Navel Orange ‘Marmalade’ Curd

While doing my weekly shop I spotted bags of Navel and Seville oranges amongst the usual simply named ‘oranges.’ This made me realise that it must be marmalade making season already! Each year in January, when these special marmalade oranges are available, my mother and grandmother make colossal batches of homemade marmalade. I love the smell and process of boiling the oranges, cutting them, stirring in the sugar, boiling and jarring. Nothing beats the flavour of my mum’s homemade marmalade, shop bought just doesn’t compare and is never allowed to enter my parents/my house.

 

Marmalade making is a traditional I would love to continue myself, only I don’t eat a lot of marmalade, and one jar (provided my mum) will last me for several months. Now I’m not living at home, seeing the Navel and Seville oranges in the shops made me nostalgic for home, and the fabulous zesty aroma of a pan of warm simmering marmalade.

  

I bought a bag of Navel oranges and decided to make orange curd rather than marmalade with them. This way I still got the wonderful sweet orange aroma wafting through the kitchen without the need to make jars and jars of jam, as curd can be made in small batches quite easily.

 

Stirring the slowly thickening bowl of orange curd was quite relaxing and made me feel very nostalgic. Once jarred and cooled and I ate my first spoonful on toast, as a nod to marmalade. It was fresh and zesty, with a bitter-sweet intense orange flavour. Noticeably different to marmalade, being creamier and richer, but the lingering flavour was definitely reminiscent of marmalade. I think it would be brilliant paired with a dark chocolate cake.

Do you like marmalade? Do you ever make your own?

Navel Orange ‘Marmalade’ Curd

Ingredients

Zest & juice of 2 large Navel or Seville oranges

170g caster sugar

55g unsalted butter

2 eggs

Method

Place two small clean glass jars and their lids on a baking tray and place into the oven. Heat to 130C and leave while you make the curd.

Finely zest the oranges into a large glass bowl. Squeeze the juice form the oranges and add to the zest in the bowl along with the sugar.

Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has turned from cloudy to clear. (You can sieve the zest out at this stage if you don’t want it in the finished curd, but it adds a lot of extra flavour).

Cut the butter into small cubes and gently stir into the zesty syrup with a spatula until melted and combined.

Lightly beat the eggs and then pour into the orange mixture through a sieve to remove any oogly bits, mixing all the time to prevent the egg curdling into scrambled eggs.

Keep mixing gently for 15-20 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Do not be melted to walk away or turn the heat up to speed up the process, it will scramble the eggs.

Once the mixture starts to thicken, keep stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula. You should be able to run your finger down the spatula, leaving a mark without the curd flowing back over it.

Remove your jars from the oven and immediately fill to the rim with the hot curd. Screw the lids on the jars tightly, using rubber gloves to prevent burning your hands.

Leave to jars to cool on the side – the lids will suddenly ‘pop’ as the vacuum is created, ensuring a sealed and sterile jar.

Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 1½ - 2 jars of curd

Birthday Mini Coconut Cupcakes 2 ways – Chocolate and Coconut & Lime Butterflies

On Saturday A invited me round to his house for a film night with some of his friends. Everyone was bringing something to share and I decided to bake some mini cupcakes. It’s my birthday today, so I think my brain was already thinking about cake! I love how mini cupcakes are cute and individually sized, the perfect thing to share around when you want just a little something sweet.

I decided to make coconut cupcakes and then decorate them two different ways with two different flavours in the hope there would be something to suit everyone. Plus, I always think a mix of colours and flavours look more appealing than having everything the same.

 

Half of the mini cupcakes were topped with chocolate frosting and some lightly toasted coconut, while the other half I turned into mini butterfly cakes, filled with some of my leftover zingy lime curd. I was happy with how they both turned out but I loved the lime curd butterflies. I’ve not made butterfly cakes for years. They always used to make an appearance at birthday parties, lightly dusted with icing sugar. I felt quite nostalgic making them.

 

I thought most people would go for the chocolate topped ones, but the lime butterflies actually disappeared first. I still love its zesty vibrant flavour. Both varieties had disappeared by the end of the night though. Of course I had to taste one of each beforehand, for photography and quality control purposes you understand.

 

A is taking my out for dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday, and then my family are coming to visit during the May bank holiday, so I’m going to have a special couple of weeks!

