My first jam making demo.

Ugh. Feeling decidedly under the weather today and very cotton wool-headed so fingers crossed this post actually makes sense.

Last night I did my first jam making demo for Rachel, purveyor of very fine toddler groups and long time friend of this blog. 'Jam making demo' sounds quite straight forward but in a couple of hours in mid-winter it's something of a challenge. There isn't any wild fruit available and, to be honest, jam making isn't that thrilling to watch. There are no visual pyrotechnics, merely a lady stirring a big pot for hours on end. Pickles are even more scintillating, there isn't even a lady to watch, just a pot of veg soaking in brine.

I overcame the fruit problem by making my famous (in this house) Aspall's Cyder Jelly. Being a certo based jam it's very quick to make so fitted into the time slot easily, though maybe a bit too quick as we finished earlier than I though. A moment of drama came when the Baby Belling I was cooking on stubbornly refused to get hot enough to boil the jelly and I had to relocate to the kitchen, thus removing the 'lady stirring a big pot' element (sigh).

Nonetheless we all had a nice evening with good company and liberal quantities of wine, bread, cheese, pickled fruit and Lavender Jelly. I took along a couple of books I've made up from this blog (via Blurb.com) which went down well. A learning point for me was the amount of interest in using fruit preserves in cooking, eg meat glazes, chutney tagines etc so, if called upon to do this kind of thing again, I'd concentrate on that a bit more.

So thank you ladies of Mummy Imps, you were all very kind to me and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! (How about a foraging walk in the summer?!)

Proudest jam making moment yet.

You would not believe how disproportionately and ridiculously excited I am by the recipe I found yesterday! I have managed to combine my two major interests in life: cider and jam. Yes - I made Aspall's Suffolk Cyder Jelly, isn't it pretty? I can now retire fulfilled.

Cyder Jelly.
2 pints dry cider (or cyder, depending on how whimsical you're feeling)
3lb 4oz sugar
1 bottle Certo.

Put the cider and sugar into a jam pan and stir over a lowish heat til the sugar has dissolved. Add the Certo, bring to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Pot up in the usual way. Makes nearly 7 jars.

It's soooo easy and quick to make, a really good starting point for jammy novices. I find working with Certo a tad disconcerting. It looks deceptively liquid in the jar, but when you dig around with a spoon (at least 24hrs later) it's actually a gorgeously voluptuous, yielding set. Compare to sloe jelly which has tons of natural pectin but a really glossy, bouncy set.

It tastes quite dry and grown up (unsurprisingly!) In the name of research I ate it with stilton and oat cakes which was delicious beyond description, the ultimate Ploughman's Lunch (providing the ploughman in question didn't have too much to do that afternoon) I'm also imagining pork neck steaks, browned in a pan with onions and apple, splash of stock and apple juice and a generous dollop of Cyder Jelly, cover and simmer til the meat is cooked through. Remove the meat and stir a dollop of creme fraiche into the sauce. Mmmmmm. When/if the snow clears I'll be visiting Goodies Farm Shop to put it to the test.

Now of course, I want to try Mulled Cyder Jelly, Peronelle's Blush Jelly, Red wine Jelly - in the words of Katie Price "It's a whole new world".