Bloody beetroots: the pickle duo part one

Like Marmite, beetroot splits people. Love it, or hate it - it's mad bad and dangerous to know. Well maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but I've heard people go on rants about this humble veg that would make Russell Brand cover his ears and partake of some smelling salts to recover himself. My ma for example. Get her started on the many reasons she hates beetroot and you will be sitting around for a long time. Prime complaints include the staining of fingers and anything else it comes in to contact with, not to mention the fact that is 'just horrible, quite horrible'.

I beg to differ. Which is why, when we spied a large box of said stuff in our favourite Sussex farm shop, I may have got a little tooooo enthusiastic and bought far more than even I could eat before it went off.

The solution? A bloody good beetroot pickle. Simple, a million times better than the shop bought beetroots in vinegar and a doodle to make.

If, like me, you can get your hands on some yellow and red beetroot, it makes for a nice contrast while the pickle is fresh but, be warned, the reds will soon put paid to the delicate colouring and everything will look pretty uniform after a few days.

Beetroot pickle (makes one jar)
500g Beetroots - as many varieties as you can get your hands on
500ml pickling vinegar - we used cider vinegar with 1 tsp black onion seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds 1/2 tsp fennel seeds, 1 tsp celery seeds, 1 tbsp muscovado sugar and a cinnamon stick. Leave to simmer on a low heat for half an hour. You may want to evacuate the kitchen in this time as the fumes are pretty hefty.

Boil the beetroots in water until they soften but are still quite firm. This normally takes 45 mins for normal sized beetroots but vary depending on size. Remove from the pot and leave to cool.

Once cool, peel the beetroot. At this point, you can decide whether to leave them whole, or chop into slices as I did (handier for quick grabs).

Put the beetroot into a sterilised jar. If you are pouring the vinegar on whilst warm, you will need to ensure the jar is warm - best done in an oven on a low heat (around 140 Celsius). Otherwise, wait for vinegar to cool then pour into jar.

Seal tightly and leave for a week or two for the best flavours before tucking in.

Crunchy onions: the pickle duo part two

Pickled onions rock. Especially when you make them at home.

Ok, so the shop bought ones aren't terrible. They do their job. Particularly when that job involves a ham sandwich and a bit of mustard. But these are the easiest things in the world to make. And they're cheap. Did I mention easy? The clincher, however, is the taste. With a crunchy kick, these pickled onions will brighten up your life, or at least your lunch*

* I of course take no responsibility for this statement but you'd have to be a dour old mutt for it not to be true. Or you're a freak who hates onions. Either way, that's your problem, not mine.

Without further ado....

PICKLED ONIONS
1kg pickling onions
Pickling vinegar for vinegar recipe see pickle duo part one - though for this I like to add 1 tbsp of mustard seeds too.
50g Salt
1 litre water
Litre capacity sterilised jar

Peel the onions. Put the onions in a bowl and cover with the water and salt. Place a plate inside the bowl with weights atop. Leave for 24 hours.

Rinse the onions. Place into The sterilised jar. For a softer onion, cover with the vinegar and seal whilst the vinegar is still warm. For some serious CRUNCH, leave vinegar to cool and then pour over onions and seal jar.

This is better at the two weeks onwards mark but I wouldn't blame you if you tucked in sooner. It still beats the crap out of shop bought ones.

Ps we've also tried a slightly different recipe from Lindy Wildsmith's Cured. A recipe book that everyone should have on their shelves, if only for the jaw-droppingly sexy pictures of the cured meat, fish and other goodies. We are yet to crack that jar open. If you're lucky, I'll keep you updated.

Redcurrant delight

For those of you who saw the brief appearance on the Great British Food Revival - here's the recipe of what I was making - a delicious redcurrant chutney that goes brilliantly with cold meats and stronger cheeses. Yummy yummy

Redcurrant chutney

250g cooking apples chopped into cubes
900g plums stoned and quartered
400g red onions, chopped into large chunks
30g fresh ginger chopped into small pieces
500g redcurrants stalks removed
500ml red wine vinegar
200g dark muscovado sugar
2tsp mustard seeds

Put all the ingredients into a large saucepan

Bring to the boil

Turn down and leave to simmer for an hour

Spoon into sterilized jars and seal when cooled

Simple!

Damson jam

I'm a girl of my word. If I make a promise, then I'll go to pretty much any length to keep it. Come hell or high water, it takes a lot for me to break my word. So when we promised Jon's parents that we were going to take some of their damson harvest off their hands, it was a promise that I wasn't going to take lightly.

And that is how it came to pass that we ended up with four bags of damsons.