Mini Coconut Cupcakes

Ingredients

60g gluten free flour (I used 40g brown rice flour, 15g buckwheat flour, 5g tapioca starch)

50g butter

35g creamed coconut (from a block, not the liquid)

60g caster sugar

1 egg

¼ tsp xanthan gum

¼ tsp coconut extract

¾ tsp GF baking powder

Butterfly Curd Filling

2 tbsp lime or lemon curd

Chocolate Icing (makes enough for 24 mini cupcakes)

70g butter

25g dark chocolate

10g cocoa powder

140g icing sugar

1 tbsp milk

Decoration

2 tbsp desiccated coconut

Mini Cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a mini cupcake tin with 24 paper cases.

Soften the block of coconut cream in the microwave until softened. Make sure the butter is very soft too. Weigh out all the ingredients into a bowl and beat together until smooth, light and fluffy.

Divide the batter between the paper cases using a teaspoon.

Bake for 12-14 minutes until risen. They will remain quite pale.

Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Chocolate Icing

Make sure the butter is soft and beat until soft and fluffy. Melt the chocolate, pour over the butter and mix until combined.

Sift over the icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix together carefully using a spatula, until most of the sugar has combined.

Add the milk and beat with an electric hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add a little more milk if necessary.

Transfer the icing to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Pipe on top of the cooled mini cupcakes.

Decoration

Heat a dry frying pan over a low heat. Add the coconut and mix slowly with a spoon, until lightly toasted and golden. Do not walk away as it can go from white to burnt in seconds.

When toasted, transfer to a plate and leave to cool.

Lime Butterflies

Run a sharp knife in a circle, cone formation around the top of the cooled cupcakes, about 3mm in from the edge. Remove the middle cone of sponge.

Fill the cone void with half a teaspoon of lime curd, or filling of your choice.

Cut the removed sponge cone in half to create two 3D triangle shapes.

Place these at a slight angle back on top of the filled cupcake, to look like the wings of a butterfly.

Dust the top lightly with icing sugar.

Makes 24 mini cupcakes

Zingy Lime Curd

WOW! This has to be the best jam/curd/preserve I have ever made and ever tasted! It’s so fresh, zingy and zesty that it makes my tongue come alive with a jolt as the flavour sweeps over my taste buds like an electric shock. Almost like biting into a hot chili, a sudden rush of intense flavour, that makes your mouth water.

It’s sweet, sharp and sour all at the same time. I have never had lime curd before, but after buying a big bag of limes from the local market, I knew I had to do something with them besides squeezing a bit over a stir fry. I remembered seeing a post for a ginger lime curd on Chocolate Log blog and adapted her recipe slightly to create this fabulous curd. I didn’t have any ginger and wanted the curd to be really zesty, so used lots of limes and a lemon for extra zing.

 

I love the creamy yellow green tinged colour of the curd. The recipe said to sieve the zest out of the curd before jarring it, but I wanted extra citrus flavour and so left it in. I used a very fine grater to zest my fruit so the zest was fine enough not to be noticeable in the finished curd. It adds a lovely speckled appearance to the curd and I’m sure it adds to the zingy fresh flavour too.

 

If you love zingy, sweet and sharp flavours you must try this curd! I can’t stress enough how amazing it is. I have nearly finished a whole jar and I only made it at the weekend. I’ve been eating it on everything, bread, cakes, pancakes, swirled into yogurt and even my morning porridge! I may have had the odd spoonful straight out the jar too!

 

So quick, so simple and so zingy and fresh. Lemon curd seems bland and boring by comparison. It becomes wonderfully thick as it cools and sets. I’ll be making this again and again for sure. I’ve already promised a jar to my grandmother who shares my love of fresh and zingy flavours.

Zingy Lime Curd

(Recipe adapted from Chocolate Log blog)

Ingredients

Zest & juice of 3 limes

Zest & juice of 1 lemon

160g caster sugar

55g butter

2 eggs

Method

Place two clean glass jars and their lids on a baking tray and place into the oven. Heat to 130C and leave the jars in the oven to sterilise while you make the curd.

Finely zest the limes and lemon and add to a large heatproof bowl. Squeeze the juice form the fruit and add to the zest along with the sugar.

