Porridge is the fuel that gets my legs spinning every morning. And nothing goes better with said porridge than a tablespoon or three of sticky, sweet jam. Having consumed my own bodyweight in supermarket-bought jam over the last few months (evidenced by the vast collection of empty pots on top of the kitchen cabinets) this weekend I decided to try producing my own cycling rocket fuel.
We have a bramley apple tree in the back garden and yesterday I enlisted the help of a friend to harvest its ripe fruit. This was quite fun and involved a step-ladder, a pokey-stick and some climbing and branch-shaking. After an hour we had two large cardboard boxes full of apples.
Today, Ms BikeVCar and I went for a muddy adventure in search of blackberries. It turned out that we were slightly early for blackberry season but we foraged a healthy sized tub of berries and will know where to go in a couple of weeks time for a full harvest.
Back home it was surprisingly straightforward to make the jam. I followed this guy’s recipe which basically involved peeling and coring the apples, boiling them up with a little water, adding the blackberries, then an obscene amount of sugar and a touch of spice. After half an hour of boiling and stirring I had produced a thick paste of vibrant bloody red which smelled great. After making sure it had properly jammed up I decanted the mixture into a few sterilised jars (which I may have unsterilised by wiping jam off the inside of the lids and licking my fingers) and then stored them in the garage for future enjoyment.
Love this on so many levels … having a “pokey-stick” is vital. I envy you the Bramleys, as they are non-existent over here. Oh, and for Ms. Bikevcar, fond memories of XC and “getting stuck in the mud”. Multi-talented Mr. Bikevcar! I see an entry in the village fete in your future x x x
I have a multitude of pokey-sticks and other bits of ‘useful’ timber in our new garage, aka ‘the man cave’
How neat must have been fun.. I bet the jam was yummy fresh apples and blackberries can’t get any better.
The recipe said to leave it for 6 – 12 months but I can’t wait that long! Plus my suspect-sterilisation probably means I shouldn’t either. I’ll let you know in a couple of months!