Well, here's another recipe using what are regarded by most as weeds.
Pesto can be made from really anything. We’ve all seen pestos with basil and tomato of course, but they also use other herbs.
The Italians make this nettle pesto in springtime called pesto d’urtica.
They also make a nettle pasta - Strettine - a springtime favorite in Emilia Romagna, but that's for another day.
There are a lot of recipes for it, but mine was certainly inspired by Hank Shaw fromhonest-food.net
I have not used Irish rapeseed oil before but it is now being produced in Donegal by the Donegal Rapeseed oil company, and it worked great. I think its great that we are now producing a viable alternative for olive oil and really hope they do well. A list of outlets stocking the product can be seen here.
Donegal Rapeseed Oil is also very healthy. It only has 6% saturated fat content where most olive oils have 14% and sunflower oil 10%.
INGREDIENTS 100g fresh nettle leaves, washed in cold water As with nettle soup avoid picking nettles on the roadside as these may have been sprayed with herbicides. Dont forget to retain the nettle stems for the garden.
2 garlic cloves, core removed, finely chopped, or wild garlic if you have it. 50g (about 2 tablespoons) pine nuts, lightly toasted. You can also use cashew, walnut or if you are lucky enough to grow them try hazelnuts. 60g grated hard cheese like Parmesan or even the heel off a good mature cheddar 150ml Donegal rapeseed oil (or substitute good quality extra virgin olive oil)
Salt and fresh ground pepper
Method Remember to wear kitchen gloves. Blanch the nettle leaves in well salted boiling water for a minute or two, this removes the sting and the salt helps retain the colour. Then plunge into iced water, again to retain texture and colour.
Drain and roughly chop, (you can keep the water as stock or for boiling pasta to go with this meal) remove as many stems as possible. Once they are cool, put them in a colander to strain.
Next get a tea towel, and put the nettles in it. Wrap one end of the towel one way, then the other end of the towel the other and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.
Purists say pesto is best made with a mortar and pestle, after all the name comes from pestle, which means to pound. I just use a food processor.
First crush the pine nuts lightly with a knife
Core and roughly chop the garlic.
Add the salt, pepper, cheese and the nettles and commence blitzing.
Start adding the rapeseed oil.
How much you add depends on how you are using your pesto. If you are making a spread as I do then about 100ml. If you plan on using it for pasta sauce, then you will need more.
Either way, you add it in to the blender at a slow steady pour to incorporate it.
I used 100ml in the blender and retained 50ml to cover it in the jar at the end.
I tend to go for a dryer pesto - I figure if I use it in pasta, minestrone or gnocchi, I can just add a little oil in a bowl and thin it out a bit more.
Nettle Pesto is very easy to make, can be stored by freezing or waterbathing. Pesto will keep for up to a month in well sealed jar in the fridge.
It really is great simply put on soda bread, with a little cheese and some spicy radishes for a little extra kick.
The colour is vivid and fresh looking, with a mild and subtle flavour. Compared to even good quality basil pesto the flavour and colour of home made is far superior.
Well, thats another mostly free food - and soooo easy to make. As always, please do take the time to comment, I love the feedback
A lot of people spend a lot of time killing dandelions on their lawn, fair enough - thats their business, but I would suggest you let them flower first, then collect before they can run to seed and make use of them, you can always spray with poison afterwards.
This is free and unusual food, all you buy is sugar and lime - maybe some pectin.
This recipe is based on a traditional French jam made with lemon, I use lime as I prefer the zing they have.
There are two varients I make, a jam and a syrup.
200 gm (2 teacups) Dandelion petal heads - the green leaf and stem bits removed as they are bitter
1 Litre boiling water
zest of 1 lime
juice of 1 lime
300ml (3 teacups) sugar
1 tsp Pectin (this is already added in jam making sugar)
Place two cups of dandelion heads into a mixing bowl and add the zest of the lime.
Pour two cups of boiling water over.
Leave overnight to infuse.
