Non-alcholic Elderflower Champagne

May 22, 2013 10:06 am 3 Comments

I’m fed up with moaning about the weather, but it has certainly give cause for us to do so over the last few years and this spring has been no exception. I did think though, when I took the dog for a walk last night, I’d have a quick look and see if the elderflowers had even thought about developing yet. I was actually surprised at how far on they are. Give it a week to ten days and they will be ready for picking, so I thought it time to post this back up so you can make sure you have everything you need, ready to make a drop of the good stuff, when they finally burst into life.

elderflower champagne

Finally elderflower champagne season arrives!

My word its been a long wait this year but finally the elderflowers have graced us with their presence and heralded the beginning of a new season of hedgerow goodies. Now it’s no secret that I’ve already drunk my share of booze and hence haven’t touched an alcoholic drink for over 4 years now and God willing long may that remain. Also the internet is crammed with recipes for normal elderflower champagne and to be honest it ain’t much of a challenge to make anyway – the yeast do all the hard work! So I thought I’d set myself a real challenge and see if I could come up with a way of putting the fizz into elderflower champagne without having to add the alcohol.

elderflower champagne

After a little head scratching and a considerable amount of kitchen chemistry I think I’ve come up with a delicious elderflower champagne solution which is also a bit of fun to make into the bargain. Now you’ve all seen the trick with vinegar and bicarbonate of soda, where you mix them together and whoosh a huge volcano of foam is created which usually ends up all over the ceiling. Well getting the fizz in the bottle of our non-alcoholic elderflower champagne is based on that principle, not using vinegar I hasten to add, but using citric acid instead. The trick though is how do you get the bicarbonate of soda in the bottle and the lid on before the foam erupts out of the top? Well here goes.

Ingredients for Non-alcoholic Elderflower Champagne

  • 6 ltrs Water
  • 250g Sugar
  • 20 heads Elderflowers
  • 2 Lemons
  • Bicarbonate of Soda
  • Citric Acid
  • Glucose Syrup

To Prepare Non-alcoholic Elderflower Champagne

  1. Pour 6 litres of water into a large stock pot, put the lid on and set to boil

    2. elderflower champagne

  2. While the water is heating up grate the zest of the lemons into a straining bag using a microplane grater if you have one. If you don’t I suggest you get one they are great (grate) – get it, boom, boom! I know don’t give up the day job! Make sure you don’t break into the pith while grating as this gives a bitter taste to the elderflower champagne. Also snip off the elderflowers into the straining bag. It is worth snipping them off with as little stem as possible, as too much stem leaves a bit of a grassy type taste in your elderflower champagne.

    3. elderflower champagne

  3. Tie the straining bag off tight with a piece of butcher’s string and once the water is boiling add it, the sugar and the juice of the lemons. Give a good stir to dissolve the sugar and beat the bag about a bit with a wooden spoon to start releasing the flavours. Now at this stage it is all down to personal choice. I’ve suggested 250g of sugar and 20 heads of elderflowers. This gives a slightly sweet and delicately flavoured brew. You can add more sugar and elderflowers if you like it sweeter or stronger – it’s up to you, but in any case remove from the heat and leave to infuse for several hours. This again is a matter of taste, the longer you leave it the stronger the elderflower flavour.

    4. elderflower champagne

  4. Once infused remove the straining bag and discard the contents. Now here is another decision you need to make. If you want to store your non-alcoholic elderflower champagne for any length of time, and I’m talking more than a week or so, you will have to reboil the liquor. The reason being the elderflowers are covered in yeast, most should have died in the original boiling water, but they can be persistent little blighters, so to kill what is left a reboil is necessary. The problem with this is that some of the beautiful perfume of the elderflowers will be lost. It is a judgement call you will have to make. The result will still be very pleasant, but not quite as fragrant as if it’s not reboiled. Might I suggest you decant some off to bottle for immediate consumption and boil the remainder for storage. I think they call that a win win situation.

    5. elderflower champagne

  5. Once reboiled for 5 minutes or not depending on your intended consumption rate, decant the liquor into bottles through some form of filter. Those who are into home brew will have all the kit. I just use a piece of kitchen towel folded in 4 to make a filter cone and placed in a funnel. Now here is the big word of warning, make sure you use bottles that can withstand the pressure. The very best thing to use, albeit not very pretty is old plastic pop bottles. Firstly, they are designed to withstand enormous pressures and secondly if for some really weird reason your elderflower champagne managed to burst them, being made of plastic they would do no harm. Now I know lots of you like to use fancy jars and bottles and I agree that part of the fun of all of this is making it look really nice, especially when you want to give your hard labours as presents or entertain guests with them. If this is the case, make sure you use glass bottles that are certified for the job. Good old Wares of Knutsford are more than happy to supply bottles that are perfectly safe and look the part into the bargain. Obviously, there are other suppliers I just know that I can trust Wares not to slip something else in place if they were low on stock. It really isn’t worth taking the risk, you’re a long time blind!!

