Our friend Helga makes a delicious fresh tasting raspberry jam with a stunning vibrant colour. After chatting to her about it she revealed that her secret is to use preserving sugar with added pectin, this cuts down on the amount of time needed to cook the jam, so maintaining the taste and colour of the berries.

See here for the raspberry jam recipe in more detail.

I used raspberries picked from our local Pick Your Own farm, much more fun and half the price of buying them in the supermarket, it also meant I could select large firm berries ideal for making jam.

Recipe Costs

£4.74 1 kg raspberries (PYO cost)
£1.64 1 kg preserving sugar (with added pectin)

£6.38 Total
£3.18 per kg of jam (half the price of luxury raspberry jam)

I used 1kg of raspberries as that was just about the amount I picked, the recipe can be done in smaller quantities if wished, but is best done in several batches if using more than 1 kg, as it takes to long to raise the volume of liquid up to setting point.

The raspberries are placed in a large preserving pan, and heated slowly until they start to simmer in their own juice.

After simmering for 20 minutes, the same weight of preserving sugar is added.

The pan is kept on the heat and brought to boiling point as quickly as possible, stirring to make sure that the sugar is dissolved.

The jam is kept boiling until it reaches setting point, I test for this using the wrinkle test on a plate taken from the freezer.

This happened quickly in this case, the jam was ready in about 5 minutes.

The jam is potted into sterilised jars using a jam funnel,  essential if you don't want hot sticky jam splashed everywhere.

After filling the jars a waxed paper disc should be placed on top of the jam, before immediately putting the lid on.

Using the preserving sugar worked well with this jam, it's a good consistancy with a nice even spread of seeds.

Recipe Timings

5 mins Preparation
20 mins cooking raspberries
10 mins to reach boiling point
5 mins boiling
15 minutes potting

Taste Test
We tried this jam out with freshly baked scones and cream.
The whole combination worked a treat, the vibrant colour of the jam contrasting against the pale cream, and the fresh raspberry taste really coming through well.

With the late summer fruits starting to ripen on the trees (and fall off in the wind), this recipe is great for using up a glut of apples and plums. I actually used the last of last years frozen stewed plums from the freezer, and some windfall apples. The relative quantities of plums and apples can be easily altered within reason.

Click here for the Plum and Apple Chutney recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£1.35 900g plums (PYO cost)
£0.80 600g cooking apples
£0.33 450g onions
£0.50 50g fresh root ginger
£0.14 50g raisins
£0.15 1 tbsp mustard powder
£0.08 2 tsp ground coriander
£0.05 3 cloves garlic
£0.43 275g demerara sugar
£0.45 600ml vinegar

£4.28 Total (£2.13 without buying the plums and apples)
£1.90 per kg of relish (£0.95 without buying the rhubarb, one seventh of the cost of similar at tesco.com)

I thawed out my frozen plums first, although this was probably not necessary, this recipe is great in that all the ingredient are chucked in a preserving pan and brought to the boil.

Apples are peeled, cored and chopped up, size is not crucial as they will be reduced to a pulp during the cooking process.

Onions are peeled and finely chopped, they will remain reasonable firm in the finished chutney so its important not to leave them to chunky.

This recipe uses ground coriander, which I like to make freshly from coriander seeds, my stone pestle and morter make short work of grinding these up. Mustard powder, garlic and ginger adds extra taste to the chutney. The ginger can be grated, or chopped finely as I've done here, a tablespoon of mustard powder is added using my ever useful measuring spoons.

Demerara sugar adds sweetness to the fruit, you may want to increase the amount by 75g if you use more plums, or you can make a sharper tasting chutney by reducing the amount to 200g.

I used some home made spiced pickling vinegar to add depth to the taste, you can buy this commercially or just use malt vinegar.

All the ingredients are added to the preserving pan and brought to the boil.

The chutney is then simmered until it is thick, a good guide to judging the correct consistency of chutney can be found in this blog post about green tomato chutney.

