Pickled Plums

So I got round to pickling Sophie's plums yesterday and, yes, that does mean pickling in vinegar! I've not tasted them yet as I'm giving them time to mature (see Just a Quick Boast) but this is how I made them, based firmly on a recipe in Marguerite Patten's book Jams, Preserves and Chutneys. It works best with slightly under-ripe fruit.

Pickled Plums
2.25kg sweet plums
1.5 litres white wine or cider vinegar
1.7 kilos sugar
1 vanilla pod
5 cloves

Put the spices in the vinegar, bring to the boil and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes. Take out the cloves but leave the vanilla pod in and allow the vinegar to cool. Once cool remove the vanilla pod, add the plums and cook gently til they are softened but still whole. Lift out of the vinegar and drain well then pack into sterilized jars. At this stage I allowed the fruit to settle a little then drained more vinegar by tipping the jars up while holding the fruit back with a spoon.

Add the sugar to the vinegar in the pan and heat until the sugar dissolves then boil steadily til a syrup like consistency is reached. Pour the hot vinegar over the fruit and seal the jars.

How long to leave them to mature is a moot point. Marguerite suggests 2 months but last year I found this wasn't enough. I re-tasted last year's fruit a couple of days ago, at 10 months old they were delicious - so somewhere between 2 and 10 months! Think I'll keep tasting at intervals and will report back on the optimal maturation period. I'm dedicated to my work : )

If anyone out there is experienced in pickling fruit I'd love to hear your tips and hints. I'm finding I'm left with huge amounts of syrup at the end, does this mean I'm doing something wrong? I'm wondering if too much vinegar is getting in at the draining stage leaving less space for syrup and maybe this has something to do with a long maturing stage too? Any advice gratefully received!

Foraging as a Spectator Sport.

In the main we forage alone. We frequently see signs of other human activity, the rings of trampled nettles and absence of ripe fruit at person height for example. Occasionally we get actual human contact in the form of comments from passers by, sometimes we get as far a companionable little chat about what we're picking and what we'll make. There was even one unpleasant incident involving a farmer ordering us off a public bridleway on his land because we were picking sloes. But today's experience was quite unique!

In the morning we decided to take the children to Bressingham Steam Museum, next to the cafe was a cherry plum tree and huge great drifts of ripe plums all over the floor. Willow and Xanthe spotted them and mithered mercilessly til we agreed to pick a small handful after lunch. Once we started picking the floodgates opened, it was like a signal that this is socially acceptable behaviour and other people joined in, filling pockets and laps with little red plums, some were furtive, some triumphant but it was quite satisfying to see the ripple effect we had.

On the way home we stopped by a small group of hazlenut trees which are miraculously untouched by squirrels, I assume because they're surrounded by roads on all sides. The nuts are ripening already and were falling to the floor, we began picking them up and were soon absorbed in the task. Suddenly we were startled by a voice shouting "What are you scrumping?" I looked up and see a young couple walking towards us, "hazlenuts" explained Adam "Oh great!" said the chap who strode over and began plucking nuts from the tree with gusto.

It was a slightly strange situation as obviously we're in no position to be territorial although I have to admit my gut reaction (which I didn't act upon!) was to say "Bog off! We were here first!" but on the other hand, it's nice to meet people with similar interests and good that perfectly edible nuts aren't going to waste.

Luckily enough they were more interested in the green filberts still on the tree while we concentrated on the riper nuts on the floor and with the squirrels out of the way, there were more than enough to go around.

It's still early in the season so we'll visit again in a week or two and see if any more have fallen. At least nuts keep well so I don't have another batch of jam making to worry about though I do have to figure out where to store them so that they dry out nicely and keep well.

Elderberry Crumble

I totally forgot to take a photo of the crumble before it got snaffled up so I had to quickly catch Willow finishing off the last bit, here's my eldest daughter cheesin' it up for the camera!

I'm afraid I've been a bit rubbish on the weights and measures so I hope you can make sense of my ramblings. I think I put about 10oz elderberries in a pan with about a 1lb of de-stoned plums. I added just a smidge of water plus a pinch of ground cloves and a generous shake of cinnamon together with about a cupful of brown sugar. I simmered this together til the fruit was tender. I'd recommend tasting at this point and adjusting the sugar to taste.

I made a crumble topping consisting of 100g ground nuts, (I used hazlenuts and almonds because that's what I had in the cupboard. The hazlenuts were the magic ingredient, in my humble opinion.) 200g flour and 100g butter, rubbed together then mixed with 100g brown sugar. The crumble was then baked at gm5 for 20 mins or so. We ate it with vanilla ice cream.

I've never had elderberries before and was stunned at how strong the flavour is. By pure accident I think I put the upper limit of what would be acceptable in there, any more would be quite overwhelming but as it was, the crumble was wildly popular in this household.

I still have a huge boxful of elderberries in the kitchen which I'm not sure how I'm going to use up although I have seen a recipe for pear and elderberry jam. Hmmm.

Just a Quick Boast ...

..... about my fabby foraging day!

Yesterday Sophie very kindly let me loose on her plum tree so I now have a small mountain of sweet and delicious plums to process. I'm planning on pickling most of them. Last year I pickled some Japonica Quince and blackberries, at the time I was somewhat disappointed and as a result they've languished, unloved, at the back of the pantry. I dusted them off the other day with the intention of chucking the fruit and re-using the jars but luckily I decided to taste some first. Giving the fruit time to mature has transformed them, it's hard to convey how lovely they are, the Quince have a rich, deep, complex taste, spicy and Christmassy. It's going to be hard convincing people that there's no alcohol in there! The blackberry vinegar is a revelation, I imagine a generous splosh would be nice added to slow cooked shin beef. So pickled plums for next year it is.