Place the bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture has from cloudy to clear. (You can sieve the zest out at this stage if you don’t want it in the finished curd, but it adds a lot of extra flavour).

Cut the butter into small cubes and whisk into the zesty syrup until melted and combined.

Lightly beat the eggs and then pour into the lime mixture through a sieve to remove any oogly bits, whisking all the time to prevent the egg curdling into scrambled eggs.

Keep whisking gently for 10-15 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken. Do not be melted to walk away or turn the heat up to speed up the process, it will scramble the eggs.

Once the mixture starts to thicken, swap to a flexible spatula and keep stirring until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spatula. You should be able to run your finger down the spatula, leaving a mark without the curd flowing back over it.

Remove your jars from the oven and immediately fill to the rim with the hot curd. Screw the lids on the jars tightly, using rubber gloves to prevent burning your hands.

Leave to jars to cool on the side – the lids will suddenly ‘pop’ as the vacuum is created, ensuring a sealed and sterile jar.

Store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Makes 1½ - 2 jars of zesty lime curd

Atkins & Potts – Foods for Food Lovers: A Review

I was recently contacted by gourmet food company, Atkins and Potts, to see if I’d like to review any of their new pasta sauces. I wrote back saying thank you for the offer, but that I was more of a sweet and baking blog, so I would pass this time. They then offered to send me a little selected of their other products, more in keeping with my blog. I had a quick look at their website and was delighted to find that all their products are vegetarian and gluten free, with many being vegan too! This was such a lovely surprise, and I was excited by the variety of products they made and so eagerly accepted.

A few days later I received the following exciting products: Chili Chocolate Spread, Basil Jam, Cranberry Relish and Pomegranate Syrup.

Chilli Chocolate Spread

Unscrewing the lid I instantly smelt the aroma of rich dark chocolate. Dipping a spoon in, I found the consistency to be more like a giant ganache truffle than the gooey sticky spread I was expecting. It was very thick and smooth. The first taste is of rich dark chocolate, not overly sweet, which being a dark chocolate lover I really enjoyed. A few seconds later a slight warmth began to develop at the back of my throat which built up into quite a spicy kick. This took me a little by surprise but was wonderfully addictive. The thick texture made it quite hard to spread on softer foods like bread or cake, but delicious spread over toast, where it slowly melts into a glossy pool, giving off wafts of dark chocolate aroma. I image it would be wonderful melted over ice cream too. Very indulgent, but defiantly one for the grown ups.

Purple Basil Jam

This idea really intrigued me and I wondered what to expect. It sounded wonderfully exotic. I was imaging a smooth sticky jam, sort of like a mint jelly only made with basil. However, on opening I found it to be quite chunky, containing little squares of onion set it a sweet and sticky syrup. To me this made it more of a sweet pickle or relish than a jam, but naming aside, it was delicious. It reminded me of onion marmalade. Very sweet, with a slight twang. The basil was flecked throughout the jam in thin shreds which added an intriguing flavour. It was delicious with some cheese, although I would have liked the basil flavour to be more pronounced.

Spicy Cranberry Relish

Again I wasn’t sure what to expect and imagined a sort of cranberry jam/sauce. It turned out to be far more superior than that. There were whole, lightly crushed cranberries mixed with a few other bits and pieces to make a chunky relish. It was not that sweet, with the whole pieces of cranberry giving it a wonderful mix of sweet, sharp and tangy flavours. There was also a slight kick of vinegar lingering in the background. It’s probably intended to be eaten with roasted meats, but I found it delicious with both a sharp cheddar cheese and peanut butter (not all together!) I loved the freshness of the cranberries and again how it wasn’t that sweet. This would be perfect for Christmas.

Pomegranate Syrup

I was excited by this. I love pomegranates and think they are a very underused fruit. This sweet glossy syrup had a fabulous pomegranate aftertaste. It somehow managed to keep that tart, slightly astringent and mysterious flavour of pomegranate while still being sweet and sticky. I’ve been drizzling it over my porridge this week and it makes a lovely change to honey or sugar. I’m longing to make a cheesecake and drizzle it over that with some berries or figs. Really unique.

