Strawberry Jam

As many of you know - because you came to say 'hello' - we have just come back from the BBC Good Food Show, which was great fun, exhausting, and very, very busy. When Trev and I finally got home I thought our chicken run looked kind of different and it turned out that they had escaped from the back garden that day and made off down the lane! Both of our near neighbours had been out all afternoon trying to round them up, but unfortunately, as you fellow chicken owners will know, the more you chase them the more they run. There is only three of them but it took some time to get them back behind the fence. I had to take peace offerings of a basket of eggs to each neighbour - they actually thought it very funny - and The Chix had to perch on the naughty step.

Just all part of the Jam Jar Shop fun.

Lots of you loved the extended range of red spot lids, now available in most jar lid sizes and showcased at the NEC. They look great on the sauce bottles especially, and the smallest 45ml jars. We also had the new Kilner maslin pan at a great show offer and sold out on the first day! We have more coming in at the end of this week and at the beginning of July so don't worry if you missed out before.

There's lots of fruit coming along now - we ordered the first of the season's blackcurrants today so my favourite jam will soon be underway! We have already made large batches of strawberry jam and the raspberries will be next. There is a great recipe for a classic strawberry jam on our website so why not make some while the fruit is at its best and not too expensive. I love this time of year as there is an absolute abundance of produce and you can be making something different every day.

We are busy now moving warehouses over the next two weeks so the work load will be heavier but all the lads are coming in at the weekends to make sure we get it done without disrupting the orders. So, business as usual!

Update from Jam on the Hill

I can't believe I'm still sitting here at my desk basked in sunshine..I think it may be time to ditch my thermals after all!! May and Samm are as busy as ever in the kitchen and the incredible aromas rising from downstairs are making my tastebuds do cartwheels. they've just made Chilli Sauce and it's HOT,HOT,HOT, which is exactly as it should be,although I recommend a jug of margerita's to put out the fire. Mmmmmm, Yummy.

May made scones this morning and it would have been rude of me not to accept the one she brought me covered in our Summer Pudding mixed berry jam. I can't understand why my waistline is expanding!! Rosie and I had a lovely week-end at The Smithy with 2 full days of classes,"Some Like It Hot",another great reason for me to sample shots of our limoncello,purely medicinal you understand, to put out the fire in my mouth.

Samm and I are off to join the team from Jam Jar Shop next week at the Country Living Fair, come and visit us, we'd love to see you and hear all your preserve making adventures. Or why not join one of fun weekends of classes, you do know that jam making is to the soul what the little black dress is to our wardrobes - an essential. Well bye for now,hopefully see you next week with rosie and the team,if not you'll hear all our adventures in my blog the week after... Penelope x

Spring at 'Jam on the Hill'

Today is a beautiful sunny day at The Smithy, the birds are singing, ( as are May and Samm in the kitchen) and the green outside is awash with Snowdrops and Crocuses. The Daffodils are just awakening from a long slumber and the “Spreading Chestnut Tree”, which was mentioned in Longfellow's poem, has tiny buds on its’ branches. We often have locals popping in for a quick cuppa, a chat and a sample of the latest taste bud awakener that we’ve made in the kitchen ,Chilli Jam is the hot favourite at the moment!!

The Seville Oranges are now dormant for another year, so we’ve stock piled all the wonderful Seville Orange Marmalade, some with the added flavours of Ginger and Whisky, (which no doubt was sampled first on a cold morning.. hic!!). On Saturday we have our first Wedding Favours Day which is very exciting, May and Samm are busy in the kitchen baking Lemon Drizzle Cake topped with our Marmalade for Afternoon Tea…Mmmmm delicious… maybe I can sneak down later and nibble at a corner and blame the local field mice!!..although once started, I doubt there would even be a crumb left for any visiting mouse!!

When I think of Spring my mind wanders to all the lovely fruits, and the jam making adventures to come, we’ll keep you posted!! Our classes are filling up quickly so if you were thinking of coming along to one maybe you had better get it booked!

