More jam!

July is the month when all the hard workcomes to fruition, literally and we end up with masses of produce.
With not much effort at all I have managed to produce 10 lbs of raspberries this year after the local bird population had eaten about 5lbs.

We have made a few summer puddings but the bulk of the berries have gone into raspberry jam. I use the Good Housekeeping Cookbook recipe with one modification - reduced sugar.

1. Wash 12 jars, rinse thoroughly and place in the oven at 100oC
2. Put 7.5 lbs of washed raspberries in a large jampan and bring to boil.
3. Simmer in it's own juice gently for 20 minutes until the fruit is really soft.
4. Add 5lbs of granulated sugar, stirring constantly until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Bring to the boil and boil for 5-10 minutes until the jam has reached setting point.
6. To determine the setting point place a teaspoon of jam on a cold saucer. When the jam is cold push your finger across it. If the jam wrinkles then the setting point has been attained.
7. Fill the hot jars with jam and seal, leaving a half inch gap at the top.
8. As the jam cools the seal will become secure and the jars are ready for labelling.
9. Jam produced in this way is good for at least 6 months and usually for a lot longer.

Cold nights!

We are coming to the end of a fairly cool dry month of April and winter has re-appeared. This week the temperature has dipped below freezing on consecutive nights. Time to panic as I have tender plants in 2 separate greenhouses plus the polytunnel.

I found an old paraffin lamp in the shed which I used in my greenhouse. My neighbour lent me a heater to keep my plants in his greenhouse warm which just left the polytunnel on the allotment.

My neighbour Richard suggested 180 hour candles! Simple says he. Fill a container with liquid lard and then just before it solidifies pop in a wax candle. The lard feeds the candle and makes it last ...180 hours. This can then be placed under an upturned earthenware plant pot as a frost deterrent.

It's time for corn - sweet!

Growing in the Yorkshire Dales can be tricky with most veg so it was quite an adventure to try sweetcorn this season. Twelve plants outdoors and eighteen in the polytunnel.

Last time I tried it in the tunnel the plants were pushing at the roof before the cobs had formed. This year I tried an earlier cropping variety and the indoor plants had cobs on them by the middle of July. I waited until this week, the last one of the month and the results so far have been really heartening.

 

The big advantage of home grown is being able to eat them within hours of harvesting. After five minutes in boiling water the cobs are sweet and tender.