Plums, plums, plums and more plums!

The end of August is the perfect time to look out for plums.  We're lucky to have a local pick-your-own farm with oodles of gorgeous Victoria plums and at this time of year when the trees are laden,  they're at bargain prices.
Of course,  I never escape the PYO without going absolutely over-board so came away with about 6 kilos of plums.
Jam it is,  on this occasion! I'm only going to detail the recipes from now on because the method is exactly the same each time... and if it's not, I'll say so!

A vat of plums looks pretty much like any other vat of plums!  This one's Cardamom.

Plum and Cardamom Jam

A gorgeously fragrant plum jam, super-easy and a firm favourite with the family.

1.2 kg of plums
1kg of sugar
1 sachet of pectin
6-12 cardamom pods
A dash of lemon juice
A job of butter

Chop the plums up depending on how chunky you like your jam.  Pop in the sugar mixed with pectin and the cardamom.  Stir, and then let the spice infuse for a couple of hours before you start the jamming process. 

Spiced Plum Jam
A wonderful wintery plum jam with just a hint of spices. You can't go wrong!

1.2kg plums
1kg sugar
1 sachet pectin
A dash of lemon juice
A knob of butter
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Plum and Vanilla Jam

A lovely twist on "normal" plum jam

1.2kg of plums

1kg sugar

1 sachet pectin
A dash of lemon juice
A knob of butter

vanilla pod, vanilla essence or vanilla pastes, as is your wont.

Elderberry... er... Jeacle?

Gloopy, chewy, fruity
It's Elderberry Jeacle!

Is it a jam? Is it a... oh, no, I don't even know what it could be.
I have named this Concoction of Doom "Jeacle" because it's basically fruit treacle.  Not even my son says he actually likes it, although if I tell him it's fruity-honey he'll tolerate it on toast.

The idea was to make some Elderberry Jelly because I'd picked a whole load of elderberries and had already made the gin (more on that in another post). They're not exactly what I would call the most mainstream of tastes - surprisingly strong and really quite earthy.  They would easily overpower any other fruit if used in any great quantity, so it's hardly surprising that you see more elderflower concoctions than elderberry ones.

Oh, and they stain something chronic.

I won't even give you the recipe for this because it went so obviously wrong, but hey, I might experiment a bit more with elderberries this year. Fewer berries, less concentrated, maybe with an apple base.

Or maybe I won't...

Raspberry Aperitif

No brand endorsement here!

This is a great one that you'll want to make in vast quantities. Think raspberry-flavoured fortified wine and, er, that's what it is.

Raspberry Aperitif

- 750g fresh raspberries
- 500g sugar
- 750ml gin or vodka
- 4 bottles of red wine

Dissolve the sugar in some of the liquid, as it helps to do it first, rather than try to churn a full Demijohn.  I guess you could gently melt the sugar and the raspberries together to bring out the juice more (I'll try that this year!).
Add all the ingredients to the Demijohn, stopper, and store in a cool, dark place for 2-3 weeks.
After that, filter through tights and bottle.

NB: only use a bag-in-a-box if you've got a lot of handy empty bottles.  I thought I was being clever, but then had nothing to bottle into.

Rosehip Gin

Rosehips in gin - the start of the journey

I recently bottled the Rosehip Gin I made back in November. It was a bit experimental, so here's the verdict. DO IT!

In fairness, I'm not really sure if it tastes of rosehips any more. I'm not even sure if it's related to gin any more because *something* went on in between time that turned it into golden, syruppy rocket-fuel. But it's good, and that's what counts!

Given that it was very experimental, I just winged the recipe and can't quite remember what quantities I used (which is part of the purpose of this blog!).  Anyhow, it was something along the lines of this:

5 months on, and we're done

Rosehip Moonshine

- 1.5l gin (cheapie stuff)
- 750g rosehips (topped, tailed and quickly washed)
- 500g sugar... or maybe 750g.

All in a demijohn, stopper and keep in a cool, dark place until you like the look of it.  Yes, it's that scientific. Once you're happy, filter through the trusty tights and then again through a coffee filter. This last bit will take some time, but it's worth it.

Epine!

A small batch then...

This is a guarded secret... so guarded, in fact, that I hesitate to blog about it, but then you don't know about my Blackthorn thicket so I'm unlikely to have to defend it from hordes of like-minded foragers.

"Epine" is French for "thorn", but more importantly, it's the name given to the most divine aperitif on the planet. That's not an exaggeration. It's FACT.

It can also only be made in May with the fresh, tender new shoots of the Blackthorn tree, which will later give us all sloes, making the Blackthorn a doubly excellent tree.  You can pinch them off with your nails or take gardening gloves and a pair of secateurs if you want to be kinder to your hands and the tree.

The result is a sweet, slightly woody, slightly almondy, exceptionally moreish fortified wine.

Here goes for one demijohn:

Epine

- a good double-handful of fresh Blackthorn shoots
- 500g sugar
- 750ml vodka (yes, vodka - no taste to mask the gloriousness of the Epine)
- 5 bottles of red wine

Poke the shoots into the Demijohn.  Dissolve the sugar in the vodka (or some of the wine) because when the demijohn is full, you won't want to shake it about to dissolve it then.  Pour in 4 of the bottles of wine, then the vodka/sugar mixture and then top up with as much of the remaining bottle of wine as possible. Pop a stopper in, or cover with a bit of clingfilm.

Let it stand in a cool, dark place for 2 to 3 weeks (no longer, as it can turn bitter) and then filter out and bottle.  Hide in various hard-to-find locations to ensure moderation in drinking.

It also keeps really well if given the chance.

Lemonbalm Jam... allegedly.

This is going to be a very short post.  Lemonbalm Jam?  [silence]

After reading several accounts of how to get the best taste out of the lemonbalm leaves by letting them infuse overnight in sugar and/or infusing like tea in boiling water, I decided to go the whole hog and do both, along with finely slicing some of the tenderest leaves to sprinkle into the jam itself (bright green slivers would look great, no?).

No.  They don't.

What I got was a jam that looks like pondwater and tastes not-the-faintest of lemonbalm.  I tried so hard, looking very intently at my husband as he tasted it, asking "do you think there's a faint after-taste? You know, if you let the air in to your mouth right at the end?"

No, there wasn't.

Fortunately, though, my 4 year-old son isn't a fussy eater and seems to like Pond Jam on toast... complete with floating green bits.

Lemonbalm

My Paduan Learner indicating the gin

We've got a lovely community garden nearby and the other day I noticed the lemonbalm had come up and was looking lush. I'd found this recipe last year, but it was too late in the season for the young shoots needed, so I bookmarked it.
With such a short window of opportunity, I'm quite proud I remembered in time! Give it another week and the plants would have toughened up.
Someone also told me you can make lemonbalm tea, which is meant to help with memory... I somehow doubt that'd be the same for lemonbalm gin, but hey, post-rationalisation is a wonderful thing.


So, just the one bottle this season to see how it goes and if it's worth Demi-jon quantities. I'll keep you posted!

Lovely lemonbalm

Lemonbalm Gin

- bottle of gin (or vodka)

- handful of the freshest young leaves of lemonbalm
- 2 or 3 teaspoons of sugar (maybe more, depending on taste)
Put the sugar and leaves in the bottle of alcohol. Seal and shake until the sugar is dissolved. Set in a cool, dark place for weeks (or maybe months!). Taste test it and when to your liking, filter into a clean bottle.