Thank you to Atkins and Potts for the samples. I was genuinely impressed with the quality of all the products I tried. Nothing was overly sweet, which allowed the ingredients natural flavours, or tartness to shine through. I loved how I could really see the main ingredients, like the whole cranberries and the shreds of basil in the products. Do have a look at their website, everything they make is a little unique and different to the usual run of the mill products. It’s great to see a company being to create with flavours and ingredient combinations. When was the last time you saw quince syrup or wasabi mayonnaise stocked in your local supermarket? 

Plum & Apple Jelly

The fruit season has arrived early this year probably due to our mixed up weather of a hot spring and cold wet start to the summer. We have a couple of old gnarled apple trees in the garden which every year produce the most gorgeous tasting apples. The only problem is that they are tiny apples (compare it to the size of the daisy nearby!). An apple measuring an inch wide is to be considered ‘a whopper.’

Due to their tiny size this makes the apples quite tricky and time consuming to do anything with, as once peeled and cored there is not much left. After a bountiful fruit gathering session at the weekend I decided to combine the apples with some equally tiny plums I’d picked growing wild in the hedgerows, and turn them into plum and apple jelly.

Making a jelly is the perfect way to use tiny fiddlesome fruit as you boil the fruit, including all its peel, skin, pips and seeds, before straining off the pulp and collecting the sweet rosy coloured fruit juices from which you make the jelly out of. The skin gives colour and flavour while the pips add natural pectin which helps the jelly set meaning no peeling or coring required!

The aroma wafting from the fruit as it bubbled away was intoxicating, sweet, fruity and the essence of summer. Once strained the resulting juices were a fabulous blushed rosy pink colour which had seeped from the fruits peel and skin.

The finished jelly was clear and vibrantly glossy with almost mirror-like qualities, just beautiful, and packed full of apple and plum flavour. I love it on toast or used in sweet dishes but my family enjoy it with meat dishes too, in place of the more traditional red currant jelly. Little jars of bottled summer orchard.

Plum & Apple Jelly

Ingredients

1kg plums

2kg apples

3 pints water

450g granulated sugar per pint of juice you create

Method

Wash and roughly chop the plums and apples and place them into a very large saucepan. Don’t peel or core them, you want the skin, pips, stones and all as these add a gorgeous colour and natural pectin to the jelly which is needed to help it set..

Add the water and bring the mixture to a simmer. Leave to bubble for 30 minutes, giving it the odd stir or prod until the fruit is cooked and everything has gone soft and mushy. Remove from the heat.

Set a large bowl underneath a jelly bag (or large sieve lined with muslin) and carefully pour the mushy fruit into the bag, letting the clear pink juice run through. Do not squeeze or press on the pulpy fruit let behind too much, as this can turn the clear juice cloudy.

Rinse off your large saucepan. Place 8-10 jam jars and their lids into a cold oven and heat to 160 for at least 10 minutes to sterilise them. Leave them in the oven until required.

Measure how many pints of juice you have and pour it back into the cleaned pan. Add 450g of granulated sugar per 1 pint of juice you have collected. (Mine was 3pints so used 1.350kg sugar).

Heat the sugar and juice together, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Bring the mixture to the boil and allow to bubble for 35-45 minutes until it has reached its setting point. Test for setting by placing a small spoonful of the jam onto a saucer and placing in the fridge for 3 minutes. Once cool, run your finger through the jam and if it ripples and leaves a clear path, then it is ready. If not, then allow to boil for a further 5 minutes before testing again.

Once ready, remove the jelly from the heat and the jars from the oven. Carefully ladle the hot jam into the hot jars and screw on the lids tightly. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the heat and to give you a good grip.

Allow to cool at room temperature before storing in a cool dark place until required. The seal button in the lids will suddenly pop back down as the jam cools, as a sterile vacuum is created within the jar. They will give a loud ‘pop’ when this happens, so don’t be alarmed.

Once open, store in the fridge
Makes 8 – 10 jars

Spiced Apple & Plum Butter

Apples and plums are at the height of their season and the trees roundabouts are bowing under the weight of their fruit. We have a few tiny apples trees in our garden and some of our friends have trees too and as a result I ended up with a glut of apples, far too many eat and so I decided to turn some into jam.

