Jam making

I promised to share with you my jam-making exploits, so here goes.

Of the many joys moving into a new house brings, discovering the garden and all the varied things it has to offer over the course of the year is one of the most interesting, and the one that usually brings the more pleasant surprises.  One of my happiest discoveries has been that I only need venture to the bottom of my garden to forage for blackberries.

The less ripe berries are higher in pectin and
 so it is a good idea to include a few of these

I decided that it was time I did something with these blackberries.  Never having made jam before, I thought this would be a good opportunity to try.  However, blackberries are a low-pectin fruit so need some assistance when it comes to getting a good set on your jam.  I read that a good trick is to add a few squeezes of lemon juice to the fruit before you start the heating process.  As ever, Mother was on hand with advice, and suggested I combine the blackberries with apples, which are a high-pectin fruit.

Attempt #1
For my first attempt I used apples from the garden.  I used equal amounts of blackberries and apples, and matched the combined weight of the fruit with granulated sugar.

It started out promising, but because the apples were eaters not cookers, they didn't dissolve.  Never mind I thought, I'll strain the mixture and make a blackberry and apple jelly (apparently it's a jelly if it's strained).  Not having a jam thermometer, I used the cold plate test to try to judge when the mixture was ready. 

The cold plate test involves putting a drop of the mixture onto a cold plate (pop in the fridge or freezer), letting it cool and then gently pressing from the side with your little finger; if the jelly wrinkles it's ready to set.

Unfortunately I didn't really know what I was looking for, and overcooked it.  The result, when it cooled, was a very sticky mess at the bottom of the jar!  Not wanting to throw it away I put it in the fridge anyway, and I'm glad I did.  In a lesson that most things are salvageable, Maud helpfully advised that I could reheat the mixture with some extra water.  The result of this was a much more pleasing, and edible, set jelly.  It is rather sweet, probably because I used eating apples (which are sweeter than cooking apples).

Attempt #2
A definite improvement.  This time I limited myself to blackberries.  I used equal weight of blackberries and granulated sugar.

Early on in the cooking process

Having overcooked once before, I had a better idea of what consistency I was looking for to know whether the jam would set.  When doing the cold plate test you're not looking for wrinkles so much as signs of a skin forming on the top.  Basically when the jam on the plate cools, ask yourself whether it is the right consistency for putting on a scone.  If the answer is yes, your jam is done!  And a good tip from Maud: don't forget to take your pan off the heat while doing the cold plate test, or your jam mixture will carry on cooking!

I was really quite proud of my second attempt.  It tastes rather good, even if I do say so myself, and went very well some homemade scones.

Attempt #3
Mother gave me some Bramley apples from her garden, so I thought I would try blackberry and apple again.  This time I cut the apples up a lot smaller, and being cooking apples they dissolved (which meant no need to strain).  I used equal weights of blackberries and apples.

For this attempt I used jam sugar, my first time using this.  Jam sugar has pectin added to it, and so helps with the setting process.  As apples are high in pectin I used slightly less sugar than the combined weight of the fruit.

The result is not as sweet as the first, and I prefer it for this.  It has quite a firm set, but my no means is this too much.  In all, a successful first attempt with jam sugar.


It's going to take a lot of scones for me to get through all this jam...



This is my second attempt and is a simple blackberry jam.

Spinach and green bean tart

One of the joys of being a first time gardener has been growing my own vegetables.  I take a ridiculous delight in being able to pick spinach for dinner just minutes before I toss it in the pan.  Freshly picked beans and spinach, lightly cooked, with some pasta and topped with a sprinkle of parmesan make a delicious, simple, supper.

So when I had Grandma and the P's coming for lunch I knew I wanted to do something that would make use of my modest crop.

Felicity Cloake does a great weekly baking column in the Guardian called "How to make the perfect...".  A few months ago she published a recipe for a perfect asparagus tart.  I tried it at the time and was pleased with the result.

This time, I adapted the basic recipe of Felicity Cloake's asparagus tart.  Instead of the asparagus I mixed spinach leaves into the cream mixture and poured this over the cooked green beans I had already arreanged on the base of the tart.  Halfway through baking I sprinkled some grated parmesan over the top.  I took the easy route and used frozen pastry, but I am no less proud of the result.