    6. elderflower champagne

  6. Okay, lecture over, here comes the fun bit. How do we get the fizz in. Right first add 15g of citric acid to every litre of your elderflower champagne. So that is two and a half flat teaspoons in a one litre bottle or 5 in one of those big plastic pop bottles. Put the lid on and shake it around until it dissolves. So there is your acid part ready, now for the bicarbonate of soda.

    7. elderflower champagne

  7. For every litre of elderflower champagne put 2 level teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda in a small mixing vessel; I use a plastic disposable cup. To this add a small blob of glucose syrup and mix the two together to get a kind of crumbly texture. It takes quite a lot of hard mixing and the secret is to not put too much glucose syrup in. You’re trying to get a consistency that will just hold together if you squeeze it in your hand. Now if you’ve got lots of bottles of elderflower champagne you can do this on a larger scale rather than one bottles worth at a time. If you do that you will need 10 to 12 grams of the finished mixture per litre of elderflower champagne.

    8. elderflower champagne

    How the bicarb mixture should look

  8. Now take the appropriate quantity of bicarbonate of soda mixture and squeeze it together in your hand to make a sausage shape that will fit through the neck of the bottle.

    9. elderflower champagne

  9. Holding the lid of the bottle in one hand drop the sausage into the bottle, quickly place the lid on and tighten down immediately.

    10. elderflower champagne

  10. You should see a huge eruption of fizz from the bicarbonate of soda sausage and it will slowly start to disappear. Gently turning the bottle end over end will help this happen. Once all the bicarb sausage has dissolved the elderflower champagne is ready – how cool is that!

I personally would leave it all to settle for a few days. It is obviously best served chilled from the fridge. Make sure you open the bottle over a sink as it can be very, very lively!!

elderflower champagne

Finally, I cannot stress enough how important it is to use bottles that are up to the job. Please, please be careful, the gift of sight is so precious and only missed when it is gone! Having said that, if you are sensible then this really is a fabulously refreshing drink without the need for alcohol. It is also great fun to do a bit of kitchen chemistry and if you get the kids involved its something they will find fascinating and who knows it might just spark their interest to become budding chemists.

elderflower champagne

Oh, one last point, you can of course adopt this same method to make all sorts of fizzy drinks, either with natural flavours or as I sometimes do using ersatz tutti-frutti flavouring and green food colour – see the kids light up at that one!!

……More from Tomball, Texas!

May 5, 2013 2:27 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Guys, you know its so good to hear from our little community, its just a shame that more of you don’t join in. I’m certain there must be loads of you with great jam and pickle stories to tell. Don’t be shy and leave it all up to Ruth, Sandy and the others. The jam season is really starting to get underway now – who’s made their first batch of Rhubarb and Ginger? We’d all love to hear from you!!

Hi Jess,

Thanks for posting the pics. Joe says “Maybe Jess will put the pics on the website.” I’ve got him reading it too. So we had some of the blackberry jelly this morning and it was so wonderful. Set up very nice. It was so thick I actually was brave enough to add water and it did just fine with no pectin added. The texture of it was amazing. It wasn’t like “proper” jelly that’s the see through, stiff stuff. It was almost like a jam with no bits of fruit or seeds. Instead of the cheese cloth, I used a colander with a wooden pusher. Funny, my mother just now decided to give that to me. When I was little I used to play with it while she worked in the kitchen. I thought I don’t know what I’ll do with it, but I would like to have it. Low and behold it came in handy. Anyway, the flavor of the jelly is sweet, but from the fruit, not so much the sugar. We are going out again tomorrow morning and picking as many as we can.

pickled beetroot
pickled beetroot

I am also sending a picture of my beets and chutney we did a couple of weeks ago. The beets are home grown from our garden and the seeds were given to Joe as a Christmas present last year. What a great present. We harvested all of them and canned them the same day. The picture doesn’t really do justice to the color at all. It is just this absolute brilliant pink/fuchsia. The flavor is earthy, yet sweet at the same time. Sent you a pic of the package. I don’t even like beets and I can’t stop eating these once I have tasted a few. Highly recommend this Gourmet variety.

I don’t think I have the jars you mentioned, but will of course look them up on Wares. My daughter and I love to look at all different types of jars.

Thanks so much for posting the pics. It’s so much fun to see our creations posted. My daughter loves the pictures of Sandy’s jams.

