There seems to be a trend for cooking apples (and any fruit), sticking some sugar in it and calling it apple jam. Most state it's OK for 6 weeks if kept in a fridge. In 2014 we found at the back of a cupboard some plum jam dated 1998. It was fine. The reason is of course it was REAL jam cooked to 105C with 50% sugar. The only problem with plum jam is that the pectin levels are through the roof. A neighbor came around with a spoon bent in half he had used in an attempt to get my plum jam out of the jar I gave him. A small amount of plum can be used to make any fruit set without adding pectin. Most shop bought jams now are not real jam, they are jelly. One make 'Hungarocap' was banned by the glorious EEC for having 55% fruit and not the maximum of 50%. If you make plum jam make a small batch at 105C and add cooked plums with 50% sugar but kept BELOW 100C. The will still be water in it but is seems to keep well. 12 plum jars this year, next comes to rhubarb. Great channel with some interesting ideas.
That's a really interesting comment, I've learned something thank you. I'm fascinated by the plums. Sloes aren't super high in pectin although related. I must experiment with our bullaces!
@@EnglishCountryLife What Ho. Just thought you might like to know the same thing happened to the rhubarb. At 105C it was not spreadable, however at 101 / 102C it was OK. Every recipe I have seen says use pectin. I had it waiting but as the pears are next who knows what will happen. After 30 odd jars of jam we are having a break for a few days. The plums are Berkeley plums, I grew 2 trees from seed. Very small, very like damsons and originated in France. Brought over after 1066. Berkeley Castle was where they murdered Edward II in 1327. As they didn't want to leave a mark on his body so that it looked like natural causes they used a red hot poker - let's just say internally. Unfortunately 'the grimace on his face was fearsome to behold'. I bet that pinched a bit. Do take care, I'll let you know about the pear jam.
We've given some chilis to our neighbor and she gave us back some chili jelly! It was unbelievable! We're going to grab some apples and follow your recipe. We're overflowing with chilis!! Cheers!
I have always loved apple jelly (something no manufacture seems to make anymore) especially with a good mature cheddar or stilton but have never come across it with chilli. I think a trip to the local market might be in order to get some ingredients. It is hard to get decent apples to grow here, instead I have about 300Kg of almonds, also a bumper crop of figs but a plague of fruit flies to go with them this year, so not getting much that is good for drying from the figs. Thanks for this video, I think chilli and apple jam would be great to go with smoked meats.
@@EnglishCountryLife Almonds are great except for the shell cracking. I have made several hardwood nutcrackers that work well but it is a one nut at a time job. I have looked for hopper fed, hand operated ways to process almonds but the only ones available often damage the kernels, something I don't like if I am going to roast them for snacks and cooking. The next step up seems to be multi thousand Euro factory machines. Aside from being an excellent source of protein and vitamin E, the oil is fantastic for cooking, for massage and skin care, to add into home made soaps and for treating food quality wooden platters and bowls. For woodwork I just mix it with beeswax into a paste.
