Ingredients:
Method:
NB : For a little extra heat you could add a de seed red chilli.
]]>Keep all pipes and pith and place in a muslin cloth.
Place all the ingredients including the water into a pan and leave in a cool place overnight.
The next day, first things are first, get the jars ready to do this your need to wash your jars in warm soapy water ( or in a dishwasher) rinse and pop them in a medium heated oven for 10 minutes until dry, leave them there until you require them.
Now place your pan on the stovetop and bring to the boil. Once at boiling point simmer for 2 hours uncovered until the peel is soft.
Remove from the heat and take out the cloth with the pith and place it in a colander to squeeze out the pectin and any juices from this little magic bag. This needs to be added to your marmalade.
Slowly add the sugar dissolving it as you add it to the liquid, once the sugar has dissolved bring to the boil. The marmalade boils and it looks very fierce and magical all at eh same time. Within 10mins you will feel the marmalade thicken on your spoon, so check your marmalade for set you require every 5 minutes or so. Once you have reached the set. Take the marmalade off the stove and leave it to settle for about 5 minutes.
Now you may find a little frothy texture on top of your Marmalade and in many recipes, it request that you place a nob of butter to disperse this however, I feel that butter should be left for your toast, so either ladle it off with a slotted spoon. DON’T loss this place it in a bowl to use as a filling for a cake or even a cocktail. It still tastes amazing, I stir mine into ice cream.
Ladle into your clean jars and lid. Enjoy with your breakfast toast. But remember marmalade can be used in many, many dishes and recipes. If you use marmalade in a recipe please feel to share and let us all know how you use your any photos of your dishes would be wonderful to see.
Happy Marmalade making
Best
Jennifer x
Quince has always been the pinnacle of the year for me - although I have other fruit to pick and more than enough plums, pears, apples and hedgerow fruit to turn into jam, but I can hardly await the moment of the quince.
He normally ripens at the end of an orchard year. He makes us wait until October and sometimes even November. A crowning glory of the orchard garden, if the seasons play by the books and the weather plays her part, he arrives like an ugly duckling awkward and very different! Growing in form, just like a misshapen pear, sometimes resembling that of a teardrop.
He has pale yellow soft skin that covers an unusually hard fruit, but once you have managed to peel and chop into its flesh his beauty and scent will intoxicate you, but be warned once you have cooked this remarkable, unique fruit and witness how it gives up its beauty and it shines and glows, you will be addictive, and forever under it’s spell.
So as I turn fruit into a jam and below I have shared my mum’s recipe with you.
For this recipe your need the usual equipment a large pan, wooden spoon, glass jars, lids, a jelly bag and stand. (if you don’t have a stand you can always tie it to an upturned stool, or chair.)
This recipe is similar to crab apple jelly, it the fact you just need to check your quinces for disease and bruises and add them to a pan and cover with enough water to boil them into a pulp.
I have given a weight but to be honest the weight of the fruit before cooking really is not important, so long as you have a fair amount of fruit to cover the bottom of your pan.
If you have now fallen for the quince, and would like to try something a little more you could simply poach the fruit in a sugar syrup the same as you would do for a pear.
Peel the quinces and slice into 4 add these to a sugar syrup with a vanilla pod
However this year I am picking Rowan berries before elderberries that is a first for me. Elderberries need cooking before you eat them they can make you ill if uncooked.
The Leaves and stems mustn’t be used and these too can make you quite ill. So cook them first. So yes you can make an amazing syrup, jam and jelly but here I like to tell you about a soup.
To get to the soup we first have to travel back in time to Barland Estate in Powys Wales and into Garden Cottage. In the garden the plums are ready to pick, loganberries are ripping fast each day against the walled garden space dripping with flavour, the apples are promising a bumper crop and I am still picking raspberries, strawberries and of course, the currant cage is not giving in just yet. Our freezers are full and the larder is filling up. It’s early August and the kitchen hot from the Rayburn. A constant smell of cooking fruit fills our house.
A large bowl of water with a small hint of wine, is on the heat, the air is filled with warm smells, first the fresh fruity aroma, then a whisper of cinnamon with undertones of honey fill the air in between and remind me that the summer not going to last forever, my choice of school has been my undoing. I will at the end of this month get back on the bus and although my days will be busy, I not be with my mum & dad, my little brother and of the mad dog “hop along Cassidy” and I will miss them all so much along with the garden full of fruit and flowers, dinner will become just food. I indeed missed them more than I ever told them. (Turn back the clock).
