I made this jam in the sticky early evening sunlight on a couple of days when it was far too hot for stirring molten sugar at the stovetop. Isn't this always the way?
The apricots were on special at Fruit World but were no means 'jam quality' - making this not super economical. We're going to hit up the market in Pukekohe next weekend to see if we can find some cheaper fruit for preserving with.
Question time- where you you get your preserving fruit from?
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Well I cant help it if blackberry jam is my actual favourite, its something to do with picking them in the wild with my dad in the South Canterbury wilderness! And it was the first jam I made in my manual training cooking class in Standard 6.
ReplyDeleteI hope one of those jars has my name on it!!
I pick wild blackberries, crab apples, rose hips and sloes, all for free and make 'hedgerow jelly' Last year someone also gave me a bucket of misshapen peaches from his allotment - they made good tasting jam but the colour was poor. Otherwise I buy fruit at the supermarket but that is a bit extravagant
ReplyDeleteHard to find wild blackberries in South Canterbury now - Ecan seem to spray everywhere pretty well. :( When I'm in the precerving mood (not often, these days) I use fruit from our own garden or some given to us. I seldom buy fruit for preserving as it seems to take away from the Kiwi DIY-nature of it, somehow. For me, anyway.
ReplyDeleteYour jam looks delicious! My lovely father-in-law makes all the daughters (4), daughter-in-laws(4) and grand daughters(13) beautiful hand carved wooden spoons. Mine is made from macrocarpa and the handle is 'just right' in your hand. ox
ReplyDeletehopefully, when you live in a community long enough, and people know that you make preserves, you get offered excess from someone's orchard. i've had a decent amount of plums my way this year, and normally get guavas and feijoas too. they are becoming more in demand though so it's kind of hush hush, and you don't reveal your sources! i always make sure i give something back (honey works well - maybe you could get a beehive?!!) and then there's more likely to be a repeat offering the following year....
ReplyDeleteand i forgot to say my new favourite wooden spoon by far i bought recently from the matakohe kauri muesum up near dargaville so if you are ever up there i recommend a stop just so you can have a wooden spoon made out of kauri no less :)
ReplyDeleteFree pears from behind the Westwave Aquatic Centre in Henderson!
ReplyDeleteI got a bag of plums for $2 at the Oratia Farmers Market last weekend that made me 6 jars.
If you want any lovely crabapples I have a 40 year old ballerina crabapple tree that has a lot on it at the moment...