This batch of chutney took several hours to reach the correct thickness when it was then potted in steralised jars. I'll leave it to mature for a few months before eating, it should last for over a year in a cool dark place.

Recipe Timings

30 minutes Preparation
120 minutes cooking
20 minutes potting

We've been drinking a lot of elderflower cordial recently, and stocks are getting low, so I've been looking round for other cordials to make.

Using the gooseberries from the garden seemed to make sense, they're just starting to ripen and taste wonderfully fresh.

This recipe also includes lemon verbena, which should add a few citrus notes to the finished drink. Lemon verbena is one of those herbs that grows like crazy in the garden but which I very rarely actually use for anything, so it's nice to feel it's making itself useful.

This recipe is adapted from one on The Independent website.

Click here for the Gooseberry And Lemon Verbena Cordial recipe  in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0.52 400g gooseberries (PYO cost, mine were free)
£0.36 280g caster sugar
£0.00 1 litre water
£0.00 6 sprigs lemon verbena

£0.36 Total (£0.88 if buying the gooseberries)
£0.36 per litre of cordial (£0.88 if buying the gooseberries - an equivalent cordial at ocado costs £5.78 a litre)

One time saving aspect of this recipe is that the gooseberries don't need to be topped and tailed, just a quick rinse to remove any dirt and insects, then they're placed in a pan with the sugar...

...water (I find a glass measuring jug the easiest way to measure out quantities of liquid)...

...and the lemon verbena.

Interestingly, lemon verbena originated in South America and can grow to 3 metres high, our plants seem to like it here but have never grown more than a metre high, although they do tend to spread sideways rather quickly.

The strong lemon scent is said to keep for longer after picking than other lemon scented herbs, other than for culinary use the herb can be used as a reviving addition to a hot bath.

The herb is crushed under a rolling pin before adding to the pan, as this release the essential oils.

The mixture is simmered for about 10 minutes, or until the gooseberries start to get tender.

It's allowed to cool, then strained through muslin, making sure every last drop of flavour is squeezed out of the fruit pulp.

After bottling in steralised bottles, this cordial will keep well in the fridge for several months, it can also be frozen in plastic bottles.

Dilute to taste with still or sparkling water, or sparkling white wine.

Recipe Timings

10 minutes Preparation
20 minutes cooking
1 hour cooling
10 minutes bottling

Taste Test

A subtle tasting, not overly sweet cordial, but very refreshing. The lemon verbena adds a very slight citrus taste.

The gooseberries are swelling nicely and early varieties are already in the shops. The fresh fruit is not to everyone's taste, but is delicious when used in jam or chutney. Why not try some of these recipies:

 

Gooseberry and Lemon Verbena Cordial
A thirst quenching way of using up a glut of gooseberries.

Gooseberry Chutney
A basic gooseberry chutney.

Green Gooseberry Jam
Quite simply the best thing to do with gooseberries.
An excellent jam for breakfast, tangy yet sweet, a lovely orange colour, can be flavoured with the addition of elderflowers.

Gooseberry and Elderflower Cordial
A combination of early summer flavours in a cordial. Uses elderflower cordial.

 

 

The elderflowers are really starting to look good in the hedgerows and this is a perfect way to use their subtle flavour with that other early summer favorite rhubarb. You don't need may umbrels of flowers to get a hint of the taste, and you can use any extra to make elderflower cordial.

This recipe is adapted from the one in Edible Wild Plants & Herbs by Pamela Michael.

See here for the elderflower and rhubarb jam recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0.00 6 large elderflower heads (you can get dried ones on ebay, but I haven't tried them)
£0.00 1.5 kg rhubarb (£9.33 if bought)
£1.40 1.5 kg sugar
£0.35 1 lemon

£1.75 Total (£11.08 if buying the rhubarb)
£0.87 per kg of jam (£5.54 if buying the rhubarb - Elderflower and rhubarb jam costs £9.26 a kg at gallowaylodge.co.uk)

My elderflowers were on the small side, so I used about 15, they are tied up in a muslin bag and put in the bottom of a large bowl.

