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.

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Experimental Day

Reluctant to throw away some over ripe nectarines I've had hanging round, I skinned & chopped the fruit & popped in some of the few blueberries my small plant struggled to produce. Slightly less than equivalent amount of sugar was added ( the nectarines were very sweet) & I cooked the jam as per the strawberry recipe here. Only made 2 jars but YUM!
So that's a winner.

nectarines and blueberries ready to go!

Mr P was given some greengages yesterday by a work colleague so I've jammed those too and added some slivered almonds. Tastes like gooseberry crumble & (strangely) custard.
Heavenly!


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So many books, so little time!

Erm...4am is far too early to be awake but what can you do? Over excitement about last night's allotment society meet??? Guess not!
Anyhoo fab opportunity to surround myself with recipe books & have an uninterrupted hour or so looking for inspiration for Sunday's FM at Market Drayton.

My shed is aromatic with the gorgeous smell of freshly drying, home-grown garlic & I'm frantically searching for the perfect recipe idea to do it justice.
Apparently the strawberries on the allotment, that I didn't expect to fruit this first year, are abundant thanks to Tony our plot neighbour and his watering efforts while we've been away. I'll be popping up this morning once a more civilised hour has been reached!
Thinking a strawberry & redcurrant jam combo? And how about rhubarb & orange chutney? I have had an amazing amount of rhubarb in the garden and that will be a wonderful change from jam this year.
BUT, I have just got to make some Tobago Pepper Sauce after almost losing the enamel off my teeth & skin off my tongue while we were there last month. Mother's milk to the Trinibagans...slow painful death to lightweights like Mr P & myself! My chili-freaks at MD will love it!

Scotch Bonnet & green chillies...one recipe calls for 45 of them!

As I value my lovely preserving, pan I won't be following that particular recipe!

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Allgold & Giant Greens

What a treat! I found these in a local garden centre last week. Golden raspberries! Who knew?
Apparently they taste even yummier than their red sisters & as an autumn fruiting crop they should provide me with an alternative source of fresh fruit late in the jam season.
I'm quite excited about the prospect of making jam with these although will my buying public be willing to accept yellow raspberry jam?
That remains to be seen & I can't help worrying that the final colour may turn out to be an odd mustard ochre rather than the liquid gold that my heart imagines!
Anyway, they're in the allotment now so there's no going back.

I'm looking forward to harvesting the first of our broad beans later this month. It's not a veg I'm particularly keen on but after being resssured that the fresh & young beans are so much better tasting I've taken a gamble. I have a recipe for Broad Bean Pesto that I want to try and some lovely small pots to put it in to sell if the recipe works.
I suppose if all else fails I can add another table to out market stall & sell the beans as a crop otherwise it's broad bean risotto for the rest of the summer.

I'm abandoning the home garden for 2 weeks, leaving it in the capable picking hands of my youngest, although where she'll find room in the freezer I don't know! (I think the time to invest in a chest freezer is rapidly approaching) We're off on holiday & I'm just hoping that she doesn't become lost amongst the cabbages while we are away.
They seem to have taken on giant proportions but I like to think that by the time we get back they'll have finished stretching their wings and will be learning to curl inwards into neat heads.
If I can't find Tilly when we return it'll be the first place I look!

Gooseberry & Elderflower Jam

Elderflowers from the hedgerow

Quick! While you still can!
This has got to be the easiest & most delicious jam you can make at this time of year!
Small un-ripened gooseberries are great for this jam, they're full of pectin & really tart. Using the small ones also thins out your gooseberry bush branches so the remainder can get nice and fat for gooseberry crumble!
Although the young gooseberries are loaded with pectin I always use less sugar than recommended so I play safe & use jam sugar but normal granulated sugar is fine and doesn't add a lot of time to the making.

Gooseberry & Elderflower Jam
makes approx 10 x 7oz jars
1kg preferably small, un-ripened, gooseberries
approx. 8 elderflower heads* (I used 10 smallish ones) shaken & checked for bugs
1kg jam sugar (or granulated sugar)
500ml water

Method
Top and tail the gooseberries.
I use scissors; managed to put myself in a self-induced trance & gormed tuned out for 15 minutes while this boring but necessary chore was performed.

before

after

Place the fruit in your pan with 500ml of water.
Put the elderflower heads on top. Gently heat until the gooseberries are soft but maintain their shape (5 - 10 minutes)
TIP: watch the flower heads don't catch the side of the pan, they turn brown very quickly with the heat

Remove the elderflowers (compost them!) & add the sugar. (I used approximately 800g of jam sugar)
Bring to a boil slowly, allowing the sugar to dissolve, stir gently trying not to break up the fruit. Inevitably some will break up so don't stress about it; it's just jam!

the sugar has dissolved & its beginning to boil

Bring to a rapid rolling boil without stirring. If you are using jam sugar setting point will be reach in about 5 minutes, otherwise 9-10 minutes. Test.

single elderflower petal in my testing spoonful

If setting point is reached pour into hot, sterilised jars & seal. If not boil & re-check until reached.

Eat within 12 months, IF you can keep it that long.

Cooling! 

But I have a saucer full of pan scrapings waiting for

a nice bit of bread

* If elderflowers are no longer in season, cheat and add 4 tablespoons of elderflower cordial in with the water at the beginning of the process.

Perry's Plotment

Well, we've been very lucky & managed to secure an allotment.

Its nothing like this!

It's a brand new site, previously part of a field, covered in nettles, thistles, couch grass, blackberry, the occasional viola, oil seed rape and, in parts, so compact from the digger it needs a pick axe to break it up. But, its ours!
We had 2 hours there this morning weeding.
It'll take 2 days to recover!
I've had a Radox bath, I'm about to take some ibuprofen & I'm trying to keep moving.
I'm trying to stay motivated by picturing all the lovely things I can grow to turn into jam & pickles. Obviously there will be no return this year but my garden at home is bursting with raspberries, rhubarb, gooseberries already & the cabbages, beans & peas are coming along a treat.

Can't wait to get my shed, it might just be the highlight of the month! Unfortunately the rules say it has to be brown otherwise I'd have one like this:

This would be perfect though!

Oh, and it'll be gooseberry & elderflower jam this month! Second only to my strawberry jam in gorgeousness.