Four bags. Not four piddling sandwich bags. But four plastic bags worth of damsons tucked away in our freezer, waiting for us to work our magic on them.

Two into the damson wine their way went. (soon to be blogged)
One still sits in the freezer.
And the other?
Well that took the path of damson jam.

I love damson jam. In a world where you can get strawberry jam all year round, likewise for apricot, blackberry and raspberry, I've never understood why damson jam seems to be the one that gets left behind? It's like the bad egg of the jam family - except it isn't. Nothing can beat the velvety richness of a homemade damson jam on doorstep thick slabs of bread and a smear of butter. Mmmn.

So thank you to Jon's parents. And cheers to promises left unbroken.

Simple Damson Jam
1kg damsons
1kg granulated or Preserving sugar
300ml water

Put your jam jars into an oven on a low heat for 15 minutes or in the dishwasher on a hot wash to sterilise
Chop the damsons into half, removing the stones from the centre.
Add the damsons and the water to the pan and cook until soft and pulpy
Add the sugar, stir until dissolved on a low heat
Once the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and bring the jam to a rolling boil until it has reached setting point
To test for setting point either take a very cold plate from the freezer and drop a bit of jam onto it. Leave for a few seconds. If it sets on the plate, it's ready. Or use a thermometer - setting point is 105 degrees
Funnel into sterilised jars and seal

Jam, jam khazam

Yeah yeah I made them yesterday I've already started tucking into the one at the front. Whatevs.

Long live the pissing British summer. It may be raining every few moments, thus scuppering plans for long walks, barbecues, beach days and lots of general outdoor activities but it’s still pretty fun. On Sunday, we took a trip to the nearby Maynards Fruit Farm where we got thoroughly wet but it was worth it. Why? For the jam.

The fruit farm is a wonderful trip, for those of you in the area or even Londoners looking for something a bit different to do with a few hours. Hidden down a small lane in Ticehurst, the farm sprawls over acres and acres of land, belching out (at the moment) raspberries, blackberries, redcurrants, loganberries, blackcurrants and more. In less than an hour, Jon and I gathered an impressive amount of produce with one thing in mind – jam making day.



It’s been a while since Natalie and I have had one of our epic jam/chutney/pickle making days – so what better time to jump back on the wagon than in the middle of summer when the produce for experimentation is right at our fingertips?

Having tried my hand at the basics a few times now, I thought it was a good time to start making/ adapting recipes of my own... so the menu was spiced blackberry jam, blackberry and redcurrant jam, raspberry and gooseberry jam and redcurrant vodka jelly.


Redcurrant vodka jelly

I can’t even begin to say how much fun it was. Gossip and preserving go together like bees and honey... the one definitely runs smoother because of the other. Before we knew it, we were 30 jars down and sipping on the last of our daytime tipples. I think we’re finally at the stage where we may start selling some of the jams, pickles and other preserves that we make so if anyone has any advice or knows of any good farmers markets easily reachable/ in East Sussex I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Of course, one cannot have a jam making day without the odd bottle of wine or two consumed along the way. It was almost predictable that I was going to turn up for my first village WI meeting either in a mild state of inebriation or with the beginnings of a slight hangover. Having realised the error of my drinking ways, I stopped early enough to ensure that it was the latter. Still it was an interesting and enjoyable evening – the local ladies were lovely and many have been living in the village for over thirty years....vive le Rotherfield!


Raspberry and gooseberry jam
1.5kg raspberries
0.5 kg gooseberries
2kg preserving sugar
Juice of 4 lemons

Put the gooseberries into a preserving pan and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes, stirring to release their juices. Add the raspberries and cook for a further period until they are soft and quite mushy.

Add the lemon juice and sugar, stir on low heat until sugar has dissolved.

Bring to the boil and boil for 15 minutes or until setting point (105 degrees Celsius) is reached.



Skim any scum from the surface. Test for a set using a cold saucer from the fridge.

Put into sterilised jars, label.

Makes about 8 jars

Redcurrant vodka jelly
1800g redcurrants
600ml vodka
375 preserving sugar for every 500ml juice.

Put the redcurrants in a preserving pan with the vodka, bring to the boil, cover then continue to simmer for 25 minutes.




Put the redcurrant and vodka mash into a muslin sheet or a jelly bag and secure over a large bowl. Leave to drain for at least six hours.

Take the liquid from the bowl and measure. Measure the amount of sugar needed. Add the liquid and the sugar to the pan and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and boil until setting point (around 105 degrees Celsius) is reached).

Jar up – making sure jars are sterilized first, cover and label.