You can add a few apple peels to help the setting process
After soaking pour the mixture through a sieve to separate all the leaves.
Add the lime juice and bring the mixture to the boil.
Add the sugar and pectin and boil rapidly for 10 minutes, then start checking while it reduces for set point.
This will take some time, but you can always try a little carrageen seaweed to thicken it up - you will need to sieve it out at the end though.
Always date and label.
Once opened, consume within one month.
There is another option, by not adding pectin, you can simply reduce the liquid by about 30% and create a lovely syrup for puddings, toast etc. It is delicious.
Again, as always thanks for reading and please feel free to make any comments or suggestions.
Oranges are not the only fruit - nor are fruit in the way we look at things. In an EU Jam Directive, written in the 80s and updated in 2001, it describes the parameters required for a product to be labelled as jam or marmalade.
There is the phrase "for the purposes of this directive, tomatoes, the edible part of rhubarb stalks, carrots, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons and water melons are considered to be fruit".
This was introduced to pacify the Portuguese.
In Portugal, a delicious jam is made from carrots! There is also a version in India, this recipe is sort of a hybrid. The result is delicious, fresh and crisp - it makes a real change from the norm.
The recipe for carrot marmalade is furtehr down the page
There is also a precedent from Victorian times, from Mrs Beeton's famous book on Household Management.
One assumes that in Victorian times real apricot jam would have been expensive, so this would have been a substitute for families of a more modest income.
The book written by Mrs Isabella Mary Beeton (née Mayson) (12 March 1836 – 6 February 1865) is regarded as the first modern cookbook, it a format that was a precursor to what we have now.
The book contained 900 recipes, because of this the book is also known as Mrs Beeton's Cookbook.
Most of the recipes were illustrated with coloured engravings, and it was the first book to show recipes in a format that is still used today.
I was a guide to running a Victorian household, with advice not only on cooking but also fashion, animal husbandry, poisons(!!!!), the management of servants, science, religion, and industrialism.
No doubt, a few copies of this book would have been sold in Ireland, particularly with a growing middle class in places like Belfast, Dublin and Cork.
The recipe I give here is based on Mrs Beeton's Carrot jam to imitate Apricot Preserve - but altered to add flavour and help setting. As a fan of Indian and SE Asian cuisine, I had to add my own twist to it.
The carrots I used for this were Jaune Obtuse de Doubs, I sourced the seeds for this heritage French variety from realseeds.co.uk.
They are a yellow carrot, and so were perfect for this recipe. They are very sweet naturally and grew well in the garden this year, great to add to salads as well.
This recipe is an ideal way to use up smaller or mis-shapen carrots.
The weights here will fill about three and a half standard jam jars.
INGREDIENTS.
900 gm Carrots, sliced
100 gm Cooking apple, grated
900 gm Sugar
Zest of one lemon
Juice of two lemons
5 Tsp ground Almond
1 Tsp Tumeric (for added colour) OPTIONAL
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Seeds of 5 Cardamom pods, crushed
You can of course add the flavours you like as well, things like star anise, ginger, cinnamon or nutmeg are recommended.
METHOD
Put sliced carrots into a pot with boiling water, around 300 ml to ensure they don't burn.
With a grater, remove the zest from one lemon and squeeze out the juice.
Squeeze the second lemon.
Peel and grate the apple.
Mix the ground almond, grated apple, lemon zest, cardamon pods and lemon juice.
When the carrots are softened a bit after about 10 minutes add the apple/almond/lemon mix and tumeric to the syrup and stir through.
Keep stirring until the apple has broken down.
At this point there should be enough liquid to cover the bottom third of the ingredients.
Add the sugar and dissolve. Keep stirring until carrots are soft.
After about 10 minutes its time to blend the mix. This is where we have a real advantage over the Victorians as the carrots can be blended down to almost a puree, giving a real apricot jam imitation.
This is a little different from normal jam making. This is because the carrots float.