Until next time,

Ruth

Wild Blackberries in Tomball, Texas

April 29, 2013 1:25 pm 1 Comment

Hi Jess,

Just wanted to send some pics to you of the Blackberries we picked today in the neighbourhood. Joe was out for about 3 hours picking and came back with a bucketful. Needless to say, I jumped into action and pulled up your jelly recipe. I made about 10 jars and still have some left.

wild blackberries

However, it’s after 6pm now and I’m tired so the rest will be tarts and muffins. Thanks for making the video to go with the recipe. That really helps when there’s an actual picture of what the jelly is supposed to look like.

I didn’t use my fanciest jars. I’m saving those for Strawberry jam next week. By that time the Blackberries will be gone. Or at least the wild one will be.

Until next time,

Ruth

Rhubarb, rhubarb, rhubarb…….

April 21, 2013 12:55 pm 1 Comment

jam making

What glorious jam making goodies!

Wont be long now before the jam making session starts in earnest, thank goodness. I was outside yesterday examining the buds on my blackcurrant bush to see how many fruits I’d got. Looks like its going to be a good year so far. Can’t wait to get my hands on the elder flowers and early goosegogs though. That really heralds the start of it all.

jam making

Meanwhile, I was walking through the supermarket the other day cursing how the pears were more like mortar shells than anything you could use for jam making, when my eyes alighted on – yes you’ve guessed it – this beautiful rhubarb. Whats more at a fiver for 2lb, in today’s madness, I thought it was a bit of a bargain. Of course the obvious candidate was rhubarb and ginger, so I picked up the other ingredients and scuttled home for some real end of session jam making.

jam making

What did strike me though was why does the old rhubarb and ginger jam always look a bit brown and caramelised. After all, that winter strained champagne stuff is so bright pink you would think you’d be able to capture the colour really easily. Well my hunch is that all that soaking the rhubarb in the sugar business that you see in most recipes is the culprit. Why not use the standard jam making technique, I thought to myself, and see if I can keep the colour.

jam making

So armed with plenty of acid to fix the colour, I gently simmered the rhubarb in the juice of 2 lemons and just enough water to wet the bottom of the pan until it was total mush. To be more accurate about it, I let it simmer for 45 minutes with a lid tightly on, putting the finely chopped ginger in after about half an hour. A quick colour check - so far so good, still beautifully pink!

jam making

Now I suppose before I get shouted at and the electronic equivalent of rotten tomatoes hurled at me, I ought to give all you folks who like it, an exact list of ingredients, so:

For Rhubarb & Ginger Jam making four 8oz jars, you need:

  • 2lb Forced Rhubarb, pinker the better
  • 3lb Sugar
  • 1oz Fresh Root Ginger
  • 2 Lemons

My next thought was naturally for pectin. Specifically, would my technique of boiling the fruit first, as with normal jam making, have released enough to produce a good set. Out with the trusty methylated spirits and shot glass and to my relief and somewhat surprise the pectin level was really high.

jam making

For those of your who are not familiar with this test when jam making, you can go to my blog post on the subject to read about it in detail. But basically you take a small quantity of the test fruit liquor, put it in a shot glass, once cool cover it with an inch of methylated spirits and the snottier the liquor goes the more pectin there is in it – simples! If you get a result as below, then that is high on the snot-o-meter and there is plenty of pectin present. The other end of the scale would see the liquor remain totally liquid meaning the total absence of pectin.

jam making

With pectin check good, all that remained was to add the sugar, bring to a rolling boil and test for set after five minutes, on a saucer that had been in the freezer for five minutes (another tip, what would you do without me – lol!). I have to say the set was unsurprisingly very good, but of course if you do have difficulties, normally adding a third more sugar and boiling for another five or ten minutes will do the trick.

jam making

Problem is though, it will also knock out all that gorgeous colour. You see the secret of jam making is to extract as much pectin as possible as gently as possible in the fruit boiling stage and then really quickly boil up with the sugar to gain the set, so as to loose as little colour as possible, as this is the stage where it will disappears.

jam making

And so there we are, after a spot of judicious de-scumming, having let the mixture cool for a few minutes, all that was left was the jarring up. Well it was such a magnificent colour even I, the philistine that I’m am, couldn’t just stick it in plain one pound jars. And in any case it’s far to good to give away in those kind of quantities. So I thought, I’ll sterilise a few of the fancy jars I told you I’d acquired the other day and put it in them.

jam making

The perfect match just had to be the so called “Gourmet Food Jars” from Wares. Their fancy blue gingham tops went so well with the smokey pink of the jam making a real eye catching gift. In fact that’s a great idea I think I’ll give a pot to my mother for her birthday on Sunday. I’m just on my way down to open up the boat for the summer and attend her birthday lunch at the yacht club – weather permitting of course!

jam making

Homemade jam making at it’s finest – if I say so myself!