While hunting for recipes I came across several recipes for a preserve called apple butter. I have heard of this before, but never tasted it. It turned out to be a smooth apple puree which is thick – the texture of softened butter – and often spiced with cinnamon and cloves, which many of you will know I absolutely adore. This seemed the perfect way to make use of the apples.

I was initially a little apprehensive about the recipe as I had read on several blogs that it can be quite time consuming and difficult to make. The process involves stewing the chopped apples, skin, core, pips and all until mushy and then pushing the mixture through a fine sieve to remove the ‘unwanted bits’ which results in a thick apple puree. Sugar and spices are then added and the mix is stirred constantly over the heat until thick.

This did indeed sound rather time consuming but it turned out to be remarkably easy and straight forward. I think it was actually easier than regular jam making, as not having to peel and core all the apples saved a lot of time and there was no tricky setting test to perform on the jam as its obvious once the puree has got thick enough to spread.

The resulting butter was gorgeous! It was smooth and thick and nicely spiced with the apples favourite accompanying spices of cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. As I also had a large bag of plums from another fruit foraging trip I substituted a quarter of the weight of apples called for with plums. This along with the russet red skins of the apples produced a lovely pinkish blush colour of the puree.

As its called butter I had my first bite of it spread thickly on bread and for an apple lover it tasted delicious and absolutely jam packed with fresh apple flavour. I’ve since used it on top of porridge, swirled in yoghurt and as a filling for a cake. My meat eating family have also had it with their Sunday roast pork and declared it ‘fabulous.’

My only slightly negative comment is that a little apple vinegar is called for in the recipe. This helps preserve the apple butter but means a slight vinegary taste is noticeable if eaten straight away – only very very slight though. This didn’t bother me but I’ve found that this mellows out and disappears if you store it for a while – just like when making chutney. If you too have a glut of apples or fancy something a bit different to marmalade on your toast in the mornings then I highly recommend you whip up a batch of this.

Spiced Apple & Plum Butter

Ingredients
1.5kg apples – skin, core and all
500g plums
450ml water
225ml apple cider vinegar
400-500g caster sugar
2tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp ground clove
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method
Remove the stones from the plums and place into a large saucepan. Roughly dice the apples, leaving the skin, core and pips in. Place into the pan with the plums and pour over the water and vinegar.
Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for 20 minutes until the fruit is very soft and starting to break down.
Place a sieve over a large bowl and spoon in some of the fruit mush. Use a ladel to push and press the fruit through the sieve, catching the thick puree in the bowl below. The skin and pips will be left behind in the sieve – discard these before adding the next batch of fruit.
Weigh your finished puree and add 150g caster sugar per 500g of fruit puree. (I had 1.5kg fruit puree, so added 450g sugar).
Place 5-6 jars and their lids into a cool oven and set the temperature to 120C. Allow the jars to heat up with the oven and then sit for at least 10 minutes in the heat before using – this sterilises them and will prevent them from shattering when you add the hot apple butter later on.
Return the puree to the pan, add the sugar and spices and heat, stirring constantly for about 30-40 minutes. Don’t neglect to stir or it will start spitting at you or stick and burn to the base of the pan.
Once the puree has thickened to a spreadable consistency, remove from the heat.
Remove the hot jars from the oven and divide the hot apple butter between the jars. Screw the lids on while the contents are still hot, wearing rubber gloves to protect your hands. (Screwing the lids on while the contents are still hot will create a vacuum inside the jar as it cools down. This will seal the jars and mean they can be stored without spoiling for several months).
Allow to cool on the side before storing in a cool dark place until required. Once opened, store in the fridge.
Makes 5-6 jars

Note: You can of course use all apple in place of the apple & plum combo above

Chocolate Raspberry Buttermilk Cupcakes for Valentines Day

Valentines Day is nearly here and it provides the perfect excuse to start thinking of pink, cute and heart shaped sweet treats. I decided to bake some Valentines themed cupcakes to share around with my friends and family, as even though I am currently without that special someone, I see that as no reason not to enjoy the baking opportunity it provides.

