Strawberry jam

[Stonehead]

Ooooh I have a load of goose berries in the freezer from a bumper harvest last year (They've got no fruit this year) Do you ahve the recipe for elderflower and gooseberry handy? I might give it a try at the weekend with the kids

I use the elderflower and gooseberry jam recipe on The Foody.

[Stonehead]

With another 6lb of rhubarb and ginger jam done, plus a a 10lb batch of very berry jam, we've now produced 49.5lb of jam in the past three days. That's 22.5kg.

We ration ourselves to 1lb of jam a fortnight, so our efforts mean we have 30lb for ourselves (26 plus four spares) and 19.5lb to swap, exchange or give away.

That's a good result, especially when we still have quite a few berries left to pick. I think I'll make a batch of pickled gooseberries, freeze about half the remaining crops after that and eat the rest fresh. (We always do the opposite to what most people think is the right way to do it - we make our preserved foods first and then eat the surplus as fresh food instead of eating fresh and turning the surplus into preserves and pickles.)

[Stonehead]

And another one for the doubters...



Fresh fruit for our very berry jam - strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. The gooseberries were picked slightly under ripe as their pectin helps the jam set. There are oodles more waiting to be picked.

[ina]

This is really weird - your climate up there is generally a bit harsher than ours here, but I've only seen one red raspberry so far (wild one, that is - my friend has some more in the garden); the brambles are just flowering; my gooseberry bush has a total of 4 (in words: FOUR) berries this year, and the blackcurrant not much more! Oh, and the slugs are usually quicker off the mark reaching the red strawberries.

[Millie]

Well, I scoured the local wild blackberry bushes again and managed to find a handful that are ripe!!! Gonna keep an eye out and pounce when there are more. Also need to go and eye up a pear tree and bramley apple tree which are growing wild nearby

Last year our car was off the road and we walked and cycled everywhere, with a bag and tubs in tow just in case, found so many things out there.

Bloke up the road from my mum has about a million ripe plums, which he leaves to rot every year, anything anywhere saying I cant go and pick them? I would rather not knock and ask, it scares me! He wouldnt care Im sure, the only reason he uses the garden is to walk to his front door

Although, maybe I should knock, then I can ask if he still wants the BMW thats been parked under the plum tree and has plants all round/over it.......poor car!

[pskipper]

Why not knock and ask, depending on how he looks say you'ld be happy to give him jam/wine that you make from them in return! Personally I just harvest the ones in the park :)

[Millie]

Why not knock and ask, depending on how he looks say you'ld be happy to give him jam/wine that you make from them in return! Personally I just harvest the ones in the park :)

Ooooo which park and where in the park?! You arent meant to give your secrets away

I think I found Olive trees next to the river avon in bradford BTW

[Millymollymandy]

I harvest my own but they won't be ripe for ages yet. The blackberries aren't anywhere near ripe either; a lot of them are still just flowering.

Never mind, my remontant strawberries are producing their second crop, though they are a completely different shape and size to the first crop!

[pskipper]

If you go over the wooden bridge from T***o and turn right there is the bit of park along side the Biss, there are about 15 plum trees along there so more that I can harvest :)
Where abouts were the olive trees? There are plenty of sloe bushes along the canal in Bradford as well as a few wild apple trees, lots of elder and a few good brambling patches.

[Millie]

Where abouts were the olive trees?

About halfway between the iron rail bridge and BOA pool. My friend pointed them out, I was busy nattering

Will pop along to the park tomorrow, thanks for that :)

[pskipper]

Cool will have to go and looksee, I've a small olive in a pot as a start for my self sufficient life, I think by the time I can buy a small holding the tree should be big enough to provide the oil. Just another 100 years to go then :)

[Millie]

Ah 100 years, no time at all!