MsD
Forum Sweetheart and Friend of the Stars
Posts: 3611
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posted 03-09-2010 14:49
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That's Women's Institute, not West One ..
I remember some discussion about tomatoes and about berries on here.
So, just a heads up .. inexperienced tomato growers might not know that you can ripen tomatoes off the plant, if it seems like you are waiting forever for them to turn red. Google for methods, but I'm using the cardboard box.
Second thing - I'm going to pick elderberries and have a go at making jam this week. How hard can it be? Think it's just a case of boiling water, meet berries, sugar and a bit of lemon juice. I made elderflower lemonade in the spring and that was easy (and lovely).
I've got all the gear to make wine but can't be bovvered. Jam sounds easy. Blackberries down here seem like they need another week or so.
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posted 03-09-2010 15:00
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Fräulein Pepys once asked me to get some jam-making sugar on the way home. She scribbled the word (Gelierzucker) down on a bit of paper.
Due to her crap handwriting, I think I asked the shop assistant for geile Zucker (horny sugar).
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Last Edit: 03-09-2010 15:02 By Stumpy Pepys.
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posted 03-09-2010 15:05
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Did he oblige?
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MsD
Forum Sweetheart and Friend of the Stars
Posts: 3611
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posted 03-09-2010 15:07
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Mine will of course contain horny sugar and zesty lemons as well as dirty, dirty berries.
I've got a stray LSD tab actually, but ... no.
Thanks for the folksy recipe Mr Bear.
Jam up an ting.
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posted 03-09-2010 15:25
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Maybe this is the thread to tempt the missus back to the board?
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posted 03-09-2010 15:48
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Why, is she into LSD?
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posted 03-09-2010 15:48
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Mrs Earth is a top jam-maker. From memory, as UA says, the pectin is the thing. If your berries contain enough of their own, you're laughing; otherwise you're best off adding it. It depends on the fruit concerned. I shall consult this evening.
I don't know what difference it makes if the pectin's natural (though privately, my money's on "none"...).
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posted 03-09-2010 15:53
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Operationally, none is correct.
But I just prefer not to add artificial ingredients to stuff like this when an equally effective natural alternative exists.
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MsD
Forum Sweetheart and Friend of the Stars
Posts: 3611
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posted 03-09-2010 15:56
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cheers .. I read somewhere that lemon juice helps it set. As long as it's edible, I'm not too fussy.
I used to pick the elderberries and crush them and use them as a lovely sauce for vanilla ice-cream; they're so tart, it works really well.
One year I picked loads and juiced them, with the intention of making wine .. but ended up just drinking the juice.
I read afterwards that they are toxic unless you cook them, although I never had any ill effects that I noticed. And I didn't check to see if they had the same effect on me as they have on the birds, if you know what I mean.
Since then, I blanche them (rinse quickly in boiling water).
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Last Edit: 03-09-2010 19:23 By MsD.
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posted 03-09-2010 16:02
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Why, is she into LSD?
Haha.
She's actually quite the domestic goddess/someone who is practical and gets shit done, unlike her fella. She does a load of her own clothes adjusting and made me a pair of shorts before we went away on holiday. Plus there are jams and chutneys and stuff.
I think I should point her in the way of this thread, actually.
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MsD
Forum Sweetheart and Friend of the Stars
Posts: 3611
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posted 03-09-2010 16:06
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My street are having a street party next week. I'm tempted to have "Ms Dayglo's Special Jam" stall.
The Caribbean shop down the road were serving cake with so much rum in it at one time, kids were staggering around pissed.
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posted 03-09-2010 16:06
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Turns out Mrs E doesn't know whether or not elderberries are rich in pectin.
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posted 03-09-2010 16:11
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Things ain't what they used to be, eh?
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posted 03-09-2010 16:27
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Yeah, Spangles would definitely have a view (and likely tell me that I'm full of pectin).
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posted 03-09-2010 18:55
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People keep pressing jars of jam on me. I don't need jam. My mum makes ten tons of jam every year with fruit off the allotment. I don't even like jam.
Anyway I would have thought elder berries were more suited to a jelly than a jam for some reason? Because they are small & tart like redcurrants. Or maybe they'd go with another fruit eg blackberry & elderberry &c rather than on their own? re pectin don't you just use apples if you don't want to use jam sugar?
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Last Edit: 03-09-2010 18:57 By Lyra.
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posted 03-09-2010 19:14
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Yeah, a few crab-apples usually does the business pectin-wise. Jellies are a bit of a bugger because you've got straining bags decanting all over the place. It's worth it for some fruits though — elderberries, crab-apples, jalapenos...
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Last Edit: 03-09-2010 19:15 By Amor de Cosmos.
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MsD
Forum Sweetheart and Friend of the Stars
Posts: 3611
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posted 03-09-2010 19:19
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I was planning to chuck in some blackberries, but the elderberries are ready now and the blackberries aren't. Yes, a lot of recipes are for jelly, but I don't think there's going to be much straining going on.
I've got plenty of spare (clean) hosiery though, that I could use to strain, at a push.
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posted 03-09-2010 21:49
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MsD wrote:
My street are having a street party next week. I'm tempted to have "Ms Dayglo's Special Jam" stall.
You could make proper dayglo marmalade or lemon curd by emptying the contents of some glosticks into the mix.
Those secret midnight trips to the kitchen wouldn't have to involve turning the light on, then.
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Mumpo
This boy's a mess, he's a menace, he's a pest
Posts: 5308
  
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posted 03-09-2010 22:08
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There's a huge blackberry thicket by the playing fields round the back of our house. Enormous, impenetrable swathes of the stuff, growing taller than a man. The kids have made labyrinthine dens in it. If you fancy hacking your way through, you could have enough blackberries to make a whole vat of jam. Or jelly.
Funny that yours aren't ripe yet, though, 'cause ours seem to be on the turn already. Perhaps that is to do with our glorious Northern climate.
Anyway, this mention of straining jelly through clean hosiery has given me a disturbing mental image. I think I need to lie down.
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Last Edit: 03-09-2010 22:09 By Mumpo.
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