BTW we have an Open Day on April 2nd with all sorts of lovely things for Easter - come and see us if you are close enough.

Bye for now…..Penelope

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.

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!

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!

New Year Resolutions

I can't believe it's 2011 already! where did 2010 go? well another busy year ahead and with lots of bumper harvest's I hope.

If like many of us, you've already had your maslin pan out and made your seville orange marmalade, filling your kitchen with those amazing citrus vapours and stocking up your cupboards for the year ahead, then you'll probably already be looking forward to summers soft fruit season so don't forget to take advantage of the more sleepy (in terms of preserving terms) spring months and take the opportunity to re-stock your preserving equipment, not forgetting your jars, bottles and lids so that you will be ready for what the summer months will bring.
If last year was anything to go by, we'll all be pretty busy with damsons and apples again, which would be nice. My plum tree does something different every year but last year, the plums it produced were enormous so here's hoping it'll surpass itself this year.

Anyway, back to January and February................well, here at Jam Jar Shop, we're looking forward to taking part in The World's Original Marmalade Awards again this year on 12th and 13th of February. March is Country Living Fair and lots more to come so we'll keep you posted.

Happy Marmalade making and if any of you are stuck on what to do, Rosie has a marmalade making video on the Jam Jar Shop website.

Spicy cranberry chutney

So....... if you like your cranberry sauce at Christmas, what about straying slightly from the traditional and giving a spicy cranberry chutney a go this year? it's ready to eat in 1 hrs 20 mins and is delicious!

What you will need:
8oz cranberries, 2 tomatoes - blanched peeled and chopped, 2oz sultanas, 1/2 small chopped onion, 1 teaspoon salt, 8oz dark brown soft sugar, 4fl oz cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, 6 fl oz water.

What you will need to do:
In a maslin pan or large saucepan, combine cranberries, water, sultanas, tomatoes, onion and salt. bring to the boil. Simmer covered for 15 mins (or until the cranberries pop).
Next, stir in the other ingredients. cover and simmer for 35-40 mins, (or until it has a chutney consistency) give the occasional stir. once ready, ladel into jars and let cool before use.

if you try this recipe out, give us a post on facebook with your taste results!
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Jam-Jar-Shop/130417870323888

Jammy results!

Well, the WI real Jam Festival was a lovely event to be involved with and it was very pleasing on the eye seeing the competition display room a wash with red and white spotty lids!
There were several familiar names on some of the entry's, particularly those of Guild members.
Speaking to one particular member after the results were in, who couldn't be present on the day unfortunately but was very happy with a result of 19.5 out of 20 in the class 2, soft fruit category, coming second to Best in Show, Rosemary Green. Well done Bridget.
There was also an entry from Kelvin Mackenzie, former Sun editor who went on to win class 6, 'jam in the public eye' competition.
It was great to see so many enthusiastic visitors including a young man who is a very keen jam and preserve maker, so much so that he's set up a Jam Club, 'an excuse to sit around drinking tea and eating what we've made' he says, sounds good to me!
A short video of the festival can be seen at http://www.itv.com/meridian-west/whats-in-a-jam

Watch out for the next blog on 'what do you do with yours'!

Shame on you Boots

Needless to say, I don't like the new Boots ad suggesting that a jam making kit and course is a boring present compared to some of their products so I have written to their press office, copied below.

"I want to register with you my opinion of the new series of ads, in particular the one featuring the jam making kit and course.

Whilst I have a sense of humour and 'get' the point of this series , nevertheless you clearly have no idea that jam making is the new 'cool' thing, especially amongst the younger age groups. There has been a huge explosion of interest in the last 18 months, a natural progression from the popularity in cooking generally and the enormous demand for allotments.

I feel that we have the last laugh, however, as you have probably alienated more people by this cheap jibe at what you portray to be a middle aged, boring demographic. As the foremost retailer of jam jars and jam making equipment in the UK, we are well placed to know and understand the market and if the position were reversed and we were advertising our products against yours in a similar way, I am certain that you would have plenty to say about it.

