Jamming

September arrived with a brilliant warm and still day. I spent the morning in the garden preparing the soil for winter and early spring planting. I thought I would save some energy costs by cooking up some lentil and vegetable stews in my dutch oven over a fire fuelled by some of the garden waste, such as dead pea vines, prunings and bamboo leaves. I managed to get two pots worth from my morning's toil and still had time for a tea break to enjoy the late summer sun and the smell of wood smoke wafting gently over. My stew was a simple recipe of two chopped carrots, an onion, a bell pepper and a cup of lentils, seasoned with herbs and spices. Cooked down slowely with some water and tomato puree its that simple, the smoke adding its own flavour. Life really does'nt have to get anymore complicated than this.
The highlight of the day was taking an evening stroll to pick blackberries from all those fruiting brambles out now. I really do think we don't offer enough respect to the indigenous bramble, I admit they can be a thorny mess but they offer food, nectar, protection and an excellant habitat for many species.
This time of year is great to collect your free hedgerow fruits and I came back with a good kilo of blackberries and a few stained fingers. There wasn't enough to make into bramble wine to raise a glass to free fruits but here's my simple jam recipe for cold winter afternoon teas by the fire:

Bramble jam

1. Rinse about a kilogram of foraged fruits. If you are short on blackberries then crab apples or apples can be added as small chunks to bring up the weight.

2. Place your fruit into a large saucepan and heat, stirring all the time until you have a fruit pulp.

3. If you want a seedless jam you can sieve your pulp through a metal sieve prior to adding sugar.

4. Add 1/2 a kilo of sugar to the pulp ( a little less if you've sieved out seeds as you lose a bit of pulp this way) and bring to a boil.

5. A good 10-15 minutes on the boil should do it. I don't bother with testing as blackberries and apples have so much pectin that it should set quite well.

6. Sterilise some jars with hot water and spoon in your jam mix.

7. Allow to cool and enjoy with toast or spread on whatever you choose.

The jam should last well for a few months without any other additions of preservatives or acidity regulators. To store longer place in the bottom of your fridge.

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