Blackberry and Apple Butter

What does one do when one's freezer is full?  Make jam!  Out of the bottom drawer came 2 kilograms of 'wild' blackberries picked from the back garden last summer. 

    

These were exuberant and unforgivingly thorny plants which seemed to thrive on pickaxe type clay soil in the summer.  I was very glad to dig these up to make way for vegetables which do not bite at harvest time!

 

The recipe for this came from a recently published book, The RHS Allotment Journal by Mitchell Beazley which I had come across at the Shoe Lane Library (you've gotta love the name!).  The ingredients: 1kg blackberries, 1kg apples, 1.75kg sugar, 125ml lemon juice and 300ml water.  


Here's how my jam evolved into butter.....




Peel and core two large Bramley apples, these weighed about 1.8 kilograms.

Cover with water and simmer for about 10 minutes to a fluffy consistency.

These blackberries were rinsed a couple of times and left to defrost.

After half an hour, cook these on the lowest heat until soft enough to press through a sieve.

The softened blackberries were sieved directly over the apple pulp.

Press, scrape, press, scrape, press, scrape: slow cooking at its most mind-numbing....unless someone could put a spin on its meditative qualities!  Out of 2 kilograms of blackberries, 500 grams of seeds were eventually extracted.

Here, one was supposed to add a 1:1 sugar to fruit ratio.  I reckoned I ended up with 3 kilograms worth of pulp.  I could only find three 500 grams bags of organic demerera sugar in the pantry, so I figured this would do the trick, plus the blackberries were very sweet.  I added the rind of one large unwaxed lemon and the juice from two lemons, approximately 200 milligrams.

Thought I'd try out this newfangled jam thermometer but things got complicated when the blasted needle hovered forever at 100°C (we all know setting point is at 105°C).  Then after about 15 minutes, the needle started dropping even though the jam was boiling merrily away!?  At this point I reverted to the freezer spoon n plate method which is possibly the most effective after all.

Mmmmm I could dive into this purple black heaven!  After spooning this luscious jam into eight mid-sized jars, I spotted the third 500 gram bag of sugar which I had forgotten to add to the pot.  OMG, the ratio was actually 3:1!  I googled for some answers and found a most enlightening article on the Allotment Vegetable Growing website - I've unwittingly created fruit butter instead of jam.

Butter or jam, the end product is my summer of 2009 bottled and waiting to be savoured on wintry mornings.  The taste is reminiscent of sun-warmed berries with the occasional burst of citrus from the slivers of lemon rind.  Perhaps I'll introduce a thornless variety to the garden next year......maybe a loganberry.....or a tayberry.....or even a sunberry. 

Tomato harvest

Tomato growing was one of my most exciting projects this summer.  Having tried planting tomato seeds many times in the tropics as a child and watching the seedlings flop over at about 3 inches high, I had never attempted growing this fruit again until now.

Early this year, whilst unpacking some boxes, I found a packet of unopened heritage tomato seeds from Diggers Club Australia.  It had been in a box for three years but I thought I would stick some in compost to see if they would germinate. 

It was a lottery as there were eight types of 'heirloom' varieties in the packet.  Amazingly, every single seed germinated.

I tucked some amongst the calendulas as I've read that these plants would help to repel pests.  Others were grown next to the sweetcorn further down the garden and one was planted in a pot. 

It was exciting, watching and waiting, not knowing what variety each plant was going to be until later in the season.

In the end, one tomato plant grew into a bush variety called 'Brown Berry'.  The fruits were juicy and very sweet.  I'd definitely grow more of these next year.

Brown Berry amongst the calendulas

  

Another plant turned out to be a vigorous growing Grosse Lisse with big potato leaves.  The fruits grew so large and heavy that the entire plant, even with stakes, eventually collapsed onto the calendulas and pea plants behind it.  Stronger stakes next year!

Grosse Lisse in early summer

Four fruits were left after pinching out

Mid-summer after rain

Early autumn

The rest were mid-sized plants which I 'stopped' at 2-3 feet high.  The fruits were elongated with light green streaks but as they ripened, the lot turned to a lovely yellow colour.  It was quite a mystery at first why one yellow fruit would taste so different from another yellow fruit.  After some 'Googling' the penny dropped:  they are two different varieties, Cream Sausage and Banana Legs!



Banana Legs ripening in late summer

Both varieties were prolific and very showy.  The Banana Legs tomatoes thrived in the ground as well as in a pot on the warm patio, the fruit turning into a beautiful canary yellow which remained hanging on the plant like big pendulous baubles until harvested.  The fruit is meaty with a very subtle flavour.  Apparently yellow tomatoes have less acidity and this variety definitely fits the bill.

Pot grown Banana Legs in early autumn

The Cream Sausage tomatoes are, true to their name, a light creamy yellow when ripe.  They are juicy, full of flavour and great for salads.   They grew very well in clay soil and required additional staking when the fruits got bigger.  Due to its thin skin, this variety is favoured by slugs and snails and must be kept off the ground! 

       

                                                                                      

Cream Sausage ripening in mid-summer

The last tomatoes were picked today and none had suffered from blight.  Was it beginner's luck, companion planting with calendulas or wind direction?

         

Grosse Lisse, Banana Legs and Cream Sausage tomatoes

 

All in all, a very worthwhile effort and a very tomatoey summer was had by all!  



Brown Berry and Banana Legs tomatoes

Rose hip jam

I had not considered roses as being 'edible' until recently when I noticed that the rose bush by the front door was absolutely dripping with rose hips.  The hips had turned a beautiful fire engine red and I thought it would be a terrible waste to let them fall to the ground.

Having read that jam, syrup, jelly, soup, pie and even wine could be made out of rose hips, I decided to give jam-making a go. 

I 'googled' and found this popular recipe from the 1700s:  1 pound prepared rose hip pulp, 1 cup water and 1 pound sugar.  There were no specifics on how to 'prepare' the hips - it seemed everyone had a different method.  Here's how I made mine......



 

Harvest carefully, wearing gloves and an old jacket to prevent scratches to oneself. 

Put the very ripe and soft fruit aside.  Select fruit which are firm and trim off both ends.

Cut these in half and scrape off the seeds with the sharp end of a vegetable peeler or knife. Try not to touch the hairy seeds (more on that later).

To prepare the softer fruit, hold firm the stem of the fruit and gently pull the 'bunch' of seeds off from the other end - easy!

Rinse the cleaned fruit to remove any leftover hairy bits.  Here's the thing about the fine hairs on the seeds: they work like itching powder.  Rub some on the skin and you will feel it!  If you're very sensitive, wear gloves when processing the fruit.

Pour the prepared hips and water into a heavy-based saucepan, cook until soft enough to press through a stainless steel sieve.

Sieve the pulp in small batches into a large bowl.

These were the skins left over from 1.5 pounds of rose hips.  Flick these onto the garden beds.

Pour the fine pulp back into the saucepan, stir in the sugar and bring to a boil.  Boil for several minutes and then simmer until there's a 'jam-like' consistency.

Rose hips have plenty of pectin, so there's no need to add anything else to help it set.  Once the mixture is thick, glossy and silky, test for setting point. 

Voila! Only four bottles after all that work but the taste is well worth the effort.

As I prefer a less sweet jam, I used 1 pound organic natural demerera sugar to 1.5 pounds rose hip pulp and two cups of water.  This jam is soft and silky and has just the right balance of tartness.