Makes two large jars

Spiced blackberry jam
1 vanilla pod
1 stick cinnamon
3 cloves
1.8kg blackberries
1.8kg preserving sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Water

Scrape the seeds from the vanilla pod into the pan. Tie the spices and the remains of the pod into a small muslin bag. Place into the pan with the blackberries, water and lemon juice, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add the sugar, stir on a low heat until dissolved. Bring to the boil on a high heat until setting point is reached. Test for a set using a cold saucer.

Remove from the heat. Ladle into sterilized jars, cover and label.

I’m not going to put in the recipe for the blackberry and redcurrant jam as it’s very similar to the one above. Omit the spices and replace half the blackberries with redcurrants for a tangy but delicious jam.

Taste of Summer

Few things signal the beginning of the summer than the short-lived but much-loved elderflower season. Over the course of just a few weeks, the elder tree bursts into blossom with huge frothy heads of creamy white blossoms. That’s why every single opportunity over the last few weeks (amidst the hell of revision), I’ve been scampering off into the neighbouring fields and plucking a head here, a head there and turning it into some rather delicious things.

Of course, now the exams are over the weather is being rather temperamental, so what better thing to do than hole up with some choice ingredients and make some jars/ bottles of good stuff? Well, apart from indulge my newly found love of Mad Men (why did no one tell me how utterly brilliant this programme is, I’ve devoted the whole day to its enjoyment and I don’t feel it’s a day much wasted).

The first – a classic but a winner. The deceptively simple and eminently quaffable elderflower champagne. I love a bit of booze, especially when you can make it for almost free. Seasoned foodies will almost definitely have had a shot at making their own – those that haven’t will probably have to wait until next year now (although there was some excellent elderflowers lingering on in Scotland last weekend) but I thought I’d include the recipe anyway....

The golden caster sugar gives the final product a beautiful amber colour and I love the muskier taste it infuses the liquid with but normal sugar will do just fine and dandy.

The second was my favourite, elderflower and gooseberry jam, bringing together the magical pairing of flavours in one delicious conserve. The elderflower heads are torn into smaller pieces and then left in the jam for a beautiful effect once it’s set.



Unfortunately in my excitement I didn’t get to take pictures of the finished product but considering it’s got a thumbs up from Jon who rather detests gooseberries, I don’t think it’s half bad. The pungent taste of the elderflower is offset by the slight tartness of the gooseberry and the tonne of sugar you put in. Now all I need is to bake a load of bread to enjoy it with.

And tonight? We’ll be trying our hands at John Wright’s Elderflower and Gooseberry Wine – today’s part sounds interesting. Mashing the gooseberries with a rolling pin and trying to stop them from ending up on the kitchen ceiling... I’ll let you know how that one goes.

Elderflower champagne
10 large heads of elder flowers - make sure that they are fully open, preferably facing the Sun
1kg of golden caster sugar
4 tablespoons of wine vinegar
2 lemons
10 litres of cold water

Wash the lemons and use the potato-peeler to peel the lemon rind off as thinly as possible. Remove any insects, leaves or other unwanted objects from the elder flowers.
Squeeze the lemons and put the juice into the ten-litre vessel along with the lemon rind and flowers.
Add the sugar and the vinegar. Be careful not to crush the flower heads too much with the sugar.
Pour on the water. Put a lid or cover over the top of the vessel and leave to stand for 24 hours. Stir gently every six hours.
Sterilise the bottles either using sterilising chemical tablets or boiling water. If you use chemical tablets, rinse the bottles afterwards so that the chemicals don't kill the yeast in the champagne mixture.
Take the lid off the vessel and remove any large flower heads or bits of rind.
Use the small jug to bail some of the mixture through the sieve and into the large jug. When the large jug becomes full, place the funnel in the top of a bottle. Pour the mixture through the strainer into the funnel.
Once all the bottles are full, put the caps (or corks) on firmly and place somewhere not too warm or too cold. A garage shelf is ideal
Leave the bottles for at least two weeks... after that, it’s a game of whether you can keep your grubby mitts of the bottles or not...

Gooseberry and elderflower jam (from Joanna Farrow’s Seasonal Preserves)
1kg gooseberries topped and tailed
Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
900g preserving / granulated sugar
6-8 elderflower heads chopped into smallish pieces
Tip the gooseberries into a preserving pan with lemon zest and juice plus 150ml water. Cook gently for about 15 minutes until the gooseberries are tender and pulpy.
Stir in the sugar and stir gently until the sugar dissolves
Stir in the elderflower heads and bring to the boil – boil for about 10 minutes until setting point is reached. Ladle into sterilized jars and cover.