Jam

I had a mammoth jam-making session on Tuesday, blackberries and bramley apples, and finished up with seven jars full of deep red sweetness.

We had 2kg of fruit, so that meant 2kg of sugar (that's a lot of sugar!) and it filled the pressure cooker, the biggest saucepan I have, almost to the brim.  Hmm, methinks I should have kept that preserving pan I used to have all those years ago.  It soon became clear that all that fruit, sugar and liquid was going to need very, very careful looking after.  Trying to maintain a 'rolling boil' when the jam was constantly in danger of escaping the pan made things quite interesting!  However, we did eventually reach setting point - the 'wrinkle' test on a saucer in the fridge - and it was so satisfying to pour the jam into pots.  We have, of course, done a taste test (several, just to make sure) and it is delicious.

After several weeks of uncertainty, this morning finally brought the phone-call we had been waiting for.  Phew!!  By the end of the day we had rather more control on things than we have had for a while.  Huge relief.  A good nights' sleep is in order, then we can start afresh tomorrow, a weight off our minds.