The rhubarb is chopped up and placed on top of the elderflowers.

The sugar is sprinkled onto the rhubarb and the bowl shook to make sure it settles down. This recipe relies on the sugar drawing out the juice from the rhubarb by osmosis, the only other liquid added is the juice of a lemon. As a result the jam should have an intense flavour. I used a glass bowl so I could see just how much juice was coming out, I've used a similar process before when making marrow and ginger jam and am always surprised how well it works.

Afetr 12 hours the rhubarb is starting to give up it's juice, it's given a quick stir and then covered back up again.

After another 12 hours the rhubarb is swimming in it's own juice, it's heated up slowly to dissolve all the remaining sugar, then returned to the bowl for another 12 hours.

Before the final cooking process the juice of a lemon is added, using my satisfyingly functional glass lemon squeezer.

The jam is cooked for about 45 minutes until it reaches setting point, then potted in steralised jars. I always find a jam funnel useful at this stage.

Recipe Timings

20 minutes Preparation
36 hours standing
45 minutes cooking
10 minutes bottling

Taste Test

It's surprising how so few elderflowers give such a distinctive taste to this jam. It's not overly sweet, which brings out the flavour of the rhubarb nicely.

This recipe was tempting to try as another way of preserving rhubarb.
There's nothing wrong with relilable rhubarb chutney, but you do have to wait several months before it's good to eat, the advantage with this recipe is that the sweet fruity relish can be enjoyed straight away.

As a variation you could add finely chopped chilli, or try the lime and ginger version on sweet mary's blog.

This recipe is taken from Preserves: River Cottage Handbook No.2 by Pam Corbin

See here for the rhubarb relish recipe in more detail.

Recipe Costs

£0.47 500g granulated sugar
£0.14 100 ml cider vinegar
£6.22 1kg rhubarb (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£0.35 125g raisins
£0.50 50g fresh root ginger
£0.34 2 cinnamon sticks
£0.02 6 cloves

£8.04 Total (£1.82 without buying the rhubarb)
£5.74 per kg of relish (£1.30 without buying the rhubarb)

The ginger is chopped into chunks and bruised with a rolling pin, then put with the other spices in a muslin bag.

The spice bag is put in a saucepan along with 100ml of water and 100ml of cider vinegar, I find it easiest to use a glass measuring jug.

500g of sugar is also put into the pan, this seems like quite a lot but does make the relish lovely and sweet.
The mixture is heated gently until the sugar has dissolved, then set aside for 20 minutes.

About a kilogram of rhubarb is washed and then chopped into 2 - 3 cm long pieces.

125g of raisins are used to give some variety to the relish, these could easily be left out if wished.

The spiced syrup, rhubarb and raisins are combined and cooked gently for about 45 minutes. At first the pan will seem very dry, but the rhubarb releases a lot of liquid as it cooks. I left the muslin bag in during the cooking to try and extract more of the flavour.

This is meant to be a runny preserve, suited to being poured from a wide necked bottle, so shouldn't be reduced too much when cooking.

Recipe Timings

10 minutes Preparation
20 minutes standing
45 minutes cooking
10 minutes bottling

Taste Test

Great in a strong cheese sandwich and should go well with cold cooked meats. This is most definitely a sweet relish, but has a pleasing acidity from the rhubarb.

I used up some of my bargain car boot sale limes on making lime chutney, but have been searching for a spicier Indian style lime pickle recipe. The problem I've been coming up with is that most of the recipes involve leaving the pickle in full sunlight for several days, fine if you live on the Indian sub-continent, but a bit more difficult during your typical English summer.

In the end I had to go with one just to try it out, this is an interesting recipe as far a pickling goes in that it doesn't contain vinegar or oil, the preserving is presumably done with a combination of the acidic lime juice, salt and sugar. I'm still looking for a recipe for an oil based lime pickle as I still have a few limes left (now safely stored in the freezer)

See here for the lime pickle recipe.

