The Cottage Smallholder

Both The Chicken Lady and I are growing beetroot on our allotments. TCL has started to harvest hers already and raced home with a vast bunch last week. She was planning to transform them into beetroot delicacies. She mentioned pickled beets, a Crank’s beetroot salad and an intriguing raspberry and beetroot jelly.  When I sowed Read More »

  When The Chicken Lady tweeted that she was going to try out a pressure cooker marmalade recipe I was a teeny bit dubious that it could match the flavour of old fashioned marmalade lovingly stirred on the stove for hours. But I was wrong. I was surprised to discover that it tasted pretty good, Read More »

  I slipped on my golden boots (only joking) and rustled this up yesterday when rain stopped play in the garden. I’d researched apple mint jelly in the meantime and discovered that cooking apples give a better overall flavour (Bramleys ideally if you live in the UK). I also needed to use and a lot Read More »

  Sweet, tangy with a good ginger fizz, I’m delighted with this recipe. It uses the type of pumpkin grown for carving rather than eating. So you can make your pumpkin Jack O’ lantern and then recycle the pumpkin flesh into jam. Perfect for spreading on toast on a cold winter morning or hot jam Read More »

  Unless you already make pickled onions, let me share a secret. Pickled onions are ridiculously easy to make! They are great Christmas or anytime presents, especially if you use a decent quality vinegar. Poor old Danny’s acid tum can’t take malt vinegar so I always make a couple of jars for him every year using white Read More »

  “Why are you letting the raspberries rot on the canes? The birds are getting the blueberries and I haven’t seen you pick more than a handful of blackberries this year.” Danny is generally fairly easy going so this remark was a bit of a surprise. He was right about the fruit though, I’ve been Read More »

  “We’re making crab apple chilli jelly. It’s a deep ruby red. I’ll send you the photos later. Now what are you eating tonight. Sardines. Hum. How about sardines on toast. What about vegetables – do you remember them?” The Chicken Lady was on the phone to Rollo who has just started Uni. Back at Read More »

  “Wow. This jam is amazing. It’s so fruity and not too sweet.” Jean examined the jar of strawberry jam. “Would it be OK if I helped myself to a bit more?” We were sitting at the kitchen table indulging in a jam tasting session. I’d discovered that Jean eats toast and jam for breakfast. Read More »

  Earlier this summer I decided to use my jam thermometer to help me find the setting point of jam. To my delight I noticed that it was marked ‘JAM’ at 105°c/220°f. “This is going to be so easy.” I thought. “No more trailing back and forth to the fridge waiting for a tardy batch to set.” Read More »

  “Would you like wild plum, greengage, Victoria plum or apricot and peach?” “Greengage I think. Well actually I’d like to try the peachy one. Can I have both?” For years Danny and I weren’t jam sort of people. Until we started foraging, found wild cherry plums and decided to make our own. I can Read More »