My mum’s storytelling was always fascinating and all the time she was passing on everything she learnt, she had a thirst for knowledge, and her desire to pass on everything she knows was so important. She was like a missionary spreading and sharing the word! Especially when she was in the kitchen, so as she cooked she told stories, and apart from cooking lessons we had, history lessons, art lessons and life lessons! Why, and how certain dishes came about why we forage and the importance of not forgetting what we once knew.
My mum was and is still my hero, she could cook anything and did indeed cook everything, and could make a meal from nothing. Her heart still beats in mine and although I miss her every single day I know she is with me every second. She made me who I am today, she taught me the love of life, passion and of course cooking. She was outstanding at everything especially making soups, from all most anything from the garden. Even the hardened meat eater couldn’t resist her delicious green and bean soup. So as the seasons changed and slowly moved on so did the recipes and the soup. I not sure I could even to this day give you my favourite choice if I was to choose? Then I would choose them all a small tiny cup of each starting with the pea, then cold fennel, but always finishing with the Elderberry soup.
1.5 litres of water
500g of Elderberries
2 tablespoons of Lemon Juice (one large lemon)
100ml of white wine
1 stick of cinnamon
A little arrowroot to thicken or you can have this without if you would like a thin soup.
Pick the elderberries off the stalks, discarding any leaves and stalks.
Add carefully to the warm water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and cook gently for 10-15 mins
The fruit will so mushy, Add a teaspoon of honey at this point.
If you would like a thicker soup, mix the arrow route with a drop of cold water and the rest of the lemon juice and pour into the soup and now season to your taste.
Serve with roasted ground cobnuts and sourdough bread croutons drizzled with honey.
Possible side effects (Autoimmune diseases” such as multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus (systemic lupus erythematosus, SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), or other conditions: Elderberry might cause the immune system to become more active, and this could increase the symptoms of autoimmune diseases. If you have one of these conditions, it’s best to avoid using elderberry.)
]]>The Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa ) is found in many hedgerows and across the countryside but most importantly in the many hedgerows on the Chewton Glen Estate and recently Estate Manger Darren Venables tweeted a wonderful picture capturing the moment of this years flowering. It was beautiful. My mind heart skipped a beat. Its such an exciting time when nature starts to let you in to her little secrets and plans. And so the Blackthorn moments of glory is upon us before even his leaves appear giving this shrub a little glamour in the bare hedgerows. A perfectly formed elegant flower as white and as soft as a cloud on a beautiful blue day.
https://twitter.com/DarrenVenables/status/693138829696438272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E693138829696438272%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnaked-jam.co.uk%2Finspired-by-tweets%2F
The flower is so delicate its almost a shame to pick the beauty from the bush. But crystallised they are perfect for cake decorations or simply served in a light salad.
When the leaves arrive they too can used, to be infused for making a tea. However most people tend to pick from this wonderful gift of nature when the year is almost over and the frost have given these particular berries a little coating to ensure they are perfect for your making your gin. Yes its the sloe bush, that many people can and do use in lots of recipes. However most people I know only ever make gin from them. (and why not). Yet they make a wonderful inclusion to a hedgerow jelly and a fantastic addition to an ice cream especially if they have been used to make gin first!
But before all of those recipes try this one. They would look great on a chocolate cake. Simple, perfect elegant.
An easy Recipe for crystallising flowers:
Ingredients Edible Flowers
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Useful information and tips:
To sterilise jars wash and place in an oven for 10 mins. leave in the oven until required.
When cooking marmalade, you will feel it thicken when you stir the marmalade with your wooden spoon, the more you cook marmalade the earlier it will be to recognise the texture change whilst cooking. Just before she sets it starts to shimmer and glow turning silky.
http://www.huertaavemaria.com/ingles/inicio.htmlhttp:
www.riverford.co.uk/
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/DisplayProductFlyout?productId=45393
]]>What an amazing afternoon and if you were lucky enough to go. You would have been given a little gift of tea jelly.
I would like to help you make the most of this jelly. Naturally you can enjoy it with most game meats or even stirred into a duck gravy. Its can also be used as an alternative to jam! But as its almost Christmas how about a Martini?
So here my recipe for the perfect pick me up Apéritif.
Start by popping your glass in the freezer
Earl Grey Tea Cocktail (serves 1)
I tablespoon of Earl Grey tea jelly.
