Being a fully fledged Domestic Executive requires a full portfolio of home cooking talents but there are areas of culinary functions I’ve shied away from perfecting. Fear of failure you might think. And, you’d be right. There is nothing more depressing than for things not to turn out as they should.
In the spirit of full disclosure, my first attempts at preserving looked good but tasted, let’s just say hot and a little too spicy for large volumes to be consumed. I am comforted knowing about Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 rule but fear it’s going to be a long road to earning my master preserver spurs.
But hey everyone has to start somewhere.
Armed with my trusty River Cottage Handbook on preserves I have ventured into the realms of jam making. I have this notion that I’ll be potting up my summer fruits each year and enjoying them all year round. While strawberries were plentiful it seems the logical place to start. I mean after all how difficult can it be to combine stacks of fruit with oodles of sugar and a touch to lemon juice and boil it up for a few minutes.
Ahem. Easy right. Yes indeed.
The key to being a master jam maker is getting the setting point just right. I followed all the instructions and did get it to set. A little firm is probably the best way to describe my first attempt. Very delicious but hard to spread.
Like most things you need the right equipment so I decided to take advantage of the sales and bought myself a preserving pan as an investment for our future pantry stock.
Round two. Same recipe. Different equipment.
And the result you might be wondering.
Not perfect. This time a little too spreadable. Sheesh, frustrating or what!
But still delicious. So we have 6 jars of home made strawberry jam tucked away in the pantry cupboard to remind us of what summers are really about.
Following the practice makes perfect principle I’ll be trying out other fruits as they come in season. Blueberries are next on my target list and blackberries of course picked from our very own brambles which are in competition with the gorse right now. The pan will also give me inspiration to try the pickled red cabbage again with my first home grown from seed red cabbages that are romping away in the kitchen garden right now.
I’m also keen to make our own lemonade cordial having got hooked on this stuff. It is delicious but eye wateringly expensive. I’ll be sure to let you know how that experiment goes!
Looks, and I’m sure will taste, delicious! All you need now is some of your lovely homemade bread, or scones, to spread it on.
I really, really want to learn to make jam. Looking at it from a purely practical angle, I never seem to have quite enough fruit to make it worthwhile, and I don’t eat a lot of jam anyway… but there’s just some little part of me that really wants to make it anyway. I’ll look forwards to hearing when you get it perfect – but I’m sure they’ll taste delicious even if they’re not perfectly set.
This summer, all of a sudden, I’ve been aching to make jam. This post has put me one step closer to actually doing it!! I can’t wait till I’m back in my own kitchen to give it a try. And that Lavender’s Green cordial IS good, isn’t it?
Looks yummy. I will try to make some but we have only had three strawberries off our plants so far. I think the bird keep eating them or it could be my girls sneaking up there every now and then. They do look a bit guilty.