Anyone else jam making at the moment?

[123sologne]

So far i have made blackberry, raspberry and tayberry jam, pickalilly pickled beets, cherrys in syrup, pickled onions and shalots and my triumph (well i think so) marrow chutny, still so much to do, and ive just been offerd the whole harvest of two apple trees! what the heck am i going to do with almost 1/4 ton of cooking apples??

I also have pink fingers and my fingernails look like i have not cleaned them in months but the blackberry jam is soooo worth it

Eve

May I suggest some cider making, after all I am sure all apples can be used for cider, no? Then you can open the front of your house as a pub

[Millymollymandy]

Managed to pick a whole 600g of blackberries yesterday. I'll just keep going out and picking but compared to other years there are not very many, although they are now bigger than they were before we had rain.

[eco-mick]

Spent a hour on Saturday picking a large tube full of blackberrys (mum gave up half way through lol)

But got them all washed 800grams of it if I remember right. Processed them through the pip remover on the kicthenaid mixer (like a seive with a worm screw through the middle - fantastic bit of kit) - end product was freshly squashed blackberries, but half make a mess of the surrounding tiles in the kitchen

30 min later jam was made and 4 large jars done. I was on a roll lol, I missed out on the strawberries this year on the local PYO farm, but I didn't fancy paying the £24 I paid last year for 3kg odd it was. I cheated so ended up at T***o for the Nottinghamshire berries (nice and sweet - also food miles is a little lower as the notts border is a 5 min drive from me)

Getting home (10pm) spent an hour getting all of the tops off and have about 2.5kg of cut strawberries :D (I;ve done a 1st batch of 1kg for 6jars in the wee hours of Sunday morning) and the remaining will be made today as I simple had no time yesterday due to picking up some lovely wooden furniture for the living room.. Gosh, this ish life really does take up all of your time lol

I've not found any raspberries out in the wild yet - anyone seen any in Lincolnshire/Notts/Yorkshire borders? I got to have a walk in the woods later as this forging and ish life is utter brill and at 28 years old I truely feel at home with it all :D

[eccentricemma]

am planning on blackberry jam later. just foraging from brambles all around although it seems all the best ones are right in the middle of all the thorns and its far too hot to be wearing thick 'bramble-proof' (if there is such a thing) clothes! but worth the scratches hopefully.

[Millymollymandy]

I am in bramble proof clothing and wellies as I have to climb down into the ditch then up the other side and stand precariously on an extremely steep slope with my alpine stick to help me; not only are there thorns but 7 foot high nettles growing through them all! So I wear my waterproof jacket which the thorns don't stick to and thick bramble gloves. It's like being in a sauna but it's the only way I can gather them.

[Chickenlady]

My best bit of foraging for jam has been mulberries at the local old folks home. Amazing fruit which has made delicious jam, although it did take quite a bit of pectin to make it set.

Have also made yummy cherry jam and blackberry jam, all foraged fruit. Going back for some more blackberries this week to make some jelly.

Jam tastes so much nicer when the fruit comes for free, don't you think?

[Millymollymandy]

Er what was that Chickenlady? I'm too busy watching your avatar. I love it!

[RobHed]

Hoping to start making some blackberry jam in the next week or two from a huge amount we picked in the Bristol area very recently

[eco-mick]

Er what was that Chickenlady? I'm too busy watching your avatar. I love it!

Snap - just like that spider I caught last night - 8 legs couldn't make its mind up if it wanted to be under the sofa or not - fun watching it for 30min before I caught it and released it outside...

Getting loads of them again.

[Gem]

I have had a bag of greengage donated for wine/jam making (can't decide which yet!). Also some red plums which will def being going into jam. Can't wait!

[Millymollymandy]

My greengages are rotting at a rate of knots - but the good ones are full of grubs anyway . Oh well saves me feeling like I must make jam! Still have quite a lot of greengage jam from last year so that will do.

[dragonoak]

Made about 8 pounds of Blackcurrant jam this year, and considering it was my first attempt, and that I've only got scrapings left (and the shop bought stuff is STILL there) I think it went well! We've also pickled a lot this year, shallots, beetroots, radish (taste superb but the smell could be better ).

Elderberries are starting to turn colour now, so will be tryiing that in jam next, also the brambles... everyones walking past our house with lunchboxes so we know there ready. I'll have to get the boxing gloves on though, OH wants them all for last batch of wine for the year

[fifi folle]

Just finished prepping 9lbs of plums picked off my parents' tree, left them with about double that to use themselves, want to try making my own jam and chutney though. Think I've decided on the chutney recipe finally, going for a chinese type flavour as I can't be bothered making three different things!
Need to get out and pick the local brambles before neighbours get them (not happy with the ones who cleared the wild rasps before I got to them, grrr. )

[Milims]

Just made a jar of bramble jelly and a couple of bottles of rosehip cordial. Tomorrow I'm planning on making apple jam.

[Thomzo]

Just made 6 jars of apple and plum chutney. I managed to burn it slightly on the bottom of the pan so now it's smoked apple and plum chutney

I picked my greengages off my tree. It's the first time I've actually managed to pick any as the tree is really high up and overhangs my neighbour's garage. I bought a long handled fruit picker last year so that I could get to them. I dried them and they were delicious. They didn't last long.

Zoe