Warm the tea jelly to make it a little lose then let it cool
45ml of gin
14ml fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon of dried lavender sprigs.(for decoration)
1/2 teaspoon of sugar
(Borrage flowers if you can get them) (for decoration
1 egg white beaten.
Your also need an old clean jam jar with a lid.
Take all your ingredients ( apart from the lavender and Borrage) and place in the jar screw on the lid and shake like Tom Cruise in the movie Cocktail. (this means dancing and enjoying the moment for at least 3 minutes)
Take your prepared glass out of the freezer and dip the rim in the egg and then in the lavender & sugar so the rim is coated.
Sieve the drink into the glass and place a borrage flower or two on the top. Enjoy.
]]>Place all the ingredients, except the sugar into the jam pan. Cook on a low heat until soft about 30 mins stirring all the time don’t let the pumpkin catch. Once the pumpkin starts to soften add the sugar. Once the sugar has dissolved bring all the ingredients to a rolling boil.
The jam can take up to 20-30 mins to cook through from adding the sugar to setting point. It colour changes to a translucent orange its rather beautiful.
Test for setting and once set store in clean sterilised jars (see Medlar post of details on how to do this)
Enjoy on Halloween and more!
]]>Pumpkin & coconut soup (easy recipe)
Chop up the mix spices and, add the pumpkin add ½ of the oil and mix it all together with your hands.
Place in an oven proof dish cover with foil and roast in a warm oven at 180 for about 25-30 mins until soft. Remove from the oven.
In the meantime sweat off the shallots in the rest of the oil. Add the vegetable stock and cook though for about 5mins.
Place all of the ingredients (including the tin of coconut milk) into a blender and blend until smooth, put back onto the pan and warm though don’t boil the soup it will ruin.
Serve with crusty granny bread.
Notes :
You can add a couple of chili’s to this recipe for a warmer soup and the spices can be increased or decreased to suit your taste buds.
This recipe also works by placing all but the coconut into a pan and cooking on the hob for 40mins until soft then add the milk and then blend.
]]>The bletted medlars should be dark and soft before you start. Clean them by removing any stalks and leaves and chopping them in half. Remove any really obvious rotten bits. chop up the lemons and apples into quarters
Place all the fruit chopped into a jam pan (muslin) then add the water.
Slowly bring to fruit and water to boiling point, after 2 mins of boiling reduce the heat and cover the pan with a lid . Simmer and check the pan every 10 mins or so gently with the back of a spoon help break up the fruit.
Once it is mushy and soft this can take up to an hour.
Prepare a jelly bag and pour the fruit and juice into it and let it hang overnight to drip (12 hours) into a clean bowl Don’t squeeze the bag. The following day clean and sterilise a number of jars and lids for the cooking of the jelly.
To sterilized the jars you will need to clean them and warm then in an oven on a heat not greater than 150C to dry the jars and ensure sterilisation. The lids will need to be placed in the oven for a short time also. (If using second hand lids first place a wax disk over the contents of the jar once filled before applying lid.
Now Measure the juice, back into the jam pan and bring to the boil cook for 5 mins.
Measure the juice again and add an equal amount of sugar (which should be about 1 pound to 1 pint of juice ).
Slowly back to the boil and stir until the sugar has completely dissolved. Only boil once the sugar is dissolved, now with a rolling fast boil, continue to cook the jelly checking every 2-3 mins to see if it setting point has been reached.
You can test for jelly by holding the spoon high above the pan and waiting for the drip, once the dip is struggling to leave the spoon your there. Pour jelly into your sterilised jars and lid. Leave to cool and store in a cool dark lace this jelly is perfect with brie or any good cheese.
]]>Buck naked Martini
(served at the White Buck Burley)It’s believed to be derived from a wild Siberian species and it is documented that it may even be a hybrid origin. (So my dad tells me) Although a vegetable it is used like a fruit. It’s almost always cooked with sugar especially used in pies, crumbles and even made into wine. But best of all it makes great tasting jam.
It’s February and it feels the like the winter is still set on making it hard and difficult for us warm up! But the rhubarb has other ideas! Fresh from the garden with their bright pink stems it has brought a breath of early spring into the kitchen. Oranges are fresh in from Spain and they cast a warm glow of meditation sunshine across the fruit bowl. As the days are starting to linger I have time to think about cooking these tactile fruits and I wonder how to bring them together in marriage that will last (well at least 12 mouthfuls!) Bingo a jam is born!
Prep