Jam from the Hedgerows – Is Red the New Blackberry!

When Summer ends and Autumn arrives with that first slightly surprising chill in the morning air, I take the jam making pan down from the top shelf and get out in the garden and the hedgerows to gather fruit to make my Blackberry and Apple Jam. Every jam maker worth their salt has been eyeing up the hedges for a couple of weeks by this stage in the game to see where the best and ripest fruit is. It is really important to pick the fruit at its best – ideally in the morning on a dry day and after a dry night. And you have to be quick, I remember one year leaving it just a day too late and someone had got there before me and stripped my target Blackberry bushes clean of fruit – I even spotted her making off with multiple Tupperware containers – certainly the stuff that local feuds are made of. So don’t put it off and get your old jam jars ready for the fray.

I prefer to pick and make jam in fairly small batches which is more manageable and means you can harvest the fruit and make your jam in smaller quantities over a couple of weeks. We have been serving this particular jam to guests in our Airbnb shed and it has been going down a treat, so I thought I would share it more widely…

Blackberries that are growing wild make such beautiful, luscious jam, with a jewel like colour and a deep fruity taste and aroma – plummy, sweet and berry laden. That smell when you are cooking the fruit is just gorgeous and perfectly sums up this transition from Summer to Autumn so well. I add cooking apples to my Blackberry jam, the tartness adds to the flavour and the naturally occurring pectin helps to get a good set.

Once I have all the jars filled and sealed. I sometimes have a little bit left over. I confess that its always tempting to just eat it still warm, off a spoon straight from the pan, but what is even better is to make a quick batch of scones and eat the left over jam with them (with or without butter or clotted cream.) And at this point I am going to be very controversial and state quite categorically that I am always a “cream first, jam second” eater of scones.  I know this is the subject of fierce debate but the reason I do this is because frankly, I want and I desire to see and to witness that garnet red jam wobbling on top of a generous dollop of clotted cream before I take my first mouthful. Sure, the potential for oozing and dribbles is greater. But let’s face it there are few pleasurable activities that don’t involve oozing and dribbles in my experience! **

** Well it all went a bit Nigella there readers!

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Recipe – Makes six jars of jam.

• 1 kg Blackberries
• 500g Cooking Apples peeled, cored and sliced
• 1 .5 kg Jam Sugar (I use Jam sugar, which has Pectin added and helps take the guess work out of the setting process)
• 300ml water
• Two large thick bottomed saucepans.
• Six x 500g jam jars with lids – cleaned and dried.
• Jam thermometer
• A metal spoon for stirring
• Old Newspaper
• A metal or ceramic measuring jug

Method

1. Place the Blackberries in one saucepan with half the water, and the apples in the second saucepan with the other half of the water.
2. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade
3. Bring both pans to the boil and then turn down to a slow simmer.
4. Cook until the apples are a complete mush and the blackberries are well softened, which should take about twenty minutes.
5. Give both pans a regular stir to stop them catching or scorching.
6. Place the clean and freshly washed jam jars, without their lids on a baking tray and place in the oven for about 5 minutes.
7. Spread newspaper over the area where you intend to fill your jam jars – it can get messy.
8. Place the heated jam jars on the newspaper ready for filling.
9. When the fruit is ready, take off the heat and add the apples to the blackberries and mix well.
10. Now add the sugar and stir very well until it is fully dissolved.
11. Place the pan back on the heat. Bring to a rolling boil, stirring regularly to avoid it sticking or burning.
12. Use the thermometer to check the temperature and when it reaches the indicated temperature for Jam or 105 degrees centigrade or 220 degrees fahrenheit it is ready – make sure the temperature is taken not just from the centre which may be hotter.
13. Now carefully remove the pan from the heat and pour the jam into the heated jars or use the jug to fill the jars if the saucepan has no pouring lip.
14. Fill each jar almost to the top but leave about a matchstick width of space at the top of the jar.
15. Quickly seal the jars by placing the lids on very tightly. You may need to use a clean tea towel for this as the jars will be hot.
16. Label with the date and what is in the jar and when cool place them in a dark, cool place to store.

On the batter again…….

I do love Shrove Tuesday because I seriously love pancakes in all their wonderful forms. Crepes savoury and sweet, fluffy American style, and these gluten free banana and cinnamon pancakes are my latest favourite breakfast. When we were little we would compete for how many pancakes we could eat on pancake day and my Mum would be stationed by the cooker for over an hour during which she must have fried, flipped and served fifty pancakes to satisfy our demands. My brother James held the record for consuming pancakes when I think he managed twelve in one sitting. She always served them simply with a squeeze of orange juice and a sprinkle of caster sugar, rolled up and ready to go.