As chocolate and Valentines Day seem to go hand and hand, I obviously settled on chocolate cupcakes but wanted to add a little something extra to make them a bit more special. After thinking of flavour pairings I decided to mix some raspberry jam into both the cake batter and the frosting. I’m sure some people will disagree, but in my opinion chocolate and raspberries are a wonderful flavour pairing, more so than chocolate and strawberries as I find the raspberry flavour more intense against the bitter chocolate.
I have recently been experimenting with replacing some of the butter in cake mixes with buttermilk. I have found it results in a slightly denser, more fudgy yet moister cake. You don’t always want fudgy cupcakes but for a chocolate Valentines themed cake it’s perfect. When topped with a swirl of pink raspberry buttercream and a scattering of cute teeny tiny heart sprinkles it is a sweet treat emulating love and romance. A combination of fudgy chocolate base with sweet and creamy frosting finished with a hint of fruitiness. Go ahead and bake some for your friends or loved ones and whatever you do this weekend for Valentines, I hope it’s a happy one.

Chocolate Raspberry Buttermilk Cupcakes for Valentines Day
Chocolate Raspberry Buttermilk Cupcakes
120g self raising flour
100g caster sugar
60g butter
80ml buttermilk
20g cocoa powder
2 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp raspberry jam

Raspberry Buttercream
130g butter
260g icing sugar
2 tbsp seedless raspberry jam
Pink food dye
Heart sprinkles to decorate

Method
Preheat the oven to 170C. Line a cupcake tray with 12 paper cases.
Your butter needs to be soft so either leave it out for a few hours or warm it gently in the microwave to soften.
Weigh out the flour, sugar, butter, baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl. Add the eggs and beat until the mixture starts to form a thick batter. Add the jam and pour in the buttermilk. Whisk until smooth, creamy and slightly lighter in colour, about 1 minute.
Divide the batter equally between the paper cases and bake for 20-22 minutes until the cupcakes are risen and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the buttercream. Beat the butter until soft and creamy before sifting in half the icing sugar. Beat until all the sugar has been incorporated and then add the remaining half of the sugar.
Tint the buttercream a pale pink and beat in the seedless raspberry jam. If the mixture seems very stiff add milk, half a tablespoon at a time, until it becomes a soft spreadable consistency.
Once the cupcakes have cooled, pipe on the raspberry buttercream and decorate with heart shaped sugar sprinkles or other sprinkles of your choice.
Share, eat and enjoy with friends or loved ones.
Makes 12, easily doubled.

Kiwi Honey & Lime Jam

A few months ago my grandmother bought a jar of kiwi and lime jam from a farmers market when she was visiting some friends. It wasn’t one she had tried before but she is a lover of kiwis and is quite adventurous in her food purchases and always willing to try new foods. It turned out to be quite delicate and floral and she absolutely loved the jam but wasn’t able to find anything similar locally. Not being one to pass up the opportunity of a challenge I snuck a look at the ingredients listed on the jar and decided to try and make a batch for her myself.

One of the interesting ingredients listed was honey. Ah-ha! That explains the floral note. So armed with my ingredient list I set about concocting my jam.

It turned out to be quite a straightforward process. The main issue I had was that the kiwi’s did not cook down into a mush as I expected, but remained relatively intact in their small dice. I solved this problem by giving them a quick squish with a potato masher. This resulted in a slightly coarse yet spreadable jam.

Once cooked, I adored the colour of jam – such a bright glossy emerald green and studded with tiny jet black seeds. It had a slightly sharp and tangy flavour with just a hint of citrus thanks to the lime. The sugar and honey kept it sweet yet with a mellow floral overtone.

This jam had two purposes for not only was my grandmother delighted with it, but I discovered I can eat cooked kiwi. Normally when I eat raw kiwi my tongue and mouth go all prickly and sore within a few minutes, but I found on tasting a tiny bit of the jam (out of curiosity as to its flavour) that it didn’t affect me in the usual way. I suppose boiling it denatured the enzymes. I’m not sure how useful this piece of information would be to me, but it’s interesting to know.

The jam wasn’t quite the same as the one my grandmother bought on the market, but this doesn’t mean it was any less delicious. It certainly added a bit of zing to some morning toast.