Just a little foot note – I like to speak as I find and I was a little concerned how “them fancy lookin’ jars” would hold up in the steriliser, and I have to say I’ve got no complaints. In fact not only did the paint on the lids hold up beautifully, but I also tried wiping one, while still red hot, with a cold damp cloth just to see, and there was no cracking. So I reckon they are a mighty fine product.

The Science of Jam Making

April 9, 2013 8:39 am Leave a Comment

As the weathermen seem to be saying that winter is finally about to release its icy grip, I thought I might repost this in anticipation of a bumper summer harvest. Well we can live in hope can’t we – lol!

jam making

The Jam Making Lament: “The more I boil it the worse it gets!!”

You know, by far and away the largest number of questions I get asked are concerned with the setting of jam and jelly. It seems that many people wrongly view jam making as somehow akin to making toffee or caramel, as in, “… the more I boil it the harder it gets.” Unfortunately, in reality this could not be further from the truth and in fact the addition of too much heat will prevent a jam or jelly from setting at all. So what is the science behind jelly and jam making and what’s more if we understand it will it make us more able to produce good preserves in a predictable fashion. Well the answer to that question is; firstly, the science is actually quite interesting and secondly, once understood it will most certainly make us better jam makers.

So the obvious question to ask and logical place to start on our quest to understand the science of jam making is “What makes jam set?” The simple answer to this is pectin. Now we’ve all heard the word pectin banded about but how many of us actual know what it is, what it does, and how it does it. I suspect not many. In the simplest of terms pectin is the building blocks, the bricks and mortar if you like, of the gel that gives jam and jelly structure. It is the substance that in effect turns a liquid fruit syrup into a solid jam, in the same way as gelatine is the substance that turns your jelly for the sherry trifle from a hot runny liquid into a solid wobbly layer between your booze soaked sponge and the cold custard.

jam making

D-Galacturonic Acid the building blocks for jam making

Ok, but what exactly is this pectin stuff made of. Well the pectin molecule is made up of lots of smaller molecules all joined together in a chain. We call these chains polymers in the scientific world and the pectin polymer is made up of long chains of a molecule called D-galacturonic acid, which is a distant relative of the sugar we put in our tea. In nature this pectin polymer is found in the structural cell wall of plants and along with cellulose it gives the plants there rigid structure. Good sources of pectin are apples and citrus fruit peel and these, indeed, are used to produce pectin on a commercial scale for the mass production of sweets, jam making and of course to sell to us amateur preservaholics to splash around liberally when things haven’t gone quite to plan!

So I hear you cry “that’s all very well but how does it work!” Well attached to some of these Galacturonic acid molecules making up the pectin polymer chain are little chemical hooks called methyl esters, and under certain conditions, which we will come to later, they grab hold of each other, connecting the pectin polymer chains up in a random tangle, a bit like a tangled ball of string. It’s this tangled lattice work that is the gel, holding all the water and fruit in a kind of slightly solid, slightly liquid, wobbly mess we recognise as jam. The number of little hooks can vary depending on the source of the pectin, and more frequently today, how it’s been fiddled with by man in the laboratory. But suffice to say the more hooks the stronger the polymers bind together and the firmer the gel.

jam making

Now we come to the interesting part. How does this intimate knowledge of pectin help us with our jam making. And more to the point can it put to bed some of these ridiculous myths that surround the art of the jam making process. The answer is yes it can, however, we need to arm ourselves with four more vital pieces of information before the curtain of mystery can fall. Firstly, pectin is soluble in water and the more water available the further the pectin polymers will be apart and therefore the less likely they are to link up to make a gel. Secondly, sugar binds water up and makes it unavailable for the pectin to “float around” in; thirdly, the hooks on the pectin polymers will not grab hold of each other unless they are in an acidic environment. And finally, now for the real bombshell – once all these conditions are met, this hooking up process occurs as the jam cools!

So what are the implications of those four statements for our jam making process. Well firstly, we can dispel the “boil it to death” school of thought, as the gelling actually occurs as the jam cools down. All that is required is enough heat to make sure the pectin is dissolved – simply bringing to the boil is more than adequate for this. It also tells us that acid, either in the form of lemon juice or pure citric acid is essential for our jam making to be successful. And last but by no means least it tells us we must have enough sugar present to “starve” the pectin polymers of water so they start to hook together – the magic number being 55% weight/volume sugar to water/fruit pulp or juice.