I have been trying to cut down on wheat this year with mixed success, but these pancakes are great made with gluten free flour and are a real weekend or Valentine’s day breakfast treat. The cinnamon and bananas give them a natural sweetness and they really don’t need additional sugar, but I can’t help adding a small amount of maple syrup on mine. Plus they are very quick and easy to rustle up for hungry small people and of course perfect for anyone with a wheat intolerance or allergy too.

Banana and Cinnamon Pancakes (Gluten Free)

Makes about 16 pancakes, so enough for 4 (or for one greedy little brother)

• 4 ripe bananas
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 100g gluten free flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 table spoon of vegetable oil
• A small knob of butter (optional)

To serve:

• A drizzle of maple syrup or honey
• A scattering of fresh strawberries or blueberries

You will need:

• A large frying pan
• A large mixing bowl
• Potato masher

1. Peel and mash the bananas in the mixing bowl with the potato masher
2. Add the eggs, flour, baking soda and cinnamon and mix well, although it really does not need to be smooth.
3. Now heat the oil (and the butter if you are using it) in the frying pan and get it good and hot.
4. Add four or five dollops of the pancake mix to the pan. These are small American style pancakes. They will spread out a little so allow enough room for that.
5. Cook them on a medium heat for a couple of minutes and make sure they don’t burn. Generally, if there are small bubbles forming on top it is time to turn them over and cook them for another two to three minutes. They should be golden grown.
6. Serve with toppings of your choice and a big mug of coffee.

Facing the storm with slow cooked comfort food…

 

Storm Eleanor is fast approaching us here in West Cork and we need something for tea that is warming, comforting and easy. Also, importantly this dish will cope well in the event of a power outage. And it is a really slow meal too, so you will build up an appetite as the beef cooks until it melts and just falls off the bone.

I have bought a large piece of shin of beef with the bone in from Walsh’s Butchers in Skibbereen. The butcher appeared from the back of the shop brandishing a whole leg and kindly cut it to size using the electric band saw to dramatic effect. Shin needs to be cooked low and slow – 5 hours is what we are looking at – so plenty of time to spend battening down hatches, checking on the neighbours, or just reading a book in front of the fire. This cut is tough and sinewy when undercooked but given the right treatment is absolutely delicious and much cheaper than other cuts – and lets face it none of us have any money left in January. Shin of beef will easily stretch to two or three meals and the leftovers are great in a sandwich with lots of horseradish sauce or in a puff pastry topped pie with chestnut mushrooms.

And if the power goes off while this is cooking, it will cope perfectly well with being stuck on top of the wood burner or the camping stove to complete. I serve with mashed potatoes, turnips (swede in England) and carrots with lots of butter and white pepper just like my Mum used to make them and some greens on the side (or good old bread and butter if the power goes). So amid the candles and while you are eating with a head torch on this is the food to give you gastronomic shelter from the storm.

Enough for 4 (and some decent leftovers)

• 1.5 – 2kg Shin of beef in one piece with the bone left in
• Whole bulb of garlic cut in half
• I teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Sea salt and ground black pepper
• 3 or 4 bay leaves
• Small bunch of thyme
• 3 onions or 6 shallots peeled and roughly chopped
• 4 sticks of celery roughly chopped.
• 1 large carrot roughly chopped.
• I pint of good beef stock
• Half a pint of red wine or one of those huge glasses that they serve in wine bars

You will need a large oven proof casserole that can also go on the hob and a frying pan.

1. Pre-heat the oven to 140 C.
2. Rub the joint with the allspice and cumin and season with the salt and pepper.
3. Heat a tablespoon of oil in the frying pan and get the pan good and hot before browning the meat very well on all sides. Don’t rush this as it will give a great flavour to the final dish.
4. In the casserole heat the rest of the olive oil and on a medium heat add the chopped vegetables and the herbs and cook until the onions are soft.
5. When the beef is almost done add the two halves of garlic to the frying pan until they have caramelised well.
6. Now add the beef and the garlic to the casserole and pour in the red wine. Bring to the boil and let the wine bubble away for a couple of minutes and then add your beef stock.
7. Put the lid on the casserole and place it in the oven.
8. Find something to do. A book to read. A DIY job. Tidy the kitchen cupboards. Put the roof back on the shed. This needs to cook for 5 hours and then rest for about an hour, so all that you need to do is sort out the vegetables and either blend the cooking stock (minus the herbs) to make a rich thick gravy, or just serve it as it is spooned over the beef.