Crabapple jelly.

I showed you a picture last week of the apples/crabapples that we scrumped from the bypass didn't I? Well here's what we did with them.

First cut them in half and put them in a large pan and cover with water.

Bring to the boil and simmer until soft and pulpy.

Put into a muslin and strain all the juice off. Now all the recipe books say that if you want your jelly to stay clear then don't squeeze the muslin. Well firstly you need asbestos fingers to squeeze it anyway but secondly I don't like to waste any drops, so I always squeeze as much out as I can!

Measure how many pints of liquid you have and pour into a large pan...I use a stock pot.

Then add sugar in the ratio of 1lb of sugar per 1 pint of liquid. I collected 8 pints of liquid. so I needed 8lbs of sugar. That is the only maths you will need!

Stir it as you bring it gently to the boil to allow the sugar to dissolve. It will look rather cloudy at this stage.

Once the sugar has dissolved allow it to come to what the books call a full "rolling boil". I think that is fairly descriptive; it has to boil quite vigorously rather than a simmer. As you can see, scum tends to form around the edges and it is best to scoop this off using a spoon, (or if you are posh I think there is such a thing as a jam skimmer you can buy!). Watch it doesn't boil too hard or it can spit/burn. This stage takes quite a while; you are boiling it until you get a "set". To test for this, put a china plate in the fridge. Add a few drips of the jelly to the plate and leave it for a minute or two. Then push at the surface with a finger and if it wrinkles up and forms a kind of "skin" then it is ready! I find that the colour will deepen significantly as it gets more "jelly" like and it is never really ready the first few times. Once it starts to set it can go quite quickly so keep an eye on it.

Whilst all this is doing it's thing, you need to sterilise the jars you are going to use. I put them in a warm oven, about 150 deg, for about an hour. I also tend to do more than I need as you can't really tell how many jars it will make! This is really important as the jars need to be hot to receive the boiling jam so they don't shatter. Transferring the jam to the jars is quite a risky business; I use a ladle and pour just one jar at a time. Don't get it on you as it WILL burn.

Fill the jars really full as it will shrink a bit. There are a few ideas about what is the best way to proceed now. Some people swear that you need to heat the lids and put them on the hot jars in order to keep it sealed and sterile. However, if you have ever tried to hold a hot jar of runny, boiling liquid in one hand and screw on a hot, metal lid with the other, whilst wearing oven gloves then you will see why I prefer to leave everything until it is completely cold! It does need to be cold and not any degree of warm, or condensation will form on the lid and this is what will turn the jam mouldy.

Then the worst job; washing down the super, sticky jars! See, despite all my squeezing, my jelly is really clear; and I love the colour too.

Finally you get to design a label. Eliza likes to do this job and this is called Roundabout Jelly because we got the crabapples from.....you guessed it...the roundabout!!! My 8 pints made 19 jars of jelly....and the teeny one!

Strawberryfest!

Katy picked me some strawberries last week....6.5kg of them! So I made a strawberry sour cream pie.... ...and some strawberry jam.... ...then using the leftover pastry and some fresh jam I made jam tarts... ...and finally strawberry cordial! Eliza designed my Jam labels!

Baking again!

I am really into my sour dough now! A week or two ago I set up a starter from a Herman cake I was given and I have been experimenting with various recipes ever since! I found a fabby recipe for sourdough cinnamon swirls. I made them on Sunday and they were DELICIOUS!!! All gone now though.

Zucchini, chocolate and orange cake

Well ok they are courgettes but zucchini doesn't sound quite so "vegetabley". I was sent this intriguing recipe so Eliza said she would bake it. It is an American recipe so the first challenge was finding some cup measures! Luckily Mum had some! This is the finished cake complete with glaze.

It was so hot that we ate tea in the garden. Here I am cutting it up....

...see not a green bit in sight! The rather lovely plate was my Grandads by the way, and we always put cakes on it!

And here it is! Really moist, not too sweet and sickly and no courgettey taste anywhere!

Sweet Courgette Relish

I am sure that many of you are inundated with home grown veg at the moment! My Dad has gone to America for 5 weeks leaving behind his veg garden that is packed with all sorts of everything. A few days ago I made the 70 mile round trip to harvest them and came back with courgettes, runner beans, peas, french beans, tomatoes, sweetcorn, lettuce and carrots. So what to do with them? Lots will be eaten or frozen but courgettes are a tricky one as they don't freeze very well. I found a recipe for Sweet Courgette Relish which uses a nice lot!

So I chopped them up small, added onion and vinegar,

...and a few other spices, (a confession here; in the first batch I used a 1/2 teaspoon instead of a teaspoon measure by mistake so it's only mildly spiced)

And this was the result after a lot of boiling! It tastes delicious but has to mature for a month before eating now. I can see it disappearing very quickly with cheese or under cheese on toast and Jess has already bagged a jar to take to Uni!