The Good Life Winter 2015 'All Things Preserving'

In this issue: Canning Explained Marvellous Marmalade Gifts and Party Special The Origins of Chutney Mrs Doubtfire's Household Management Seasonal Recipes

Welcome to

The Good Life!

Hello from the Wares of Knutsford team and a warm welcome to the second edition of our customer magazine.

We have had lovely feedback about the first edition, which is still available electronically on our website. In this edition we present articles and information appropriate to the season - winter and of course Christmas. We include some practical advice on the use of jars and bottles and ideas on topics we know our customers will enjoy. There are also plenty of recipes, tips and novel gift ideas.

Thank you for your custom, happy christmas and a healthy and happy new year to you all.

Valerie Byles

Visit our showroom in Cheshire if you are nearby: Unit D, Cranage Trade Park, Goostrey Lane, Cranage,Cheshire, CW4 8HE. www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Situated within the Goostrey Home and Leisure Complex

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 This Quarter Winter 2015

Canning In our frequently asked questions article this quarter we try to share the in's and outs of canning. Huge in the U.S and rapidly growing in the U.K.

Marmalade In our special feature we look at the remarkable history of marmalade across the ages and provide - we hope - some inspiration for the long winter months. We also let you know about the fantastic Dalemain marmalade competition.

Gifts in Jars! A collection of ideas for the preserving enthusiast or budding crafts person. What to put in the jars and how to package them to make friends and relatives smile.

The Origins of Chutney are fascinating. Do you know the difference between chutneys and pickles? We explore the exotic roots of our favourite relishes.

Mrs Doubtfires Household Tips are most useful. This quarter she explores the many ways of maximising wardrobe space.

Four pages of delicious seasonal recipes for you to file away and try.

discount code WARESMAG2 5% ONE ORDER ONLY

Our Customer Services At Wares we pride ourselves on good old fashioned customer service. All day long we recieve many phone calls from customers with all sorts of jar and bottle related questions. Our lovely customer service team are very knowledgeable and can help you find the right jar or bottle for you. 01477 They can also help you with bespoke quantities, both retail and whole- 537224 sale, that you won't find on the website. www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 Frequently asked questions...... What exactly is canning and how is it different from making preserves?

Canning (also known as 'bottling') is the So, the waterbath method involves peeling, storage of all manner of cooked and raw briefly cooking the fruit and decanting into produce in glass jars or tins. This is the still warm sterilised jars. Instead of adding process that the food manufacturing industry sugar and bringing your fruit to a rapid boil, as uses and it can be replicated on a small scale you would do for jam making, you are at home. Indeed canning in jars - which has decanting sliced fruit segments straight into long been a very popular activity in the U.S.A the jars and adding a pre-boiled light juice, - is fast becoming popular in this country too. syrup or water in which the fruit will be Canning is rewarding and economical, it saves suspended. freezer space and cost, preserves food for upto 5 years, uses far less sugar and makes sharing produce easy.

The Water Bath Method There are two approaches to canning, each appropriate for different foods. High acid content foods such as fruits and tomatoes are suitable for the simple 'water bath' method. This method is generally thought to be the place to start when setting out on canning at home. Fruits and tomatoes can be preserved raw, suspended in a light syrup (beautifully preserving their flavour) or cooked via a recipe into a sauce, pie filling, jam, chutney or pickle. The thing to remember is that high acidity means bacteria find it harder to grow and are destroyed more easily at lower temperatures when heated. High acidity foods also set more easily to become conserves. These two benefits of acidity are why so many recipes we use include lemon juice and why pickles and chutneys use vinegar to safely preserve low acidity vegetables.

Taken from the UDSA gudance on home canning

Useful links & Guidance

freshpreserving.com Guidance

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 Frequently asked questions......

This process is known as 'hot packing' and is useful for several reasons. It means the fruit Lids Explained will have shrunk and therefore is less likely to float in the jars. It means oxygen trapped inside the fruit will have dispersed and the heat from the cooked fruit will mean the seal on the jars is really good and the shelf life is therefore extended.

Jars suitable for canning all use a special two part self sealing lid. This is key. The disc section has a special compound around its inside circumference. Before bathing or steaming your jars the disc is placed on top of Having decanted fruit into the jars, leavng the clean jar opening and held in place by the the correct headroom for your recipe and not screw band section. In both methods the screw over tightening the lids, you are then bands should just be tightened firmly but not submerging the jars into a large pan of with your full strength before processing, boiling water for the stipulated time. The allowing any remaining air to escape. process is exactly the same for sauces, jams Once out of the water the lid will be and pickles - only the recipes vary. You can progressively pulled tighter and tighter as the buy a special water bath pan and rack quite produce cools and the compound forms an reasonably, or use your own deep pan. airtight seal. After the jars are cool the lid should just be left and not re-tightened. You The Pressure Cooking Method will hear a popping sound as the contents cool, This method is for low acidity foods and must this is the suction occuring. You will see the lid be done using a special pressure canning has a slight dip in the middle, so you can rest machine. Although the machine is expensive assured the seal is good and can check this it does open up a whole world of preserving periodically over time. Good Luck! raw and cooked meats, vegetables, soups, stews and much more. Low acidity foods The Right Jars require a period of heating at 240F/115C, We recommend Mason Jars (the same as the U.S 'Ball' Jar), Familia Wiss Terrines and Kilner Jars for canning. All good quality tempered glass and complete with their two part lids. Spare discs can also be bought for repeated jar use over the years.

