Jam
Our recent trip to Speyside coincided with the raspberries in my Dad's garden being ripe. And that means only one thing - jam.
I must have pulled about 30lbs of berries, some for us and some for neighbours, and still the berries are ripening. Now that we are back in Edinburgh my Dad has been phoning round ever more distant neighbours in an effort to have the berries used. This has its benefits, of course: in the barter system that operates very effectively in my home village, home baking is flowing in return.
Every container in the house was pressed into use.
My mother's trusty Salter scales were brought out - not a metric measurement in sight.
Eventually I ran out of jam jars and had to resort to filling casserole dishes - in this case a lovely Norwegian one. It won't be a problem to use up the open dishes. There is nothing better than the very freshest raspberry jam.
What produce gluts are you coping with at the moment?
Oh wow! Raspberries are favourites of mine and what a huge crop that is. My garden is not performing well this year and we had a lot of hail on Fri evening which knocked off a lot of tomatoes. I do have oodles of parsley for some reason and I'm going to dry some for winter.
ReplyDeleteParsley can be really tricky, so it's great that you've got a good crop.
DeleteI've been hearing about Ontario thunderstorms from my daughter, who's working at a summer camp. Apparently they are much more ferocious than our Scottish ones, so I pity your poor tomatoes.
I have those scales! They're the ones I use all the time. Great for jam as they go so high but still good for baking too as the 1st lb takes up a 1/4 of the dial. Mine are a little bashed, I could do with a replacement tub. Talking of tubs, good to see a proper berry basket in the 1st pic. I grew up in Angus and used to pick berries during the school summer holidays. We'd fit the basket on a belt so we'd have both hands free for speedier picking. I'm off on a little trip down memory lane now...
ReplyDeleteThey are wonderfully vintage, aren't they? My Dad had a bit of a clear out in the house after my mother's death, but thankfully these were kept.
DeleteThe berry basket is indeed a proper one, from Baxter's. My Dad used to have over a dozen of them, but over the years they have disappeared through not being returned once people have decanted the berries he's given them. And we tie blue binder twine round the waist with the basket in front, just as you remember!
So amazing - and lovely - and - full of LIFE!!!!thanks!
ReplyDeleteHow awesome for you! This would be a real delicacy for us here in Texas. Raspberries are pretty pricey! Amber buys them every week for the quads. I MAY sneak one of two away from the babies when they're not looking!! I have an ABUNDANCE of MINT!!! It grows better than my weeds!!
ReplyDeleteWe are getting some tomatoes at the moment and our neighbor is plying us with peppers and cantaloupes!
ReplyDeleteI just made some plum jam today and there are still more plums! Sadly, the apricot and strawberry freezer jam I made earlier was ruined when the chest freezer stopped working. Your raspberries look lovely.
ReplyDeleteHow many hectares does your dad have? haha. This bounty is incredible. The only time I ever tried to make jam, mold grew in the jar. End of my jam-making endeavors.
ReplyDeleteI love raspberries and their jam is the best! Your photos are making me hungry..... In my garden we are dealing with a bumper crop of zucchini! I've been making lots of loaves of zucchini bread.
ReplyDeleteOhhhhh...first you show me fresh home grown raspberries...then that beautiful home made jam...you cruel, cruel woman!!! I'd love to have raspberry and blackberry bushes in our back forty...but 6 feet of snow in the winter just might not be a hospitable environment!!!
ReplyDeleteboysenberries in this house just made jam. yummers
ReplyDeleteI just made a batch of wonderful boysenberry jam. Yummers, It actually has a pint of raspberries in it as well.
ReplyDeletewhat gorgeous raspberries! we have a tree of pears, type unknown - some are green, some are brown, that we will be offering fairly soon to family and friends and whoever will take them.
ReplyDeleteYou were busy with that beautiful fruit. We got a small crop of raspberries as the drought killed a lot of my patch. We made jelly a few years ago by straining out the seeds but I bet the jam is delicious. It certainly looks good.
ReplyDeleteWow, so much of this lovely raspberries! Your jam looks delicious :)
ReplyDeleteToday we are going in the deep forest of Telemark (norway) to look for cloudberries and black crowberries. Yesterday, me and my little girls found some raspberries, blueberries and red currants. We will make some juice (raspberrysauce for christmas dessert) and jam.
Have a nice sunday!
Now today August 24th, we froze green beans given to us by a neighbor. It is a vegetable that freezes well after it has been blanched.
ReplyDeleteOh your jam looks delicious! I keep meaning to give a go one year! Love homemade jam.
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