In summary then, heat is only required to soften the fruit, extract its flavour and natural pectin and to make sure the pectin is fully dissolved. The myth that heat somehow drives the gelling process has hopefully been dispelled for good. Acid must be present in sufficient quantity to allow the pectin polymers to cross-link, and incidentally it also helps in extracting the natural pectin from the fruit. Lastly, enough sugar must be added to bind up sufficient water away from the pectin such that it starts the cross-linking process. And that as they say is that!

What we can take away from this though is a universal recipe for jam making, that by and large will work every time for every fruit. The only variable being how much pectin the original fruit contains and therefore how much extra water you can add to your recipe, assuming you want the highest yield of jam from your fruit, and it still to set. This is of course a matter of judgement that comes with experience and would be wisely based on the results of a pectin test of the boiled fruit, which is relatively easy to carry out. As a general rule, high pectin fruits, such as citrus can take anything up to 3 times their weight in water, where as the soft fruits at the other end of the pectin spectrum should be soften to a pulp in a damp saucepan and no more.

So if we set aside for one moment the variable of how much water to add to the fruit can we write a universal jam making formula. Well let’s have a go:

  1. Always choose fruit that is slightly under ripe as it contains more pectin.
  2. Cut into appropriate size pieces, place in a saucepan with a tight fitting lid and add a generous teaspoon full of citric acid to every kilogram of fruit.
  3. Bring the fruit to the boil with the lid on tight and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes or until the fruit is a pulp. Remember, the quantity of water added at this stage is dependent on the fruit you’re using. Consulting a recipe book for guidance purely on this aspect of the process is probably the easiest thing to do.
  4. Remove the lid, add sugar at 1.2kg to every 1kg of fruit pulp and bring rapidly to the boil.
  5. Check you have a rolling boil as shown in the picture below, hold for 30 seconds.
  6. Turn off the heat, allow to cool slightly, descum and decant into sterilised jars.

jam making

The rolling boil essential in jam making

And that really is it. I hope that has busted the myth of jam making for you. I can already hear the cries of “what about low sugar jams” and “you haven’t mentioned aminated pectins” and so on. I am fully aware that there is a whole load more to the art of jam making and hopefully we will be able to go into that in greater detail in other blog posts. For today I hope this has just helped to lift a little of the mystery that surrounds the standard “old-fashioned” jam making process, and will give some of you out there a better understanding of what you are doing and improve your enjoyment of jam making in the future.

Getting Ready for Business

April 1, 2013 8:32 am 2 Comments

jam making equipment

What a gorgeous selection of jam making equipment!

I’ve just been sitting here thinking about what I’m going to make this year. There’s all sorts of wonderful ideas going round in my head as I watch the snow flurry across the window. It’s the first day of April and the weather outside feels like December or January. Still it’s got to pick up soon and then the real jam making will commence.

And you know that’s got me thinking, have I got all the jam making equipment I’m going to need. I’m one of the most disorganised people I know. If any of you watch my YouTube videos you know I’m always disappearing out of shot to fetch something I’ve forgotten. Believe it or not sometimes its even ingredients! What’s more I’m also terrible for using things for other purposes. It not beyond me to use a sieve from the kitchen to sieve out the seeds from the cow muck liquid fertiliser I use on my tomatoes. Fear not it doesn’t make it back into the kitchen, but what happens is I forget to replace it and then my jam making equipment is minus a sieve, which of course I only realise when I’ve got a lovely batch of blackcurrants boiled down ready to make blackcurrant jelly.

So while I’m sat here waiting for the fibreglass resin to harden on a little project I’m doing – man of many talents me, or is it “jack of all trades master of none,” I thought why not go through the list of what I need and at the same time share it with you. You never know it might just make your life a little easier and more to the point you can comment on what I’ve forgotten and so we can all have a full complement of jam making equipment to start the season, so here we go:

