Bramble Jam

The best thing about going brambling early in the season is the fact that there is blossom and green, reddening and fully ripe, swollen black berries to be seen growing in juxtaposition – a scratch and sniff Adriaen Coorte still life. 4 Real.

The best thing about brambling is that you don't have to read the label to check whether they are airflown, or organic free range. And there is no packaging!

Here you have it, our bramble walk in Epping Forest preserved in a darling jar of jam to save for a wintry day. The rest of it went down nicely baked in an apple and bramble pie.

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   Figgy Jam

This is my first attempt at making jam. The figs and rhubarb are from the garden, hence my sudden inclination to dabble in domestic husbandry, either that or it is mUddle age setting in!

I made this on a whim so the recipe is my own concoction. I therefore can’t give any assurances whether it will have successfully preserved the fruit. My idea is to give away the surplus with instructions to consume it within a couple of weeks or else risk getting belly-wark and dying a horrible death of medieval contortions.

Recipe:

• 1 part figs
• 1 part golden granulated sugar
• ½ part rhubarb
• peelings from several apples (having vague notions that in order for jam to set you need pectin and not sure whether figs or rhubarb contained any)
• juice of lemon

Combine all ingredients and stir continuously over a medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and the figs and rhubarb have almost entirely disintegrated. Pick out the apple peelings with a fork. Turn up the heat and boil up to jam consistency – test by putting a teaspoonful on a dish that has been chilled in the fridge. If it is sticky like jam then it probably is jam. Spoon carefully into recycled jars that have previously been thoroughly washed, sterilised in boiling water and completely dried. Fill the jars right to the top, leaving no room for air to be trapped in the necks. Screw down the lids whilst the jam is still hot. Clean any spilt jam from around the lid.

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