Rosehip jelly

I wish I had made a video about this and I may well do so as I still have plenty of crab apples left and there are still rosehips to pick. Today I made rosehip jelly. On Saturday I got an unexpected supply of crab apples. My mother had spotted them whilst out walking the dog so she phoned me to tell me where they were. When I went to pick them I decided they were not crabs but small eating apples, though they are a bit tart. I also found a load of rosehips so I picked them as well.

So, how to make rosehip jelly:

half fill the jam pan with apples (chop the larger ones) and rosehips. The ratio to each other is up to you but I suggest to get sufficient rosehip taste, the weight of rosehips should be at least 40% of that of the apples.

Cover completely with water and apply heat to boil the mix. When you have reached boiling point, turn down the heat to simmer the contents for about 2 hours, so that the apples have pulped. Add a bit more water if needed.

Strain through a jelly bag and measure the liquid. Put the pulp to one side.

Put the liquid into the jam pan and boil it. When it has reached boiling point, add sugar - 1kg for every litre of liquid. Bring the liquid back to the boil and keep boiling (and stirring) until the setting point is reach. (To test, put a spoonful on a plate and leave to stand for a couple of minutes - if a skin forms, it is ready.)

Pour into warm, sterilised jars.

The jelly is a lovely red colour.

You can use the pulp to make fruit butter rather than throw it onto the compost heap. Put it back in the jam pan and add water, sufficient to ensure it is a wet pulp. Reheat the pulp and boil it for about 5 minutes.

Allow to cool and then press it through a sieve. Return the resulting puree to the jam pan (measure it first), then boil it. As soon as it boils, add a kg of sugar for every litre of puree.

Bring it back to the boil and keep boiling until the setting point is reach (check in the same way as above). Then add to warm, sterilised jars.

I may have a go at making more rosehip jelly. I've still got a pile of apples left to use up so it may be that I'll do a video about it as well. Watch this space.

How to bottle fruit

Bottling was a common way to preserve fruit before freezers were widespread and in an attempt to keep the skill alive, I taught myself bottling last year. This year we are doing more bottling. Our freezer is full so we have to bottle fruit if we are to stand any chance of preserving it for use over the coming months.

In this video I bottle gooseberries and cherries.

How to pickle gherkins

The summer glut of gherkins is in full flood so I have put together this recipe for a sweet pickling vinegar to pickle gherkins. I went for sweetness as 2 years ago when we last had a successful gherkin crop we pickled them in ordinary pickling vinegar and found the end result disappointingly sharp.

So here's the recipe for sweet pickling vinegar and how to pickle gherkins.

The first job to do is sprinkle salt on the gherkins and leave them to stand for 24 hours. Then rinse them.

Pack pickling jars or large jam jars with whole gherkins. Slice longways those too large to fit in or where whole gherkins won't fit the space left.

To make one litre of sweet pickling vinegar you will need:

One litre of white wine vinegar
400g sugar
1 tablespoon of mustard seeds
2 teaspoons of celery salt
2 teaspoons of turmeric
one teaspoon ground mace
2 cinammon sticks
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 tablespoon of coriander seeds

Put the vinegar into a pan and begin to heat it. Add and stir in the sugar and then add all the spices and seeds. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. (Actually, I say this makes one litre but in reality a bit of the liquid is lost to evaporation.)

Let the vinegar cool but when it is still hot pour onto the gherkins, filling each jar to the brim. Seal and leave for about 6 weeks before starting to use.

Pickles gherkins can keep for quite some time. The ones we pickled 2 years ago are still being used by us, even though we were disappointed at how sharp was the taste. The ones we have pickeld this year however are likely to be used up more quickly.

Below: me with 2 of the 8 jars made in the first batch of pickled gherkins.



We'll soon be doing some pickling recipes with chopped gherkins and cucumbers. Watch this space.