My list of essential jam making equipment

    • Jam Kettle – One of these is good, but to be fair I find a stainless steel stock pot better. Unlike jam kettles they tend to come with lids (preferably glass) so you can stew your fruit first and then add your sugar all in one operation rather than having to cook the fruit in a separate saucepan and transfer it to the kettle. Okay, a jam kettle usually has a bit of a pouring lip shaped into the side, but who picks up a full jam kettle and starts pouring the contents into jars – not me that’s for sure. So on balance a stock pot with a glass lid, so you can watch the progress of your fruit, is by far the best item to make the centre piece of your jam making equipment.
    • Wooden Spoon – Again I’m going to be controversial and say a wooden spatula is far superior. It lets you scrape round the sides and the base of the saucepan far more efficiently. Mine is the only sentimental piece of jam making equipment I’ve got. It’s old and battered but I wont part with it.
    • Scales – I like digital electronic; they are cheap to buy, easy to clean and usually convert to all sorts of handy measuring units at the press of a button.
    • Measuring Jug – Now I like a wide squat shape of measuring jug, 1.5 to 2 litres capacity. The wider the better really so when decanting hot liquor it gives a bigger target to hit! I usually decant my finished jam from the saucepan to the measuring jug and thence to the jars.
    • Sieve & Jelly Bag – I’ll put both of these items together as I always use them together. I never place my cooked fruit straight into the jelly bag. If you do it clogs up so quickly you’re there for hours or literally days trying to get the damned stuff through. I always sieve first through a normal kitchen sieve, wider the better. There is another reason for this. When sieving you can force a lot of the “gunk” through which normally contains much of the pectin. This will subsequently disperse in the primary liquor, meaning more will be carried over through the jelly bag and into the final liquor improving the set. By the way don’t forget my tip on how to make a straining bag.
    • Jam Funnel – I don’t bother, I just pour straight from the measuring jug into the jam jars, but I guess if you’re making huge quantities and need to pour straight from your stock pot or jam kettle then one would be an essential piece of jam making equipment.
    • Thermometer – Again, I don’t use one. This is turning into a list of non jam making equipment – lol! Seriously though, I think its valuable, as I explain why it gives you the opportunity to make your own mind up on the pros and cons of each piece of jam making equipment and equip your arsenal accordingly. I’m not Delia Smith, she has her place but I don’t want my site to be a blow by blow prescription on how to do it. I want you all to have your own ideas, try new things, fail occasionally like I do and we can all grow together from the experience. Oh dear, lecture over – why don’t I use a thermometer? Well, simple, by the time you’ve reached the “recommended” setting temperature for jam it is ruined. The pectin, sugar, acid reaction that occurs to give the gel like substance that makes jam set does not have to occur at a ridiculously high temperature, in fact pectin will start to break down if the temperature is too high. What you are making if you use the old fashioned temperature method for setting jam is toffee not jam. Consequently, all the flavour of the fruit is boiled away and you just get a sweet goo – what a waste of time and good fruit!
    • Pressure Cooker – Absolutely essential piece of jam making equipment if you want sterile jars. If you want to be absolutely sure your precious jam wont go off then sterilising the jars with a pressure cooker using a method such as I describe in my blog post on the subject is the only way to go.

      • jam making equipment

      To me the pressure cooker is the essential piece of jam making equipment

And that I think is about it. I haven’t included anything that ends up in the jam or containing the jam as that is not jam making equipment, but obviously, fruit, sugar, possibly pectin or citric acid and jam jars will all be needed as well. I would however hope that that was obvious. Even I the scatter brain of the century have yet to turn up to a jam making session without the fruit!!

Have I got any recommendations where to get your jam making equipment from? Well as usual I would say good old Wares of Knutsford. Not just because what they stock is good quality and value but also because of the great personal service and the gorgeous range of other goodies you can pick up whilst on their site.

Hope this has been of use to you and please do shower me with all the things I’ve forgotten to mention and lets get that jam making equipment ready for another season.

Pickled Asparagus – what a treat!

March 24, 2013 7:37 am 3 Comments

I just had to re-post this!! The British readers of this blog will know why instantly. For those from farther flung fields, to say the weather here is somewhat different to this time last year would putting it mildly! However, I do note there are some rather good deals on foreign asparagus at the moment if you can suffer the guilt of the air miles. Although I wouldn’t both with it lightly steamed accompanied by a good hollandaise it is very passable for pickling. And of course we all know the only thing more therapeutic than pickling asparagus is eating it!

Wow, what a March! I really can’t remember the last time we had a March this good. I’ve just finished putting up a new fence, shed and greenhouse with a little help from my friends and it was shirts off weather. Unheard of for March. The pundits said it was the hottest for 59 years or was it since 1959, either way its a freak, but most welcome.

pickled asparagus

Hmmm, not quite right for pickled asparagus?

Another bonus of this hot weather has been the appearance of British asparagus two weeks early. Good job it looks better then mine though aye! No seriously, I’m lucky to still have it. I only planted it last autumn and I thought the long cold spell we had in January had done for it, but no, there it is in all its glory. I have to let it go to seed for two years to allow the crowns to develop, then who knows 2014 I might be having pickled asparagus from my own plants – how cool is that.

pickled asparagus

In the meantime though this early glut of British asparagus has opened an opportunity for us avid picklers. You see, as the new season stuff floods the market the foreign imports plummet in price, and yours truly is there to swipe up a bargain and convert it into one of the most sophisticated of preserves of all, pickled asparagus.