Strain off the ingredients, retaining the liquid syrup.
Return the syrup to the cooking pot and keep on low temperature.
Add the solids to the blender and give it about 3 minutes until finely blended.
At this point I added the 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
Return the blended solids to the pot and reduce over a low heat, remember to stir frequently to stop anything burning.
Do the cold plate test as normal for jams and prepare to jar up in hot sterilised jars as per the preserves made easy posting. Fill the jars to just below the threads and waterbath to seal.
The biggest difference between my recipe and Mrs. Beeton's is that she advises, to extend the shelf life, that you allow the carrot jam to cool and add 3 Tsp of Brandy (I suppose any strong liquer would do) - but you need to do this at under 70 deg C to retain the alcohol. But other than flavour, the water bath treatment should take care of this anyway. The other divergence is the apple, that I added for the pectin content.
FALSE MARMALADE
Fairly straight forward this, pretty much as above with a few minor changes. The big difference is grating the carrot to give a marmalade like texture and the use of Demerera sugar to make it a bit darker.
INGREDIENTS
900 gm red carrot (I used Lisse de Mieux, also from realseeds)
100 gm tart apple
Zest and Juice of two Oranges
Zest and juice of one Lemon (try a couple of lime if you like)
200 ml water
500 gm white sugar
400 gm Demerera Sugar.
METHOD
Grate the carrots and apple. The grating is done for texture and appearance
Zest and juice oranges and lemon
Blend all above ingredients, put into a large heavy bottomed pot and soften the carrot.
When the carrot is softened, take about 1/3rd of the grated carrot and put through food blender/processor.
Return processed carrot to pot and add all sugar.
Cook until reduced to setpoint and jar as per previous posting on preserves.
Yields 3.5 regular jam jars, tastes delicious.
Thanks for reading and please do take the time to leave a comment.
This is a liver dish, but please do not be put off by that. Many kids and even adults have an aversion to it, perhaps because of its texture, colour or presentation at the butchers - but it is the same stuff which the same people will pay a lot of money for in it's processed form - pate.
The other reason may well be that the only liver people in Ireland have had was an over cooked, dried out attempt at liver and onions.
Liver is probably one of the most economic and yet undervalued cuts.
It is filling, versatile and being packed with Iron it is particularly beneficial in the diet of teenage girls who may have some degree of anemia. But this is a way of serving it that most people enjoy.
In keeping with the previous post on onions, I had planned to do a staple - liver and onions - but this is just a little more exotic.
This recipe is basically Hungarian, with a few little alterations from myself, its tasty, filling, attractive and very economical. True to its eastern European origins its heavy on paprika and peppers.
To give it an Irish twist I used a little barley flour and some wild mushrooms - but this is entirely optional.
The wild mushrooms are in a way not only Irish but a nod to eastern Europe - Poland in particular.
This is the time of year that Polish friends of mine tend to become as maudlin as Russians.
With their continental climate, they normally have a long, dry September/October period.
What gets them down is the rain we get here - in particular at this time of year. They call this period of time the Golden Autumn - where it is virtually a national obsession to go into the forests and pick mushrooms.
Other European cultures have a strong interest and knowledge of wild mushrooms, we Irish have a fear of being poisoned - with some justification.
On mainland Europe children are taught how to identify and collect wild mushrooms at an early age.
But we are taught that if it is not a field mushroom then it should be avoided at all costs.
If you want to learn about mushroom hunting in Ireland then its worth contacting Bill O'Dea who has been holds annual mushroom hunts. He also organizes the occasional trip outside Ireland.
For details go to http://www.mushroomstuff.com/
If you don't know your mushrooms, then shop bought ones are a safe option.
Normally served with a veg risotto rice, I just went with some small herbed potato's.
This meal serves 2
INGREDIENTS
300 gm Liver - chopped (lamb is the most subtle flavoured)
100 ml cream
1/2 small leek, finely sliced
1 Bell pepper, red, diced
3 heaped tablespoons flour
3 teaspoons Paprika
2 teaspoons barley flour
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Salt & Pepper to taste Optional
150 gm Sliced Mushrooms
1/2 finely chopped red chili.