This was a lovely way to use the spinach and beans from the garden, and more importantly it tasted rather good.  From garden to table in a matter of hours.  M brought potato salad (made from potatoes grown in her garden and local village eggs) and lettuce from her garden, so it was a meal made up from a real family harvest; a lovely way to welcome in the autumn season.

I love the layers in this tart.

Afternoon tea with carrot cake

Time spent in the kitchen to produce homemade bakes for friends and family is never time wasted; the results are always appreciated and it's a real joy to sit down with the ones you love and be able to share with them something you have spent time (that most precious of things) making just for them.

My dear friend Maud came to see me on Saturday, which gave me a lovely excuse to get out the china and set out an afternoon tea spread.

We got through several pots of tea (Betty's, of course) while munching our way through sandwiches and sweet treats.  For the sandwiches I was fortunate enough to have been in receipt of a batch of fresh eggs, which had come from a farmer local to the P's in Herefordshire.  Beautiful deep yellow yolks made the egg mayo sandwiches all the more enticing.

I had fun planning the baking.  The cake is a carrot cake made from a recipe in the Great British Book of Baking.  The recipe is easy to follow and makes a yummy, moist cake.  Carrots, walnuts, orange zest and spices flavour the sponge, and the frosting has a cream cheese base given a citrus lift with the addition of orange zest and fresh orange juice.  It was really rather good, even if I do say so myself.

Another first was the chocolate chip shortbread.  A quick and easy recipe, made in a fluted tart tin and divided into eights, the pieces are a lovely accompaniment to a cup of tea.

I also made scones.  Following my previous experiments with blueberry scones and cheese scones, only a batch of traditional sultana scones would do for this occasion, and were a perfect way to try the homemade blackberry jam I had made the week before (more on my jam making exploits to follow in a later post, I promise).

And if you're thinking this all sounds like a lot for two people, you would be correct!  A long tramp through the fields and along the river meant we were ready for seconds, but there was still a lot left so I was able to send Maud away with a few treats.  As for the rest, my brother seems more than willing to help finish them off.

Baby name bunting

This weekend I had the joy of joining some friends as they celebrated their little boy's first birthday. I wanted to make something as a present, and I decided I would try to make some personalised bunting, decorated with their baby's name.  Fortunately the result was as good as I could have hoped for.

I have written previously about my attempts at making bunting from card.  This time I went for fabric bunting, using calico for the triangles. I had some fabric left over from the cot quilt I had given my friends the year before when their son was born, and I used this fabric for the lettering.

If you want to have a go at making something similar, the process is pretty straightforward:

* Decide on your size of triangle - this will dictate the size of your letters.  Make a template.  Draw and cut out (remembering to leave seam allowance) your triangles from the calico.  I find tailor's chalk really helpful for this.
* Draw and cut out templates for your letters.  Think about whether you have anything that can help you with this - I used a cookie cutter to help me with the star (I had to scale down the size a bit).  Once you have the templates for the shapes, cut these out from the fabrics you have chosen (think about choosing colourful fabrics that will stand out against the calico).  Small scissors help here!  I never throw away templates - you never know when they will come in handy.
*  Attach the letters to the calico triangles.  I used Bondaweb for this; I found it made the appliqué process a lot easier than my previous attempts at this skill, and I think it makes for a neater result.  It's very easy to use.  Using your templates you draw and cut out the shapes you need from the Bondaweb, iron these onto the back of the fabric pieces, peel off the backing and iron the pieces into place on the calico triangles.  Keep the edges neat by overcasting on a sewing machine.
* To make each bunting flag, take one decorated triangle piece and one plain triangle piece, lay right sides together, pin and sew along the two side edges (not the top).  Trim the edges, especially around the point, press the seams, and then pull through.
* I made my own binding to sew along the top of the bunting flags, but you can buy bias binding, or you could use ribbon.  I pinned this in place, folding it over the top raw edges of the flags, carefully lining up front and back edges, and then machine stitching into place.

I am really pleased with the finished result, and this will certainly be a project that I will be trying again.