pickled aspargus

Now in my opinion these recipes for pickled asparagus that just use malt vinegar and a handful of pickling spices cannot possibly do this noble vegetable justice. How can you pickle something like asparagus in the same way as you would a shallot – madness! Asparagus is a bit of an anathema as its flavour is delicate yet powerful. What I mean is the actual taste itself is subtle but there is a lot of it, if that makes any sense. So what we want for pickled asparagus is a nice fresh and sharp pickling liquor to complement this. We need hot, sharp and fragrant and at this point I guess I better list the ingredients or I’ll only forget and get moaned at so here we are:

Ingredients for Pickled Asparagus

  • Asparagus Spears
  • 1 Lemon Slices per Jar
  • 1 Garlic Clove per Jar
  • 3″ Sprig of Fresh Dill per Jar
  • 1 Chili
  • 1tps Peppercorns
  • 2tsp Coriander Seeds
  • 1/2dsp Sea Salt
  • 1pt White Wine Vinegar

Before you all scream at me that I haven’t put down the quantity of asparagus, that is because its a bit trial and error to know how many spears are going to fit in each jar. Basically, buy as much as you think you want, see how many jars it fills, guestimate how much vinegar you will need to fill all the jars and then use the ingredients above in the ratios shown. So if you buy enough asparagus to fill so many jars you think you will need two pints of vinegar then double the ratio of the other ingredients accordingly – clear as mud, good!

pickled asparagus

Right first things first, cut your lemon into slices and place one at the bottom of each jar. At this point I must come clean and say the lemon thing is not my idea. I saw Marisa did it for her pickled asparagus recipe on Food in Jars and thought it was a fab idea. Hope you don’t mind me pinching it, Marisa.  Okay, then cut your spears to fit the height of the jar and pack them in as tight as you can. Next, crush a garlic clove under your knife, one for each jar, and put it in along with a sprig of dill.

pickled asparagus

Now for the vinegar. Slice the chillies thinly, use medium hot, jalapenos are good, put all the ingredients in a pan with a tight lid and simmer for 10 minutes.

pickled asparagus

Pour the hot vinegar over the asparagus, filling the jars to the brim. Distribute all the spices and chili bits evenly between the jars and tighten down the lids.

pickled asparagus

Now this little lot will need proving to stop it going off and to help the pickling liquor penetrate the asparagus. Most recipes suggest boiling the jars in water up to their necks for 10 minutes. What I do is place them in a pressure cooker. Bring it up to temperature and hold for 1 minute and then let it cool naturally. A word of caution if your not sure about how robust your jars are then stick with the boiling method. As you can see I’ve use some lovely octagonal jobs from Wares and I know the quality of their products can be trusted so I’m happy to stick them in the pressure cooker.

pickled asparagus

There’s posh – pickled asparagus

There you go, pickled asparagus fit for a king. And what about the finishing touch – posh for me, I know, but I thought I’d try my template out on those gorgeous labels I was on about in the last blog. That pair of wellies still tickles me!

Quick Message from Sandy

March 18, 2013 10:43 am 3 Comments

garlic freezing

I would like to share some information about garlic freezing, I have success in freezing the whole heads, especially when i am able to find some lovely prime whole garlics, I buy a lot. ;-) I do not mean Elephant Garlic for they are mild and not the same.

I personally will not use any store bought bottled or frozen for they have preservatives in them and for some reason, no flavour…( god only knows how long they have been in warehouse!)

I can freeze garlic heads whole or , chop / crush them and tightly wrap in plastic wrap and then freeze…. then grate or BREAK off what I need.

Some people will peel whole cloves of garlic and puree them in a blender or mini food processor, using 2 parts oil to 1 part garlic and freeze.

Next …………….fresh peeled garlic cloves can be covered with oil and stored in freezer…..(much nicer and fresher than in a jar in cubboard.)

When I chop up garlic on my cutting board,…. I find that adding a little Kosher or Rock Salt to them whilst I chop or crush them really helps it all come together.

It may be that all of you are aware of this, just thought i would throw this information out there.

LOVE TO YOU ALL
XX SANDY

Ruth’s Lovely Pickles and Jams

March 16, 2013 1:23 pm Leave a Comment

Hi Guys, I just wanted to share these lovely pictures with you from Ruth in Texas. We’ve spoken a few times on the forum and now she’s sent some photos of her dill pickles and strawberry jam. Lovely they are too!

pickles

Ruth’s Dill Pickles

Don’t those dill pickles look absolutely divine. I’m going to have to grow some gherkins again this year. Last year’s were a total disaster, mind you so was most of the garden for us all in the UK. Let’s just pray this year will be better. I reckon dill pickles have to be near the top of my list of favourites. I have to confess I’ve never been brave enough to do the fermenting type recipe. I just love them in white wine vinegar with plenty of spices, garlic and dill – gorgeous!

dill pickles

Does the strawberry jam beat the dill pickles?