Recipe Costs

£0.32 1kg (about 16) limes (or £2.56 if buying from tesco)
£ 0.04 100g salt
£0.47 500g sugar
£0.26 1 teaspoon cardamom seeds (ground)
£0.12 2 teaspoons cumin seeds (ground)
£0.10 Half a teaspoon cloves (ground)
£0.03 Chilli powder as per taste required
£0.75 75 g of grated ginger root
£0.03 1 teaspoon Fenugreek (methi seeds)
£0.03 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
£2.15 Total (or £4.39 if buying limes from tesco)
£4.09 per kg of chutney - about the same as the equivalent at  tesco (£8.28 with buying full price limes - nearly twice the cost of equivalent at tesco)

Salting the limes brought out a fair amount of juice.

The remaining juice is then squeezed out.

Seeds ready for grinding in my favorite pestle and morter, I didn't grind these to a powder as I don't mind a bit of texture in the chutney.

All the ingredients are mixed together and boiled for a minute, the limes are still quite hard when packed into the steralised jars, or in this case jar, as it was reasonably large. There was a lot of surplus liquid once the jar had been topped up.

 Amazing that 16 limes can be packed into one jar, this was then left on a sunny window sill for a couple of weeks, hopefully this will replicate the Indian sun. 

Recipe Timings

30 mins preparation
10 mins simmering
5 mins potting

Taste Test

I left these for around 10 months before opening, and the first thing I noticed was that they were dryer than shop bought pickles. When making these again I will probably not pack the fruit in so tight so as to allow a it more room for some of the surplus liquid.
The texture however is spot on, just firm enough to provide some bite, without being overly chewy. The sour lime flavour comes through very well, more so than the spices. Next time I'll try increasing the quantities of the spices, especially the chilli powder as I prefer my lime pickle to have a little more of a kick.

We're occasional Sunday morning visitors to a local car boot sale, we can't go that often because we end up buying too much stuff.
One of the stalls which is worth visiting sells vast quantities of cheap fruit and veg, there's never much choice and it has to be eaten quickly, but it's a good place to pick up a bargain. This weeks haul was 15 bananas for a pound and a crate of limes for £1.50 (45 - I counted them).

This lime chutney was an obvious choice, although I think we probably eat more of the Indian style lime pickle (oil based) than this vinegar based preserve, this will add an extra dimension to cheese and pickle sandwiches of the future.

The recipe I used was adapted from the one at grouprecipes.com.

See here for the lime chutney recipe.

Recipe Costs

£0.12 6 limes (or £0.96 if buying from tesco)
£ 0.01 1 tablespoon salt
£0.09 1 medium onion finely chopped
£0.47 300ml cider vinegar
£0.02 1 tsp ground ginger
£0.14 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
£0.06 2 tsp black mustard seeds
£0.06 2 tsp white mustard seeds
£0.97 Total (or £1.81 if buying limes from tesco)
£1.49 per kg of chutney - 19% the equivilant cost at tesco (£2.78 per kg with buying full price limes - 34% of the cost of equivalent at tesco)
Interesting that it is still cheaper to make you own even if buying limes at full price.

The lime were sliced and salted, then left overnight, during which time they changed colour.

Added mustard seeds using measuring spoons , both for flavour and appearance.

The recipe called for mixed spice, so I used some recently purchased garam marsala which contains coriander, cumin, black pepper, cardamon cinnamon, ginger, bay leaves and cloves. These were crushed up in the heavy morter and pestle and added to the limes, salt and sugar.

I only had to simmer this for around 20 minutes until it was thick enough, the limes were still a bit crunchy but should soften over time in the jars.

The finished chutney smelt very strongly of limes, as it doesn't contain any sugar I shall be interested to see how sour it is in a few months time.