Inspired by Hugh Watson on Twitter we picked some elderberries this afternoon with the intention of making apple and elderberry pie at some point over the weekend and then swung by the pear tree we spotted the other day. We nibbled a few by the road, trying to decide if they were ripe or whether they needed a bit more time. We couldn't decide so picked what we thought was a small bowlful for further consideration at home. Highlight of the day was my stunt involving transforming grabby thing into a giant catapult and firing a pear halfway down the field while the kids watched open mouthed.

Back home the 'small bowlful' turned out to be more akin to a bathful so, ummm, pickled pears too I guess. But for the moment I'm putting all fruit out of my mind and concentrating on Warrington Wolves - Come on the Wire!

Chilli Day

Oh the ups and downs of jam making! After the success of the Lavender Jelly I confidently plunged headlong into Chilli Jelly. I found a recipe on a blog I can usually rely on, 600g crab apples, 35g chillis, 1 litre of water. I paused, a litre? Seems like a lot, maybe it tones down the chilli? Dunno, but as it's a trusted source I ploughed on (I seem to have a history of ignoring nagging doubts at my peril) The apples seemed happy bobbing luxuriously in their spacious waterbath which seemed odd as usually the fruit doesn't have enough water to float but hey, let's see what happens ...

It was quite late by the time I potted up the jelly last night so I left it to set, put the pans in to soak and went to bed. I was really quite surprised this morning when I came to label the jelly and discovered it was stone cold but still liquid. Not exactly a major disaster, I just re-boiled it and it has now set, reducing the yield by 1lb in the process, but a pain in the bum none the less.

Normally when making jam/jelly I put just enough water in to stop the fruit catching on the bottom of the pan then add more if I feel it's getting a bit too thick. I guess the problem is the amount of water in the fruit will naturally vary according to ripeness/size so the amount of water can't be dictated exactly. This is where a smidge of experience comes in handy - must remember to trust mine more!

Elsewhere in the Norfolk Kitchen today, I got the 3rd rather wobbly courgette from Rachel's transplaneted plant - hoorah! I also made some fairy cakes with Willow and her friend from school. They were a 5 year old girl's dream, silver cases and pink sparkly sprinkles. I had the bright idea of making lilac icing by squeezing some blackberry juice into the white icing. Can't say I recommend it, it came out a sort of dirty grey/purple colour but experiments built up into experience don't they?

And finally, we decided to dash out after dinner to get some elderberries but were foiled by a sudden, heavy downpour. From a chilli day to a chilly day - Autumn's just around the corner I fear.

Lavender Jelly

At last, my experimental Lavender Jelly is made. I first tried it in The White Apron while on holiday up north. It was served with cheese and oaty biscuits - the texture of the biscuits is important I think. I enjoyed it so much I decided to have a go at copying it and this is what I came up with.

2 kilos crab apples (rosy red ones give a nice colour)
25g dried lavender
sugar (see recipe for amount)

Put the apples in a pan and barely cover with water. Simmer til the fruit has completely collapsed, adding more water if necessary. Strain through a jelly bag but add the lavender to the receptacle it's draining into so that the flowers steep in the apple juice. Leave overnight.

Next day, strain the lavender out of the apple juice. I used a colander lined with a muslin cloth. If you wish, you could leave some flowers in the juice (the jelly I had in the restaurant was studded with flowers) but I wasn't confident in my ability to make sure the flowers were evenly distributed through the jelly rather than floating at the top of the jar.

Measure the juice and add 1lb sugar to every pint. Bring to the boil til setting point is reached and pot in the usual way.

As you would expect, this jelly has a delicate, perfumed flavour and a beautiful colour. The perfect accompaniment to afternoon tea I feel, it's crying out for scones, clotted cream and cucumber sandwiches.

Poor Neglected Veggies

As you may have noticed I've been mega busy on the jam making front this year. We've been so busy foraging fruit I feel I've been neglecting the veg both on here and in the garden.

The Grand Radish Project of 2009 has turned into the Great Radish Massacre of 2009 thanks to the sodding caterpillars. They stripped all the leaves then started on the stalks and finally the actual radishes, the guttering is in a sorry state indeed.

Everything else is motoring along nicely, I can't keep up with all the salad we have, the tumbling toms have just about finished as the main tomatoes are ripening up, the borlotti and french beans are forming, swiss chard doing great and the butternut squash is merrily throwing out flowers.

The Jerusalem artichokes have turned into thundering great behemoths of the garden and have had to be lassoed to the fence in order to maintain pedestrian access across the lawn. They are easily about 8' tall and have totally crowded out one basket of strawberries, 2 pots of lollo rosso, the chives and the mint. I'm hoping and praying we get the allotment so I can transfer them over there and free up much needed space at home.

I have to admit that at the moment I'm slightly worried about the allotment. I'm struggling to keep up with all the wild fruit and I'm doubtful I would have the time to maintain an allotment on top of that. But, on the other hand, the fruit only lasts a few weeks of the year, if I'm careful in choosing varieties/harvest times I could plan around the fruit season - couldn't I? (waiver)

Anyway, still not heard from the Parish Council so this debate could all be academic. Though if I don't get an allotment this blog will be awfully quiet come January ......