The fruit garden
Posted: Wednesday 8 August, 2007
The fruit garden is now finished for the year. I picked the last of the white currants yesterday and froze them. They look like pearls (or fish eggs, depending on how romantic you're feeling). They're good in summer pudding but I haven't found any other use for them.
We've had good crops this year, especially gooseberries. Dan cut back the raspberry canes last weekend and I tied them in. This is one of my favourite jobs because it makes it nice and tidy! We've mulched the bed with comfrey, of which we have LOADS (both barrels are full). The goosegogs, currants and strawberries will be pruned later on.
I made strawberry jam yesterday - with bought strawberries, I confess. The last lot I made was such a firm set it was like strawberry toffee. This lot has a nice set but is a bit scummy and the fruit has come to the top. Tastes OK but not "show quality" so if anyone has tips for eliminating scum and floating fruit, I'd be glad to hear them - before 9th September, which is "show day"!
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Comments
Rosemary
Thanks, Anna.
I'll try this next week and see if I can get some better results.
claire
the stawberry toffee jam was fabulous.
Comments are now closed for this post.
Anna
Wednesday 8 August, 2007 at 11:49pm
my favourite jam book (by Mary Norwack, stolen from my Mother!) says to leave the strawberry jam for 15 minutes and then stir it and skim it, that should redistribute the fruit apparently. Didn't get a chance to try it with my jam as I managed to burn it to the bottom of the pan so had to put it in jars right away to avoid it tasting burnt!