Kiwi Honey & Lime Jam
Ingredients
11 ripe kiwi fruit
175g caster or granulated sugar
100g runny honey
1 lime

Method
Place 2 or 3 jam jars and their lids into a cold oven. Heat to 120oC for at least 10 minutes to sterilise the jars. Once heated, turn off the heat but leave the jars in the oven so they remain hot while you make the jam.
Peel the kiwi fruit, cut into quarters and roughly chop into 5mm pieces. Remove the white core from the fruit if it feels particularly hard or woody.
Add the chopped kiwi’s, sugar and honey into a medium sized saucepan. Heat gently, stirring occasionally, until the honey has softened and the sugar dissolved.
Stir in the finely grated zest of the lime and its juice. Bring the mixture to the boil and allow to bubble for 10 minutes, stirring every so often to prevent it from sticking to the base of the pan.
Then reduce the heat and use a potato masher to gently squash/crush the kiwi into a chunky mush. You don’t want (and won’t get) it smooth, but you want an easily spreadable consistency.
Allow to simmer for 2 minutes before removing from the heat. Take the hot jars from the oven and divide the jam between them while both the jam and jars are still hot. Be careful not to get any on you as it’s very hot!
Wear rubber gloves to screw the lid onto the jars and leave to cool before storing in a cool dark place until required. The seal button in the lids will suddenly pop back down as the jam cools, as a sterile vacuum is created within the jar. They will give a loud ‘pop’ when this happens, so don’t be alarmed.
Once opened, store in the fridge and eat within 2 weeks.
Makes 2-3 jars

Crab Apple Jelly

Last weekend my grandmother gave me a bag practically overflowing with crab apples that she grew in her garden. They are such unique little apples, waxy rose blush skins and the shape of an oversized rosehip. You can’t eat them raw, they must be cooked to taste nice. Whenever anyone mentions crab apples and first thing that springs to mind is crab apple jelly.

I had never made my own crab apple jelly before, but it was actually quite straightforward, if not a little time consuming. Well, not time consuming as in there is lots to do, but there are long periods of time where you have to leave the apples to their own devises. I loved watching the crab apple jelly develop through its different stages, it was quite amazing. You start with a dull brown mushy sludge of pith, skin and cores, not the most appetizing, but when this mixture is put into a jelly bag and the juices allowed to drip through, they come out a pretty pearly red colour and are beautifully crystal clear. It is truly amazing.

As the apples boil up, they release the most fantastic apple aroma, accompanied by another sweet fragrant smell that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, similar to elderflower. The resulting jelly shared this same intense apple, sweet fragranced flavour and aroma. Delicious with both sweet and savoury foods.

Crab Apple Jelly
Ingredients
3.5kg crab apples (skin and core still on)
4 pints water
450g granulated sugar per pint of juice
10-12 jam jars

Method
Wash the apples and cut them in half. Put the apples in a large saucepan along with the water (just enough to cover). Bring the water to the boil then reduce to a simmer.
Loosely cover with the lid and leave to simmer for 1hour 30 minutes. The apples should completely break down and turn to mush.
Remove from the heat and spoon the mixture into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl or saucepan. (You can use a piece of muslin tied to an upturned chair if you don’t have a jelly bag).
Leave for an hour to allow all the clear juices from the apple mush to drip down. After an hour give it a gently squeeze to get any excess juice, but do not press to hard as you want the juice to remain clear and pulp free.
Wash and dry the jam jars. Place in a cold oven, with the lids alongside and turn the oven on to 120C. Allow to come to temperature and heat for at least 15 minutes or until the jam is ready to be bottled.
Meanwhile, use a jug to measure how many pints of juice you have collected and place it into a large saucepan. Add 450g sugar for every pint of juice you have.
Heat the liquid and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Then bring to the boil and allow to bubble for 15-20 minutes.
Test for setting by placing a small spoonful of the jam onto a saucer and placing in the fridge for 3 minutes. Once cool, run your finger through the jam and if it ripples and leaves a clear path, then it is ready. If not, then allow to boil for a further 5 minutes before testing again.Once ready, remove the jam from the heat and the jars from the oven. Carefully ladle the hot jam into the hot jars and screw on the lids tightly. Wear rubber gloves to protect your hands from the heat and to give you a good grip.Allow to cool at room temperature before storing in a cool dark place until required. The seal button in the lids will suddenly pop back down as the jam cools, as a sterile vacuum is created within the jar. They will give a loud ‘pop’ when this happens, so don’t be alarmed.Once open, store in the fridge.
Makes 10 – 12 jars