We're Jammin'...!



Whitecurrant jam

It's not the end of August yet, but there's a feeling of autumn in the air, especially as the mornings become sharper and cooler, and the evenings misty.  It's harvest-time too.  I've been lifting second early and late-planted first early potatoes this afternoon and for anyone missing their spud-fix, there will be a tater-related blog post in the next few days, but the priority is to deal with more perishable crops.

Fruit picker at work!

We have the most amazingly rich harvest of soft fruit this year, bushes dripping with whitecurrants, redcurrants and blackcurrants, and a glut of raspberries into the bargain.  Even the little strawberry plants managed to put on a good show, and the freezer soon became overwhelmed.

Throughout the year, I collect jam jars ready for just such an event, and every year I think I've got plenty.  Then we start picking fruit and boiling it up, and in no time at all the jars are full, including the emergency supply of curry sauce jars that you can never quite get clean of a hint of cumin or coriander, so the first spoonful out of the jar might be raspberry korma or blackcurrant buryani.  Still, 'fusion food' might still be trendy...?  There's also a stash of Lidl's marmalade jars from my dad, which are quite an attractive shape and the right size for jam, but the pretty lids are decorated with oranges, which may cause confusion if the labels fall off!

Chief beneficiaries of this year's exceptional harvest have been my CAB colleagues, who have been able to enjoy pots of delicious home-made jam at a bargain price, considering what you'd pay at a typical Farmer's Market for a fruit preserve made with local, organically-grown ingredients.  But the price covers the cost of gas and sugar for me, and at 75p per pot it still raises more for the CAB than an ebook of 'Severe Discomfort', though that's not entirely surprising as Amazon don't take a cut of the jam money!  

Already, there are getting on for twenty more jars to take in next week, I have more fruit to defrost and even allowing for some being allocated to wine-making, that still leaves us with plenty of preserves in the larder.  We don't eat vast amounts; even allowing for previous years' warming winter teas with hot crumpets and scones, and the inclusion of a jar or two in Christmas hampers for friends and family, we're still eating jams dated 2009 and 2010.  Despite containing no artificial preservatives, Sarah's jam keeps remarkably well!