Recipe Timings

30 mins preparation
20 mins simmering
5 mins potting

This was a nice quick easy recipe to make to use up the last of the gooseberries.
I only made about half of quantity of the recipe, as the gooseberries in the garden were rapidly being eaten by wasps, and I'd used up a lot making a delicious summer pudding using only gooseberries - highly recommended, if a bit pale looking.

This meant it was quite a quick process as it cut down the time consuming job of topping and tailing the gooseberries. The recipe also appealed as I thought it would be nice to try a chutney without all the additions such as raisins, dates, chilli etc.

The recipe I used was adapted from the one at gooseberryrecipes.org.

See here for the gooseberry chutney recipe.

Recipe Costs

£0.85 650g gooseberries (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£0.09 125g onion
£0.36 285ml vinegar (malt)
£ 0.01 7g salt
£0.46 250g brown sugar
£0.03 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
£0.01 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
£1.81 Total (£0.96 without buying the gooseberries)
£2.87 per kg of jam (£1.52 without buying the gooseberries - 18% of the cost of equivalent at tesco)

The simplest of ingredients to start with, top and tailed gooseberries and onion.

Sugar, salt and ginger and cayenne pepper to give it a bit of a spicy taste.

Cheap and cheerful malt vinegar, I did consider using the more expensive cider vinegar but frugality won in the end (I'm a cheapskate at heart). I find a glass  measuring jug very useful for liquid ingredients when preserving.

Cooking the  gooseberries and simmering to reduce down to a chutney consistency didn't take long at all. The picture below is at the start of the process, before the gooseberries underwent their colour change.

The finished product surprisingly similar to the gooseberry jam I recently made, the colour is the same and the distinctive seeds occur in both. The skins of the gooseberries seem to break down so much that they are not noticeable, which is a relief as I wouldn't fancy skinning them as well as top and tailing.

 

Recipe Timings

30 mins preparation
30 mins simmering
15 mins potting

The variety we have in the garden develops beautiful red markings as the fruit ripen. The gooseberry is to my mind one of the quintessentially English summer tastes along with rhubarb and elderflower. I've not got a very sweet tooth and prefer the sharpness to something like a strawberry or raspberry.

I dug out a recipe from the classic Mary Berry's complete television cookbook, a well thumbed 26 years old this year. TV cooking was cutting edge in those days, I doubt anyone would have foreseen the range and styles of programs we have now.

See here for the gooseberry jam recipe.

Recipe Costs

£5.07 1kg gooseberries (equivalent cost, mine was free)
£1.21 1.3kg granulated sugar
£6.28 Total (£1.21 without buying the gooseberries)
£2.73 per kg of jam (£0.52 without buying the rhubarb - 10% of the cost of equivalent at ocado)

This is a wonderfully simple and quick recipe.

Topping and tailing the gooseberries was the most time consuming part, made easier by having a decent sharp knife. Funny things gooseberries, you could get a bit squeamish about cutting into them if you thought too hard about it.

This is a good volume of jam to make, anything more and you're risking it taking for ever to heat up to setting point. It's never a good idea to overfill a preserving pan, better to cook a large volume in two smaller batches.
At the same time as adding the sugar I put in 250ml of elderflower cordial, Mary Berry had suggested adding 12 elderflower heads in muslin, but we're a bit late in the season for that so a good splash of cordial has to suffice.

Still some lumps of fruit left in this picture, along with a lot of seeds. One of the nice things about this jam is how the gooseberry skins disintegrate when cooking, so there is no need to laboriously peel them. The seeds look wonderful in the finished jam.

Setting point was reached and tested for on a cold plate.

Not the best photo, but I think you can see the wrinkling. Amazing how the green gooseberries turn a lovely orange when cooked.

Recipe Timings

0.5hrs Preparation
0.5 hrs simmering
10 mins boiling to setting point
0.5 hr Potting

Taste Test

Excellent, just tangy enough to be a wake up call on breakfast toast, with the elderflower adding a sweet taste.