The days are getting shorter, the last flush of blackberries are hanging sweetly on their prickly branches and a final flurry of tomatoes are ripening. With the end of the summer crops nigh, my thoughts have turned to how to capture their magic for times ahead when I’m craving sun.
My favourite way to preserve fruit is to make jam. It started with a new year’s resolution in 2011 to learn how, and I’ve been zealously pouring sugar over berries ever since. Two recipes I like to follow are from Kylee Newton’s book, The Modern Preserver: damson jam with orange, and blackberry jam with the juniper tones of gin. Jam-making involves cooking the fruit in water before adding sugar (which stops the fruit from softening further), then boiling away the excess liquid until the concoction reaches the desired consistency.