Rosemary Jameson
Director, Jam Jar Shop "

If you have an opinion then write to them too at bootspressoffice@lexispr.com

Pumpkin Chutney recipe

Well, halloween's over and there are still lots of pumpkins around so what to do with them I hear you say! How about giving pumpkin chutney a try?
What you will need:
2lbs (900g) of pumpkin, peeled and chopped
1 lb (450g) tomatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pint (570ml) white vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
1 1/2 teaspoons white peppercorns
1 lb (450g) onion, peeled and sliced
1 1/2 lbs (675g) brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons of black peppercorns

So once you have everything you need and have done your chopping, put the pumpkin in a pan and cover with the vinegar then add the onion, tomatoes and garlic.
Crush the peppercorns and spices together and add to the pan, give it all a good stir and leave it for an hour.
Once the hour is up, add the sugar salt and ginger and slowly bring to the boil.
Simmer for about 45 minutes, giving the occassional stir and keep an eye on the consistency as you don't want a jam like consistency.
Once simmering has finished, allow to cool then add to your sterilised jars ( we recommend a glass preserving jar) http://www.jamjarshop.com/shop/department.asp?catid=9 then store for Christmas and enjoy with cheese and cold meet.

There are variations on the pumpkin chutney recipe including, sweet, pumpkin and apple or spicey, all worth a try.

Jam Demo at St Katherine's School, Pill

It's always great to find children and young people enjoying fruit and vegetable's both growing and eating and especially interesting to be asked to contribute to a Food Festival Week at St Katherine's School in Pill at the begining of October.

St Katherine's is a Food For Life flagship School and achieved the prestigous Gold Award, presented to them last December by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

As part of their Food For Life initiative, they hold a Food Festival every year and this year we were asked to come along and demo jam making for the children. As expected, it was hectic but fun and all the children engaged and had lots of questions. They loved tasting the jam and they had plenty of goodies to take away with them.

We're working towards becoming more involved with schools, running demo's and classes and also talking to pupils and teachers about SwapCrop and how they can get involved. We've also been asked to return to St Katherine's next year once their new Hospitality and Catering building is ready for use.

BLUE spot lids are here!

I am almost fainting with excitement! We have just received our new delivery of blue spot lids - you've had the red - and we still have those - now we have blue as well! They are so new we don't even have a picture yet. People have found them on the website and ordered them though. They match the blue spot labels if you want to see the colour.

What are you making at the moment? We are very, very lucky to have been given a huge amount of quince by a lovely lady in our next village. Our preserve business, 'Jam on the Hill', has survived the re-branding and this boost of these rare fruits is very welcome indeed. Classes are underway at The Old Smithy and I am just working on the programme for next year, which will be published on the website this week. There are still a few places left leading up to Christmas as well.

We will be launching our gift vouchers this week - ideal for Christmas presents - watch the website.Talking of Christmas, there are some fantastic packaging ideas on-line as well - we have hampers, trugs, crates, fill, ribbons - you just need to provide the contents. Take a look.

SwapCrop and the Guild at the Organic Food Festival

Well, if anyone has been to the Organic Food Festival in the past or was there this year, you'll know that it's always a successful event, with so much going on over the two days and we were very happy to be part of it this year. The response to both SwapCrop and The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers was so positive with lots of interest in memberships so we've been pretty busy since!

It was really interesting to meet people from all ages and walks of life who were truly making the most of the seasons fruits making everything from jam and chutneys to flavoured vodkas and cordials. We even spoke to a lady that uses a bread maker to make her jam but, we were particularly inspired by a group of young men that were keen preservers and told us that they regularly hold 'jam offs' (as apposed to bake offs) of an evening!

This is brilliant, really good to see that all ages are making jam and in their case, making an event of it too.

During the weekend, we also met several journalists and school teachers, all very interested in the concept of a Jam Guild and the benefits of a scheme such as SwapCrop so look out for up and coming write ups!

