Toast, Jam and Marmalade

There are several beautiful reasons for making your own jams, jellies, marmalades and curds in that you have so much more choice as to what to do with them. Not only that, mine are on the Pantry shelf. However, you know the provenance of where the ingredients have come from, their source and making sure that no nasties go into them.

You always have a jam, jelly and marmalade that can be pressed into use whether that be on thick, crunchy buttery toast, in a pudding such as a steamed pudding, jam tarts, Bakewell Tart, in a Victoria sponge, Coconut cheesecakes, diluted down as a jammy sauce matching jam to fruit, i.e. a Gooseberry pie with a Gooseberry sauce and then serving with lashings of custard.  I use Redcurrant, Cranberry, Rowan, Scroggs, jellies in gravy. Orange marmalade in cakes, as well as a sauce for Duck and indeed glazes for fruit and tea cakes as well as using to paint the Christmas cake, in order to seal the marzipan on.  I have been reading an old cookery book and there are several mentions of it being an addition to a homemade curry with a couple of tablespoons of chutney. I also understand that you can use them to make wine (although I have not tried this one myself, there are in older books recipes for the same).  Jams, jellies and conserves are also very good for using in a little homemade baking.

You always have different flavoured jams to take your pick from to serve on homemade Scotch Pancakes, Pancakes with some whipped fresh cream and also homemade scones as well as thick sliced bread and butter with lots of jam spread on.

During these winter months as part of our breakfast routine, we are having a cereal (Porridge, Muesli or Granola) topped off with at least a couple of slices of hot buttery toast.  This is one of the prime reasons I started making my own bread again in that the toast from homemade bread is far superior to my mind.  Sometimes OH has a cooked breakfast but for myself I am much happier with simpler fare.  In the past two weeks alone we have used a jar of my Wild Blackberry Jam and a jar of Lemon Marmalade.

As kids if we were hungry we used to be given a slice of bread and butter either with jam, golden syrup, brown sugar (Chocolate spread when I was in Belgium) or indeed Cinnamon sugar.  It served the purpose of calming the tummy Gremlins. The Golden syrup and brown sugar toppings came from my Aunt Iggy (who was Flemish) and a real treat. This was the lady I went to Belgium with when I was seven years of age.  Every year Aunt Iggy used to go back to her family for a summer holiday and to see her family, but primarily to look after her mother Mimi.  Happy days although sadly most of the adults I met there are no longer with us.

There is so much pleasure in a jar of jam, or marmalade.  Brings back memories of warmer days in the middle of winter; literally a taste of summer to brighten the cold winter days.

Today has been extremely windy, the sun is now out (which it wasn't earlier); however am sticking to the house and pottering today.  I have too much to do.  I will wait for the wind to calm down before I venture out for a walk into nature.  Am thinking of nettle tops and wild garlic here.

Right am off to potter.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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