Jam, more jam, a different jam...

FOXY LOXY JAM





I have recently got into Jam Making. I have a fine collection of books on preserving and making jams and cordials etc. I decided to start off with something simple, and opted for the Strawberry Jam.
I went to the Pick Your Own at Binsey Farm, near Port Meadow in Oxford. It was a rainy day and there was just me there, all alone in the fields collecting my 2 kilos worth of Strawberries.
I rushed home and set to on my alchemy!
After preparing my own pectin from cooking apples I eventually made about 8 good-sized jars of jam. It was very nice, so definitely something which I wanted to try again and experiment with.



Binsey Farm strawberry field, from the car

So off I went, back to the PYO. This time the sun was shining and the strawberry fields were much busier, so I opted for the lonesome gooseberry field.

The deserted gooseberry field. Just me and the gooseberries.


and raspberries...
I even wore my special strawberry belt and polka dot top!


The punnet of gooseberries ready to go in the pan!









To me, jam making and preserving is like alchemy. The equipment, the colours, textures, smells and of course - the taste.
I have always had a love of old fashioned laboratories and would love to have worked in a perfumery. All the bottles, raw materials, and the imagery of a certain magic evolving within the glass conical flasks and pipes!
Well, if I can't have that, jam making will have to do.
I would love a copper preserving pan (one which I could spend hours polishing), but until then I found this rather nice aluminium one in the Oxfam shop for a mere £15. It does the job, plus it has a rather nice old hammered handle with a nice curl on the end, so it satisfies my aesthetic need too.
So, without wanting to bore you with the facts of jam making I will whip through the different stages and try to illustrate them with photos instead.


These are the gooseberries softening in the water. Apparently gooseberries contain a high level of pectin so there is no need to add any extra to this recipe. Look at my thermometer, lovely!




When the gooseberries have softened you throw in the raspberries and just when they start to bleed you add the mounds of sugar. This is one of my favourite stages. I love the way the brilliant whiteness stands out from the colour of the fruit.





So once all the fruit has been added, you have to get it up to the right temperature and to a rolling boil.






220F





The next stage is to check for the setting point. It is important to remove the pan from the heat each time you do this.




a chilled plate used to test the setting point...





The setting point is reached...




I like using a funnel to ladle the jam into sterilised jars.




Sealed and ready to be labelled and packaged.




oh, and eaten...with toast or homemade scones.





and a pot of tea.




Someone else likes toast and jam too!

The next job is creating the labels. That will be my next post!

Who Killed Cock Robin?

A few weeks ago I went out into my back garden to find a dead Blackbird. It wasn't savaged and looked almost as if it was just sleeping. I rolled it over to find a spot of blood on the underside of it's wing. I thought of this poem.

Who Killed Cock Robin?

"Who killed Cock Robin?" "I," said the Sparrow,
"With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin."
"Who saw him die?" "I," said the Fly,
"With my little eye, I saw him die."
"Who caught his blood?" "I," said the Fish,
"With my little dish, I caught his blood."
"Who'll make the shroud?" "I," said the Beetle,
"With my thread and needle, I'll make the shroud."
"Who'll dig his grave?" "I," said the Owl,
"With my pick and shovel, I'll dig his grave."
"Who'll be the parson?" "I," said the Rook,
"With my little book, I'll be the parson."
"Who'll be the clerk?" "I," said the Lark,
"If it's not in the dark, I'll be the clerk."
"Who'll carry the link?" "I," said the Linnet,
"I'll fetch it in a minute, I'll carry the link."
"Who'll be chief mourner?" "I," said the Dove,
"I mourn for my love, I'll be chief mourner."
"Who'll carry the coffin?" "I," said the Kite,
"If it's not through the night, I'll carry the coffin."
"Who'll bear the pall? "We," said the Wren,
"Both the cock and the hen, we'll bear the pall."
"Who'll sing a psalm?" "I," said the Thrush,
"As she sat on a bush, I'll sing a psalm."
"Who'll toll the bell?" "I," said the bull,
"Because I can pull, I'll toll the bell."
All the birds of the air fell a-sighing and a-sobbing,
When they heard the bell toll for poor Cock Robin.

I buried the Blackbird underneath the rose bush.

Baker Born and Bread

Seeing as I've been making jam, I thought I'd better bake some fine bread to accompany it. So here it is!

Soft Egg

My neighbour recently got two chickens. As they started to lay their first eggs, a couple came out with either no shell or a very soft shell. I took these photos.

Mint Cordial

After having at go at Elderflower Cordial, I decided to try my hand at this mint recipe.
I used over double the amount of mint leaves for a stronger mint flavour.

This recipe is from the DK Preserving Book http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/images/1405356286/ref=dp_image_z_0?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books

Pounding the mint leaves with the sugar

Because of the amount of mint I was using, I had to gradually add it to the bowl in small amounts.
I used a wooden rolling pin to grind the leaves down to a pulp.

The more you pound the mint leaves the sugar gradually changes colour, from light green...




... to dark green



When the water was added to the pulp it resembled a dark mysterious swamp water.

Lace making and crochet

I have been experimenting with crochet to see if I can achieve similar results to lace making. A few reasons for this 1) lace making is extremely time consuming 2) I want to include some crochet in my 'Pram' project.

I intend to make a blanket/quilt which is inside the pram and extending out onto the floor. At the moment I am imagining it to be a combination of patchwork and quilting, crochet, lace and maybe felt and knitting. I like the idea of it trailing off into a delicate lace thread ending in an umbilical cord like structure. So it's good to experiment with different densities of threads and techniques at this stage.

I also want to include a drawing which I started some years ago. It was a panoramic narrative, based on fairy stories (see older blog). The pram which I got off Freecycle recently is almost identical to the one which I drew in the picture. I envisage using enamel paint on the pram metal work to depict the sense of being in an overgrown forest. I also thought I would include some images from some old screen prints which I did on my MA.
Images to follow.

Swedish Wolf Club

Myself and artist Philippa Jeffery have been running this 'craft' club for about 8 weeks now. We meet every Monday evening (at around 8PM) at The Punter pub on Osney Island, Oxford.

We set it up as a place for like-minded folk to get together and eat, drink and get on with our creative projects, whatever they may be.
Swedish Wolf Club has attracted many artists, musicians, writers so far and every week there is always a new face to welcome into our pack! So far we have had the following activities going on:

Dressmaking
Feltmaking
Mask making
Basket maker
rag rugs
patchwork
crochet
knitting
mending
story telling and writing
astrology
boat design
singing
lino printing
design work
drawing and sketching
puppets

If you are in the Oxford area and would like to join us, then just pop along on a Monday evening. We reserve a big table in the corner - you can't miss us!

The simple broad bean

I love broad beans, especially when drizzled in butter with salt and pepper. There is another great recipe using broad beans from the Moro Cook books which I will try and find a link to sometime.
In the meantime, here are some of my broad beans which I grew last year. Such beautiful things. All snug and cosy inside their pouches!


The Pod


Unzipped


Snug


Perfect Beans


Empty Pod

I really do like Broad Beans. Let's hope this years crop is as good as the last.

Crochet in the pub

After yesterday's workshop, I have got slightly carried away with the crocheting. I have been practicing the granny squares to the point where i feel comfortable to start experimenting with the patterns etc.
I like that you can sit without a pattern and be quite free with it, play around with colour and shapes.
I found some nice red and white cotton yarn which i have been playing with, maybe the start of a blanket, who knows?

Tiered Cake Stands

I have been trying to find a nice tiered cake stand for a good while, but there has never been anything which has taken my fancy. I can't be doing with all this sudden 'vintage chic' business, selling faux old things as vintage. Anyhow, what is it all of a sudden everyone has gone vintage daft? When exactly did this happen?
After failing to find a good cake stand, I decided it'd be much better to craft my own. This way I could select the plates myself, without being told by someone or other that it is 'vintage'.
I get all my plates from car-boot sales or junk shops. I just keep my eyes peeled for unusual designs and glazes. Mostly they sell from as little as 10p upwards, although I wouldn't pay more than a few pounds myself. I like the miss-match quality of the home-made versions much better than the shop bought stands.




Tunnocks Teacakes

I'm a Hooker

Today I went on a beginners crochet course at Darn it & Stitch, Oxford. I once tried to learn crochet from a book and from watching youtube videos, but failed miserably. I don't like learning how to do things from reading instructions, I need to have somebody there talking me through things and to be at hand when things go wrong.
So I spent today above the shop making granny squares (in Celtic colours) and having a lovely spread of M&S sandwiches, strawberries and cake! I am starting to think I live the high life...









So now I want to try and make lots of these Granny Squares and to try and make a blanket. It's a good way of using up lots of odd balls of wool!

Some interesting crochet designs/ideas/inspiration!


http://www.dezeen.com/2006/12/10/marcel-wanders-launches-crochet-chair/