Allow 30 minutes for small spuds, so get them down in some salted water.
Take the flour, Paprika, salt and pepper. Put into a clean plastic bag and mix well.
Add the chopped liver and coat it well with the mix. This is the method I use for coating any meat or veg with seasoned flour.
Fry the leeks, garlic and chili gently in some butter until they are soft.
Add the coated liver and cook through. The smaller you cut the liver, the quicker this will be.
To me liver is cooked when the centre of a sample piece is dry and pink, it is important not to over cook it.
When the liver is cooked through add the sliced mushrooms and diced bell pepper, sweat them off until they have softened - about 50% cooked.
Then add the cream, which picks up a lovely colour from the paprika and reduce the heat.
Leave for about 5 - 10 minutes to reduce a little and the bell peppers are cooked.
All of the above takes about 20 - 25 minutes, so you are timing it for the potato's.
When they are done, just strain them - put them back in the pot with some butter, freshly chopped herbs and salt. I used Atika parsley, chives and a little dill leaf. Whirling them around in the still warm pot gives a nice even coating.
I plated this up with home made Blackberry Chutney, and it really sets off all the flavours of the meal.
The texture of the liver, for those who might find it a little different is well complimented by the mushrooms, so in a way this recipe is all you ever wanted to know about liver but were afraid to ask about.
I found the slight sweetness of Cabernet Sauvignon also complimented the meal.
I hope you enjoy this recipe - and please take the time to comment on any thoughts or suggestions.
This is a Ukrainian style preserved cabbage.
But this method is the same as for Zuurkool, Sauerkraut, Kimchi and other fermented veg recipies.
You will need a fermenter or a very large crock, glass or enamel container
Non iodized salt
Sterilised bottles, filled with water
Sterilised plate to fit container
A sterilised tealight if you want to copy this method.
The basics are salt and cabbage.
I used 2.3 KG of cabbage and 4 tablespoons of sea salt.
You can make as much as you wish as long as you use the ratio of 5 lbs. cabbage to 4 Tbs. salt.
If you plan on refrigerating and not jarring use 3 tbs of salt, not 4.
I added:
Half a cooking apple, grated - the sugar speeds up fementation.
Half a teaspoon of Juniper Berries
Half a teaspoon of Carraway seed
Some tips here to prevent problems with your sauerkraut:
Never use aluminum utensils! Absolute cleanliness is necessary for a good result.
I made a fermenter with the help of Home Brew West to make my sauerkraut. But you can use a glass or enamel coated container or a large crock.
Clean and scald the container well! I washed everything in Milton Fluid first, then rinsed by pouring boiling water into the container and swishing around for no less than 30 seconds
To prepare the cabbage, remove and discard the outer leaves. Wash and drain and then cut the cabbages into halves or quarters while removing the core in the process.
1) Shred Cabbage - I use a food processor for speed and ease. If you shred by hand, make sure the shreds are no thicker than 2 Euro coin
2) Mix, with wooden spoon or very clean hands, 2.3 KG / 5 lb of shredded cabbage with 4 tablespoons of non iodized salt like seasalt, maldon salt or Kosher salt - do not use regular table salt.
Toss and mix thoroughly until salt dissolves.
Step 3) When juice starts to form on cabbage from tossing - Pack the cabbage firmly and evenly into a clean crock, glass or enamel container. Press firmly to encourage juice formation.
You can also give it a bit of a pounding, I use a rolling pin, the blunt end.
Leave it for an hour or so to let the liquids seep out of the cabbage.
Step 4) Make sure the liquid covers the cabbage completely!
This does not always happen unless the cabbage is fresh from the garden, and red cabbage seems to have less water than green.
You can prepare additional extra brine by putting 1 1/2 Tablespoons of salt into 950 ml of boiling water. Dissolve salt and cool brine to room temperature before adding to the pot of cabbage.
