Sometimes things just gel and so it is with this fruit-forward jam. The wild blackberries are more intense than their farmed cousins and they marry pleasingly with the tart under-ripe windfall apples. The shiny black jars tho’ make the scratches and the brushes with stinging nettles all worthwhile!
Continue reading “Wild Blackberry & Apple Jam”
Sweet, ripe, fleshy orbs of sunshine just beg to be bottled for darker days – think punchy pasta sauce, ricotta gnocchi pure white pillows peeping through a blanket of yellow or a warming tomato soup base.
Continue reading “Roast Golden Tomato Sauce”
I grew up of course with very rigid jam making rules and chasing the holy grail of a “perfect set” jam every time. And certainly a solid “set” jam has it’s advantages not sliding off that carefully buttered slice of toast. Now I like to “follow the fruit” and let it gel the way it wants, just naturally and according to how much pectin it contains.
This makes for more soft set dribbly jams – in the style of Turkish or Transilvanian jam making – but retains the true flavour of the fruit far better.
Being somewhere between a classic jam and a “compote” they lend themselves to all manner of culinary uses and are perhaps more suited to how we eat today? Use them to dribble over granola and yoghurt , over plainer cakes and best of all…spoon over porridge!
And the best thing of all? It is far far easier to make this kind of jam and makes for a relaxed jam making session without frantic setting tests and jam thermometers and all that paraphernalia.
Continue reading “Soft set Apricot, lime and vanilla jam”