I hadn't disappeared - back with some great offers

Phew! Where have I been? Working. that's where. There has been no time to be bloging or filming for YouTube, hardly time to see the grandbabies, although we did go camping with them last weekend. I have been asked to write for a magazine, we have had lots of national press coverage, taken a lease on The Old Smithy to start our courses and jam making and dealt with more orders in the last month than in four months this time last year.

We have lots of new products on the website that I haven't had time to tell you about - especially the bumper packs of labels - great value - same great quality!

We also have new packs of the popular Firenze bottles - the average purchase ofd these bottles is in 6's so we have had a box produced for this quantity, packed them, AND reduced the price - can't be bad - check them out here . Will be great for Sloe Gin.

May and Katie will be starting on the Plum Jam later this week, so we'll get the recipe up on the website over the weekend, hopefully. Normal service is resumed!

Elderflowers

Fab newsletter here http://jjsurl.com/?22 all about the elegant, exciting, extrovert, economic, ebullient elderflower. Recipes, ideas, offers, check it out.

Jam Jar Tongs for Preserving

Just a quickie - we have finally got the jam jar tongs in for lifting jars from a sterilisation water bath - I know many of you have been trying to find them so they are just on the website now . We also have several other sizes for preserving jar replacement seals, there are plenty of pictures, plus line drawings with the specific sizes shown clearly - you just need to click onto the thumbnails.

We still have great deals on boxed jars - the 8oz hex have joined in now! Stock up before the season gets underway and you won't have to think twice about making an extra batch or two.

FreeTree and The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers

At Jam Jar Shop we are excited to bring you a brilliant new scheme - FreeTree! Take a look at the page on the website and get applying. We love to think that lots of new fruit trees and bushes will be planted for the future and there will be lots of lovely fruit for jams and chutneys, of course. Whether you are an allotment association, a playschool or school, a care home or just an individual you can apply to receive a fruit tree of your choice - absolutely FREE. Write us a letter, send us an email, a picture of where the tree will be going - tell us why you need it. We will award a tree every week but the trees will be dispatched at the appropriate time for planting, not actually every week. Let's hear from you.

The other project we would like to bring to your attention is The Guild of Jam and Preserve Makers. Newly launched, you can email for a membership pack and join in with the jam making community. From individual home producers through artisans to the industry, membership is open to all. Membership also incorporates SwapCrop a community based scheme to match folks that have spare fruit or vegetable crops with those willing - or even desperate - to make them into jams and preserves, to be shared with the cropper of course! Make new friends, learn new skills, make the most of nature's harvest. Visit http://www.jamguild.com/ for all information. We will be adding lots of items over the next few weeks so visit often.

Italian Bottles

We have lots of lovely new Italian bottles in stock - already for the Elderflower season which will be here before we know it! The bottles are reasonably priced, stylish and in a variety of sizes with some beautiful shapes. There are two sizes of oil bottle in both green glass and clear and they come with a choice of cap - gold or black with an intergral plastic pourer. The sweetest little bottle with a swing top stopper is just 40ml and ideal to use as a wedding favour. Take a look - we'll be having some lovely new elderflower labels as well shortly.

Our Country Living Award

Here's the proof! We had such a good time at the show - all of the people from the event organisers and from Country Living Magazine made it as good as it can be. It's always hard work, you always end up exhausted but if the hassle is minimised it makes all the difference. Things like being able to have a freshly cooked breakfast with wholesome ingredients before you start really made a difference. Hats off to all of the cheerful staff at The Good Eating Company in the venue. Even the taxi drivers were cheerful!

We are so pleased to have won this award on our first visit and it really gives our staff a boost who worked especially hard to keep everything going back at base while some of us were away. We've shared the champagne with them this morning so if something is missing from your order today you'll know why.

It was lovely to meet lots of our customers face to face and we have plenty of feedback for next year, and for the things you are looking for, so we'll get to work on that.

We have a couple of great schemes coming up which we'll do separate entries on once we've caught up with the post and the messages.