Step 5) Once cabbage is immersed in brine water, place your sterile plate and weights on top
I used sterilised bottles filled with water but you cab use a large food grade, plastic bag filled with brine water and lay on top if cabbage.
Use 2 large bags, one inside the other with a couple of litres of cooled brine water inside.
That way if the bag breaks it will not water down the cabbage into a tasteless mess.
The cabbage must be well sealed all around with the bag, so no air can get in and contaminate the sauerkraut with unwanted yeasts or molds!
Step 6) If using a fermenter the put on the lid and wrap clingfilm round the edge.
If you dont have a lid first seal off with clingfilm, then a heavy towel or cloth tied securely into place.
Do not remove this until fermenting is complete!
It really does need to be airtight as it is oxygen that spoils the food.
Now, one little trick I came up with for the fermenter was to remove all oxygen is very clever, straight out of intercert physics, even if I do say so myself, and easy - but you need to be careful.
I took a but a lit Tealight candle into the fermenter before closing.
I then closed the lid and sealed off with clingfilm as above.
On the first attempt the candle created a new unplanned "observation" window that I had to seal again with clingfilm and silicone.
But the second attempt worked. The trick is to keep cold water running over any hotspot the candle creates.
21% of air is oxygen, so that got burnt off by the candle that extinguishes itself when the oxygen runs out - and also creates a partial vaccum in the fermenter. Doing this burt off approx. 2 litres of oxygen.
In addition to getting rid of O2 there is another benefit. You can see this on the s-bend airlock that I got from Home Brew West, that difference of level on both sides confirms that I have an airtight seal.
I am actually happy to have an observation hole now and will incorprate that into my next fermenter, but get some plexiglass or glass instead, the clingfilm repair job will do for now.
Step 7) Put in an area where the temperature will not be above 25c degrees. Fermentation will begin within a day, depending upon the room temperature.
Step 8) Fermenting does not take long, but this is
If room temperature is 24c degrees allow 3 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 20c degrees allow 4 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 18c degrees allow 5 weeks for fermentation.
If room temperature is 15c degrees allow 6 weeks for fermentation.
NOTE: If temperature is above 25 degrees, the cabbage may not ferment and could spoil.
Step 9) Once fermented taste to see if your required tartness exists. Tartness will weaken as you process by jarring so make sure it is a wee bit more tart than you like!
If you refrigerate only rinse and toss with cold water to attain the tartness desired.
This is a great staple for the cupboard. I love it with smoked sausage, I guess its because I really liked rookwurst and zuurkool in the Netherlands.
There are good smoked sausage available in Ireland at the supermarkets, Lidl in particular.
Another one that I get locally is delicious, made by McGeough's in Oughterard
One of the things I set out to do at the start of the year was make Zuurkool - Dutch Sauerkraut - and a Ukrainian type of pickled cabbage. Sauerkraut is made by a process of pickling called lacto-fermentation. I wont bother going into details here.
Fully-cured sauerkraut keeps for several months in an airtight container stored at or below 15°C.
Neither refrigeration nor pasteurization is required, although these treatments may prolong storage life. However, pasteurization will destroy all of the beneficial digestive enzymes and lactic acid bacteria, as well as the valuable vitamin C content, so it greatly diminishes the nutritional value without any significant benefit.
This type of preservation is something you find right across Europe, and it has various names.
In Alsace and Lorraine in France it is generally called Choucroute. In Germany Sauerkraut, in Holland it's Zuurkool. You will find Kiszona kapusta all over Eastern Europe.
Even in Asia this type of preservation is popular, perhaps the most well known being Korean Kimchi.
Recipes for Zuurkool will come later, the first thing we need to do is prepare the equipment.
Basics, airtight food grade container with an airlock and bung from homebrewwest
The Sauerkraut types we get in Ireland are frequently just pickled in vinegar and filled with preservatives. Real Sauerkraut is very tasty and very, very healthy.
