...... and some butterflies! I had to stay at home this morning waiting for a parcel to be delivered, so I decided to make some jam and jelly. I bought this book some time ago in a charity shops - it has plenty of good, basic recipes
For the jam, I first stoned and chopped up some plums, which I had been given by Annette, the owner of Borderland Fabrics. As I was only making a small amount, I decided to make the jam in the microwave. I added a little water, then popped the bowl in the microwave for about three minutes
I added these wonderful brambles (I have to admit I bought them in the supermarket, as the hedgerow ones aren't ready) and cooked the fruit for another two minutes.
The next stage was to add the sugar and further cook the jam until it reached setting point
To finish, I put the jam into jars, covered and labelled it
Next came the jelly - but this is a savoury jelly, made with apples and rosemary. Over the last few mornings, I have been picking apples in the hedgerow, so the first job was to wash them
Our new rosemary plant in the garden isn't yet big enough to pick a large amount from, so this is from the supermarket (the smell was wonderful as I stripped the leaves from the stalks!)
The chopped-up apples and rosemary went in a saucepan with some water and were left to simmer until the apples were soft
The next stage was to put the apple/rosemary mixture into a jelly bag, to let all the liquid drip through
That process is still happening - tomorrow I'll heat the liquid, add sugar and some finely chopped rosemary, and boil it until it reaches setting point, when it will go into jars.
I bought this food processor when we lived in Indonesia, so it must be twelve years old!
It's great for making coleslaw, with a grater attachment for doing the onion and carrot
Then a slicing attachment for the cabbage
I added some sultanas
And last - my secret ingredient
Delicious - and it will keep for two or three days in the fridge!
And finally, the butterflies .... don't worry, I didn't cook them! The buddleiia was covered in butterflies this afternoon - I managed to capture these ones as they fluttered by
Oops - nearly forgot something very important! If I have counted properly, Saturday the 11th should be my 500th post (no, I can't believe it either!!). Of course that means a giveaway. I think I will do the same as last time, and have a UK giveaway and a 'rest of the world' one, because of the cost of postage. So all you have to do is leave a comment (or comments, the more you leave, the more chances you will have in the draw) between now and the 11th (and I will have to have a rake in the studio to find things to give away!)