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!