Captain James Cook always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective way to fight scurvy, even they did not understand vitamin C fully in those days.
This allowed Cook to map the world and bring most of his crew home safe - quite a feat in those days.
German sailors continued this practice even after the British Royal Navy had switched to limes, earning the British sailors the nickname "Limey" while the Germans became known as a "Kraut's".
The rebranding of French Fries as Freedom Fries in recent times in the US is not a new idea.
During World War I, due to concerns the American public would reject a product with a German name, American sauerkraut makers relabeled their product as "Liberty cabbage" for the duration of the war.
The main problem we have here in making it is the equipment required. It is easy to make, but we Irish are used to buying it in jars or having it with hot dogs.
We are not quite sure how its made - and from the taste we assume it is pickled in vinegar. It's actually fermented.
There are several specialist crocks available on the continent specially made for this with an air tight water lip seal, the best known being the Harsch brand from Germany.
However, the cost of shipping such heavy and delicate items to Ireland from the continent is prohibitive.
So, I had to figure out a way to create anaerobic fermentation without the costly equipment.
To create this type of fermentation, you need to allow for the release of CO2 while at the same time prohibit the intake of O2 - much easier said than done.
Thats where Homebrewest.ie comes in. A small Irish company, based in Barna, Connemara.
They provide a great service and free shipping, and great advice even for madcap customers who turn up out of the blue asking for advice on how to ferment cabbage.
I knew that brewers are experts in fermentation, and so with their help and advice, I came up with a plan.
If you go to a chipper or a restaurant, they will normally have catering sized food grade containers for things like Mayonnaise, Curry powder etc. - You are going to have to blag one.
So, once you have a food grade plastic container and an air tight lid - your half way there.
It's then a question of bodging together your anaerobic chamber.
First, use a pen to draw the narrow end of the bung on the bucket lid and centre it up.
The centre the wide end over the initial circle. Draw around it - this will give you minmum and maximum diameters.
Cut between the circles, always staying closer or even on the inner one. Insert the bung with the airlock fitted.
Insert the bung with airlock already fitted.
Now, you will see that the bung pushes down the plastic, making it proud on the inner side of the lid, pull it back a little to make that area recessed.
That allows the silicone to settle on the inside of the bung sink and sit easier.
Then use some silicone to seal it fully on top and on the bottom.
It is not only cabbage you can ferment in the chamber, it can be used for other veg like turnip, gherkins etc. It can also be used for curing meat - not sure about fish - and fermenting mash to make into beer or spirits.
Each use will be explored in due time, but if others use this design - please comment here or let me know
Sugar in Jam does two things, it preserves and it gels.
I am not one that worries too much about food intake, sugars, fats etc. but I was so shocked at the amount of sugar that goes into a preserve even I knew that had to be bad for you
But in my attempt to reduce the sugar content of the jam I decided to give this a go. Its an experiment.
How it turns out in terms of shelf life I have no idea, but I am fairly confident that it should last at least 4 months after proper waterbath processing.
Something we have in abundance all along the shore of the Island is Carageen moss.
This is a natural gelatin. It free and available, so I decided to go with that.
Adding carageen to the mix will force it to gel, so that is one aspect of sugars contribution.
Rememember - when you pick carrigeen, put it on the draining board and pour boiling water over it before you dry it.
Pectin will also do the same thing, this can be bought in stores or you can make it at home.
The rcipe for that is later on
The less ripe the fruit, the more natral pectin, so I went with about 10% of unripe (red or green) blackberries
In a recipe for carrot jam (which will come later) Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management 1861, she added brandy at a ratio of 1 tsp per pound of mix to a preserve to make sure it would remain good for months. The alcohol, just another sugar really, in her recipie is what keeps the preserve.
The obvious problem is with its low boiling point, the alcohol cannot be added durning the cooking process, so it goes in at the last possible moment - just after filling up the jar before the lid and liner go on.
