time consuming prepping your fruit but jamming is about time. To me it's a valid excuse to take time out & focus on ONE thing, not the 6 billion other things I need to get done (stuff the hoovering!).
And you can walk away from this pan while your rind is softening in simmering water (oh...guess that's the hoovering then)

I think marmalade appeals to the waste-not-want-not side of me. The satisfaction of using nearly all of the fruit to make something to eat? Yes please! Plus there's the sparkly jewel-like colour of this particular marmalade that the five year old magpie in me just can't get enough of.

So, let me share the recipe with you & set you free from marmalade phobia.

Ingredients
675g pink grapefruit (approx 2) I used Ruby
juice & pips of 2 lemons
225g cranberries fresh or frozen (I used dried, see below for additional instructions*)
900ml water (plus an additional 500ml if using dried cranberries)
1.3kg granulated sugar

*If using dried cranberries soak for half an hour, while slicing the grapefruit, in 70ml water or spirit of your choice (I used port with it being for Christmas) then microwave for 45 seconds to swell the cranberries.

Wash, halve & quarter the grapefruit & slice thinly. Keep the pips (I didn't have any) & any juice that runs out.
Tie the grapefruit & lemon pips in a muslin bag & place in a large pan with the grapefruit slices, juice & lemon juice.

Add the water & bring to a boil. Cover & simmer for 1½-2 hours until the rind is very tender. It will be translucent. Remove the muslin bag, cool then squeeze over the pan.

Add the cranberries (and additional water if using) to the pan & bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the berries have popped & softened.

Add the sugar & stir on  a low heat until dissolved. Now boil rapidly for about 10 minutes, or until setting point is reached.

Remove from the heat, skim off any scum from the surface (its not yukky or anything, just unsightly in your jars)

Pour into warm sterilized jars. Label when cold.
Keeps for 12 months & makes approximately 2.25kg (5llb)

Great choice for toast and equally at home on cold roast turkey...my tummy rumbles as I type!

What are you waiting for? Or do you want to get that hoovering done?

More carrots.....

I'm (sadly) very excited about a recipe I've just found for carrot & rhubarb jam! Is there no limit to the talent of this humble orange vegetable? It would appear not!
I won't have time to make any up before our next event at Park Hill Farm, Market Drayton, on Monday but I'll post the recipe once I've tried it!
Woo hoo...all hail the mighty carrot.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone