About Me

I decided to start doing a blog after watching the great British bake off series 2. I am a massive fan and an avid (although not always successful) baker. I am a mum to Jorja 6 and Erin 3 who love to cook with me. I am a wife to a husband that loves a Sunday afternoon bake off against me (which he probably won't admit). And I work full time just to throw something else in to the mix. This makes for a manic life but i love to spend my evenings and weekends baking away the stress with my girls. I thought it’s about time i decided to share my love of food with anyone that wants to listen to the highs of my best Vikki sponge and to the lows of the odd flat éclair which ultimately with some practice will become the ultimate éclair!! And I promise to share all of the lows and the remedies that I find.

Hedgerow Jams and preserves

Before this summer I had only ever made jam with my mum as a child and that was only on rare occasions. But since moving out of London and living on the edge of rolling hills i have been encouraged (mostly by my children) to go for long walks in the country and pick as many different types of edible fruits and Berry's as possible. after a particularly good day picking and armed with about 6lbs of various fruit it suddenly dawned on me that i had nothing to do with it. until that day I had never even seen a damson, but i had ended up with about 4lbs of them, a few bags of blackberry's and a massive yield of elderberry's complete with the odd earwig!! so I hit my recipe books and found the best basic jam recipe. as I made more and more jam I started to tweak the recipes and add extras. I hope to list as many as I can here.

Canned Pears

Ingredients
3-4 big pears
1 lemon
2 cups sugar
4 cups water
1 big kilner jar or several small jars. These must be sterilised. I sterilise mine in the dishwasher on a really hot cycle.
Little dash of vanilla extract if you plan on using the pears for dessert recipes as this really adds another depth of flavour
Method 
In a heavy pan put the sugar, water and vanilla if using and gently heat until the sugar has dissolved. 
Whilst the sugar is dissolving, half fill a big bowl with water and the juice from your lemon. Peel and core the pears. Try and do this neatly as they will look prettier in the jars.   Slice them in either halves, quarters or eighths dependant on the size of your jars and what you want to use them for in the end. Put the sliced pears into the water and lemon juice. This will stop them from colouring. When all of the pears are ready bring the heat up slightly just to bring the syrup to a gentle simmer and simmer for a few minutes. Strain the pears out of the water a lemon juice. If your pears are hard add them while the syrup is bubbling this will soften them slightly. If they are already soft turn the heat down and add them. When the pears are soft and have sat in the hot syrup for at least 3 minutes. You are ready to jar them. Take the fruit a piece at a time and put it into your jars. When the jars are full of fruit pour in the syrup until the pears are covered. This needs to be done while the syrup is still hot. Some people put the lids on hot. But I leave them to cool slightly first.
I have been told that these can last up to 3 months but they never last more than a month in my house.


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