That’s some cracking strawberry jam too. I’ll put Ruth’s email below she sent with the photos because it’s worth a read, but it goes to show that you don’t need to mess about with water baths and all that nonsense. Just make sure you sterilise the jars using a pressure cooker, fill them up to the top and screw down tight – jobs a good’n as they say! Enough from me here’s Ruth’s email:

Hi Jess,

Well, here are my dill pickles that I made today. Got the recipe from my neighbour, so we’ll see how they taste. I will let you know. Funny thing happened – my garlic turned a dark blue/green shade. Read up and understand it does not do anything to the taste of it. However, if you know otherwise please let me (and others) know.

Also, made some Strawberry Jam last month and skipped the water bath. Sure enough, they sealed nicely. Too bad my set was a bit off. Somehow my family and friends don’t seem to notice things like that . (My kids like the fact that it doesn’t tear the bread. )

My next canning project will either be one of your chutney recipes or maybe the Orange Marmalade. I don’t even like marmalade, but it looks so good, I want to try it. Love the pics from Sandy and her articles too. I think a lot of people are getting darn tired of all the garbage that’s being pushed on consumers these days.

Keep up the great work. Really love the website and blog.

Ruth

Tomball, Texas

You know I’ve never heard of that garlic thing. If any of you guys know anything about garlic turning a funny colour then let me know and I’ll pass it on to everybody. ‘Til next time!

More From Sandy

March 10, 2013 10:38 am Leave a Comment

making jam

“…well Sandy you’ve definitely got the gift for making jam!”

Hi Guys, I know we’ve just heard from Sandy but I couldn’t resist sharing more of her exploits with you as not only has she taken to this whole thing like a duck to water, but her philosophy, ambition and enthusiasm are well worth sharing. And to top it all her skill at making jam seems to be second to none. Don’t you just love the look of that passion fruit against the orange and kiwi. It just makes your mouth water looking at them. Anyway, without further comment from me I’ll hand you over to Sandy.

………………………………………………………….

Hi Everybody, since I have now become obsesses with making jam, I just wanted to say, I am a firm believer of staying away from chemicals and man manufactured “crap” in foods, thus I spend much of my time, as a checkout girl, talking to people about the scourge of manufactured commercial foods on shelves in supermarket – definitely not good for children to be consuming in quantities.

making jam

“making jam has a lot to say…., from left to right Kiwi that has been peeled with my fab red peeler (used for peeling tomato skins flawlessly) does a quick perfect job on kiwi and other thin skinned trouble makers. Top of photo is my SNOT PROOFER solution and shot glass performing a check on pectin levels of orange juice and kiwi juice… DOES A GREAT JOB –JESS, thanks.”

So, bravely or stupidly it remains to be seen, I have decided to stop just talking and take action. I’m going to sell my “no chemicals added” jams to the general public. So far I have been given permission from my Council and Government bodies to sell to the public – they have given me a “class 5″ on my kitchen and standards. So with the manufacturing sorted, I need to come up with a nice looking product, and here’s where I want to ask you all a favour. Would you be kind enough to give me ideas that would grab the public attention – some display ideas and jar dressings would be great. I know the legal rules on making jam but am wanting to dress my jams to attract the public and my being able to emphasise the quality of home made, to educate the public to pull them away from the cheap rubbish store bought jams. Any photos, reference websites or suggestions would be gratefully accepted.

making jam

“my favourite chopping toy ( my Chinese Cleaver). You see how lovely it slices the oranges for the new pot of jam.”

I live in a small community by the sea only 65,000 population, I am a firm believer in Home Made Products and since I had lived on my sailboat in the Caribbean for many years, I do not buy manufactured chemical loaded products, I prefer making home made and all my foods I cook from scratch. This is my daily preaching to my customers at my Supermarket where I work part-time, where I observe them buying pre-made dinners and rubbish to feed their families……. I do my best to encourage them to cook natural for their families.

making jam

“shows the quick and fine cutting ability of my Chinese chopper going through 5 + layers of grapefruit peel, which I am in the process of making jam to your recipe today.”

You see I am now 66 years young and getting to the point where I will not be able to keep up the long hours at the till in the supermarket. I am hoping to enjoy my weekends and chatty social life educating the public about quality of home made foods and making a few “bob” for buying lovely copper pots and larger pressure cookers, ingredients, jars and so on. However, I do feel that a hobby, making jam included, must pay for itself.

Love to you all, and look forward to your comments

Sandy xxx

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