So, I decided to do a Blackberry and rhubarb jam, but reduce the sugar content drasticly, to half the normal ratio. Its still a lot of sugar, but at least it is a start.
As far as I know, looking on the net, this is the first time someones written about making a conserve in this way, so I am a little proud of that - Delaney must have inspired me.
750gm sliced rhubarb
500gm Blackberries (at least 50 gm underripe)
150 gm cooking apple peeled and chopped
(total fruits 1.4kg)
600ml water
3tsp lemon juice
100 gm Demerera
100 gm Rich dark brown
400 gm White sugar
75 gm honey
25 gm Carrageen (a.k.a Irish Moss)
1 tsp brandy per jar filled
(or any other strong drink with a volume of about 40% volume/80% proof e.g. slivovitz, rum, whiskey, vodka, gin, you know what you like)
Put the sugar, water, honey, apple, lemon juice and honey to a large pot, mix, bring to the boil.
Reduce heat and let it simmer on a low heat to reduce.
Soak carrigeen in cold water in warm water for 15 minutes, squeeze out excess water and add to the pot.
Now, because of the reduction in sugar this needs to be reduced more than normal, your looking at 30% reduction at least. Because of the energy requirement I just did it very slowly on the Morso, so timing will differ.
When the mix has reduced do the gel test.
Some people like to remove seeds, carageen bits etc. using a cheesecloth or jam strainer, but you should be able to fish out the carigeen f you dont want it, I left mine in.
But if you want to strain out bits, hit the mix with a handblender first
After filling to the mark add a teaspoon of alcohol - (the mark is just below the thread - take a look at any full commercial jar for an indication, thats where the fill should end
If waterbath is done properly, I estimate a shelf life of at least 3 months -
probably about 6 months I would say.
I ended up with a mix that was just a little too runny, but next time out I will just keep reducing a little longer and increase the amount of under-ripe fruit - maybe just a little more sugarthat should solve the problem.
I would really like it if others that gave this a shot gave me feedback on their results, that would be great
The mixture sets reasonably well, and is very sweet already, tastes divine.
It is just that little bit different because of the seaweed, so I think that by a few minor adjustments we may be on to something.
The first of the Jam recipes. This is the first jam I have made myself. I think the last time I even helped make for that matter, was 1984! My Grandmother made it, as did my mother, but with boarding school, work and other things I have not had anything to do with it since.
Blackberries are coming into season now, a lot of readers who aim for even a little self suficiency have been emailing.
So, my advice would be now is the time to start building up a winter larder - make hay while the sun shines so the saying goes.
A few hours picking, a bit of bartering and a little imagination gives months of satisfaction and good home made food.
just an excuse to show off the new Kilner jars on the right
My neighbour Judah was a great friend of my Gran. She has fantastic rhubarb plants. They must have been established back in the 1890's and whatever variety they are, they are delicious.
When we get a gift of them in early spring each year, they have no stringiness and make great crumble.
I cant wait to get a few crowns for transplant come November.
We save on bin charges here in a very easy way. What ever food waste we have the cats don't want goes to Judah's chickens, and we get eggs - pretty fair deal.
And trust me - you will never get a shop bought egg as good as something fresh off a farm. Just boiled and served with soda bread is a breakfast fit for an emperor, never mind a king.
So I decided the first batch should be something for her.
Even in this first attempt I am determined to reduce the amount of sugar, I used a little honey (10%) in place of sugar
Another tip is to use a small percentage, say about 10%, of under ripe berries, also helps the jam to set.
And even with the sugar reduction it worked out fine.
For the standard procedure in preserve making, please see the production made easy posting.
Ingredients.
250 grm. Rhubarb, sliced thinly
200 grm Blackberries, washed, steeped in slightly salty cold water for an hour (to knock off any little nasties) then rinsed
200 grm granulated white sugar
150 grm granulated Demerera sugar
50 grm rich dark sugar
50 grm honey
1 Tsp lemon juice
150 ml water
