The Cottage Smallholder

I would love to do the Belgian Pear recipe on the blog but not sure if I can do the pears in a slow cooker - must look into this. The recipe is for 6 hours very slow simmering and my gas hob is great but not for simmering. I have yet to achieve a low enough heat on it without it going out. Plus 6 hours cooking is a lot of time to be keeping an eye on it. If I can use slow cooker I could leave it on for the first 3 hours and not worry to much - the second 3 hours they are simmered with lid off so fairly easy to keep an eye on them.

I have the River Cottage book of Preserves and Pam (The Jam) Corbin has some very simple recipes for bottling and suggests 2 ways of processing the jars once filled. The water bath method and oven method - I didn't know about the oven method and it sounds much easier so I'm really tempted to give it a go. I would love to bottle some of the Autumn raspberries before they all go to have during the winter months.

Thanks Hattie - that is very encouraging. I have the jars but now need to get some replacement bits for them and I'm struggling to work out the best options. The website that deals in replacement parts for old Kilner jars is not open for business till the 10th October so I might have to wait until then. I do have a dozen of the original metal screw rings but they are tarnished. The recondtioning service this company offers charges £3 per ring + p & p which seems quite a lot as you can buy new metal rings for £8 per pack of 12 from same company. I need to speak to the guy to see why the big difference and a few other things so it will all have to wait till next week anyway (just as well as my ironing pile is huge ).

Thanks Hattie - I'll look into that option. Have had another look at my ones and they aren't rusted which is a blessing - just very tarnished.

Well I'm a 1950's baby so rationing was pretty much over when I came along plus my Dad was a greengrocer so we were lucky and always had access to fruit and veg - although we had to make sure not to 'eat all his profits'  I often used to go up to the Borough Market in London with him when he was buying his stock - a very different world to the one now and quite an education! My poor old Dad would turn in his grave if he could see the prices we pay now for fruit & veg. Sadly he passed away way too early at age 58 in 1967 and things were very different then. I still miss him very much but I like to think he would be quite pleased with my efforts at jam making and preserves. He did love strawberry jam

kayerunrig said:

ive got a few donated kilners with tarnished metal rings, i just wire wooled and washed them , nobody died from the contents , i just put jams i knew wouldn't hang around long into them 

Thanks, I might just try and give them a good clean and see how they shape up. I've got a bit of a dodgy elbow/shoulder and it's my right one so it lets me down frequently. I wish I knew why the elbow joint hurts so much -I have seen a physiotherapist at the local hospital but she wasn't much help. Any repetitive movements really set it off but I'm sure I can rope my hubby into a bit of cleaning if I get stuck.

Oh....does it matter what colour the seals should be - I mean is there any significance in the colours? I know one of the 1960's model kilner jar had an orange seal still on it but the website for spares only seems to sell the white ones. Will this be OK?