Sunday 27 February 2011

Professional Days


Here at Jam Jar Shop we receive many questions about the rules and regulations of running your own preserve making business.

We don't feel qualified to answer these questions - although we have our own experiences through our business 'Jam on the Hill' (pictured)- so we refer any such enquirers back to their local authorities. It is sometimes clear that this proves to be less than satisfactory.

In an effort to make positive progress we are arranging a series of 'Professional Days' to be held here in Rutland at our jam making base, when our guests will be our local Environmental Health Officer, Kate Neal, and our Trading Standards Officer, Richard Matthews. They will be guiding you through the legislative mightmare with informative talks and plenty of time to answer your questions.

Under the auspices of The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers we hope to pioneer a Nationwide programme of such training days to bring much needed help and advice to those that are seeking it.

The cost for the day will be £75.00 inc VAT, a tasty lunch of locally sourced food will be provided along with refreshments throughout the day. The day will start at 10 a.m. with coffee and biscuits and the first talk will begin around 10.30 a.m.
We will aim to finish around 3 p.m. to allow time for you to travel home.

The first day is planned for April 20th, if you are interested in booking a place please either email penelope@jamonthehill.co.uk or telephone 01572 723723 to reserve a place. There will be a maximum of 8 places on each day and more dates will be booked if there is enough interest.

On April 19th we will be holding a Basic Food Hygiene Certificate training day.

You will be able to attend the informative lecture and take a multiple choice assessment paper at the end of the session. Successful candidates will be awarded a Basic Food Hygiene Certificate, which meets the minimum legal requirements, and will remain valid for up to 3 years.

What does the course cover?
The course covers everything you need to know about good food hygiene practice, including:
· Causes of food poisoning
· Contamination
· Micro-organisms
· High risk foods
· Cooking, chilling and re-heating
· Preventing food poisoning
· Personal hygiene
· Cleaning and disinfection
· Pest control
· Premises & equipment
· HACCP and Safer Food Better Business

This course is ideal for anyone who handles food for the public and who needs evidence of food hygiene training. This includes chefs, waiting staff, staff in care homes, schools, nurseries, prisons, contract caterers, voluntary organisations etc. - and anyone starting their own jam and preserve making business!

The actual course lasts for three hours but refreshments will be available throughout the day and a delicious lunch of local produce will be provided.

There will be a maximum of 8 places but other dates will be booked if there is enough interest.

The all inclusive cost for the day is £80.00 - if you are interested in booking please either email penelope@jamonthehill.co.uk or telephone 01572 723723 to reserve a place.


Wednesday 9 February 2011

Marmalade Awards

WooooHoooo! We're off to the Marmalade Awards this weekend - come and see us if you're there, we'd love to say 'hello' and give you a discount code you can use on the website - see you there!

Saturday 5 February 2011

Looking forward

Well, May and Samm have nearly finished a marathon marmalade make, just a last few speciality flavours to complete. The Seville orange season was quite short this year and for the first time, we have frozen a few whole just in case we get an order for something we have run out of. We haven't frozen the whole fruit before, but know people do, so we shall see what happens. We are off to the Marmalade Festival next week, we have sent our entries off and we shall be having a stand there, so come along and see us if you can. We would love to meet you and we'll have a few show offers as well.

I devised a recipe for Seville Orange and Cracked Black Pepper Jelly this year which was both stunning to look at and has the most amazing flavour. It is equally good with duck or an oily fish like mackerel. Try making up your own recipes sometimes - what's the worst that can happen?

We're busy stocking up on things like Rosie's Extra Special Brown Sauce and our own recipe Barbeque Sauce , then we'll be making Lemon Cordial and all things lemony. Use this time of the year to make those kinds of things which aren't quite so seasonal to leave time later when there is a glut to deal with. We are impatiently waiting for the rhubarb to start - there is some lovely delicate forced fruit about but that isn't really suitable for preserving - it's too expensive. Wait for the maincrop then make some gorgeous chutneys, sauces and jams.

Lots to do, lots to do. If you haven't seen our new Artisan range take a look here. Great prices, as ever, larger quantities for the home producer, plus sturdy storage boxes to make transportation easier. We have the pressure bottles back in as well, again, a great price - we always try to be value for money.

We have some great ideas in the pipeline, the best way to hear about them is to subscribe to our newsletter - no obligation - no tricks - no charge -but you will hear there first about any new offers or discount codes.

Happy preserving!