Mason Jars 1000ml 500ml 250ml the steam in the cooker provides this and ensures all microorganisms are destroyed. Link to UK available machine. A meal in a jar Kilner 1000ml is there on the larder shelf. The internet is 500ml absolutely stuffy with recipes for canning 350ml 1000ml fruit and tomatoes using the water bath Famillia Wiss 500ml method. So have a Google or follow these links. http://www.canning-recipes.com/ http://www.canningacrossamerica.com/recipes/ Discs

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 Look out for Seville oranges coming into your local shops from the end of Dec to mid Feb.

Recipes from the mid part of the 16th century are available today and so we know

that at this point the nature of marmalade Marvellous making in England became much more Marmalade diverse. Indeed, it is from marmalade at this very time in Tudor England that 'jam' emerged. Learning from quince marmalade making, all manner of fruit; peaches, plums, prunes, damsons, apricots and apples were Marmalade is an essential in many of our now recommended for boiling - the homes, we think of it as very British preserve - addition of sugar and re-boiling before Paddington Bear, Scotland and the perfect end placing in a jar for preservation. Again, the to a full cooked english breakfast smothered on word jam, it is thought, came from the arab white toast. But marmalade in fact has a long word for 'close-packed'. and surprisingly exotic international history that is truly inspiring for the preserving So infact, it is only later in the 16th century enthusiast. It is so much more than oranges - that the first recipes for orange marmalade thick cut or shredless. Happily marmalade appear. First in England and then Scotland. offers a whole range of opportunities as the Legend has it that a spanish cargo ship autumn jam making months pass and winter laden with Seville oranges was forced by a settles in. terrible storm to harbour in Dundee. The beginnings of what we now know as James Kellier, a quick marmalade are with the Greeks and Romans as thinking local grocer far back as the 9th century. They learned that bought the entire quince fruit cooked with honey would produce cargo of Seville oranges only to discover a set jelly for them to enjoy at the end of a they were sour. It was his wife who came meal, their doctors prescribed it to help up with the idea of using them instead of digestion. It was served with pepper and ginger sweet oranges - and thus Dundee and flavoured with rosewater and musk and marmalade was born. Today, only McKays sometimes spices such as cloves, parsley seed continue to manufacture authentic Dundee or spikenard. marmalade in the Dundee area using whole Seville oranges. Quince are small bitter oranges, high in pectin and so Five hundred years later Seville orange ideal for preserving. The tree trees continue to adorn almost every actually originates from China middle eastern desert and are grown all where it grows on rocky along the coast of Lebanon. They are used slopes and the margins of woodlands. in middle eastern cultures not only for It came via the middle east to southern europe preserving but for the making of orange with Arab traders in the 10th century and is still blossom essence and syrups, used in arabic grown in the south of France and Italy today. desserts and sweets. It was in the 12th Quince fruit continues to be widely used in the century that the spanish region of Seville making of jelly or 'Marmelo' - particularly in started to cultivate the sour, thick skinned Portugal. 'Marmelo' (Greek for quince) is a thick oranges and hence the name we know set paste often eaten with soft cheese and it today was created. Their sour taste is was this dish that in 1524 was presented in a considered perfect for orange marmalade

box and served in slices to King Henry VIII by an making. BBC ambitious Portugese nobleman. From then on, shipping records show that 'Marmelato' arrived Seville in England from Portugal, Spain and Italy and Orange was commonly seen on wealthy Tudor dining Recipes Link tables in the first half of the 16th century.

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477Kumqote 537 224 But we need not be confined to orange marmalade Oranges and making. Far from it. These days the demarcation lemons labels between jams and marmalades is clearer. Lemon, Marmalade contains suspended fruit in jelly, jams have mushed fruit forming a thick paste. Watermelon Lime and lemons labels So - delightfully - every possible & Ginger combination of citrus fruit lies ahead for the marmalade maker; Marmalade (from Ann Wilson's Book below) limes, kumqotes, grapefruits, Kumqotes mandarins, bergamots, lemons and blood oranges are all there 1 pink-fleshed watermelon (3-4lb) for the trying along with a world 2 lemons of accompanyments such as 3lb sugar watermelon, tomato, pineapple 1 tablespoon minced root ginger and japonica as well as so many Bergamots possible flavours - vanilla, Method: chilli, rosemary, whisky, liqueurs, Cut up the melon flesh into cubes, champagne and delicious ideas like reserving the pips. Peel off the lemon peel 'christmas pudding marmalade' taking as little pith as possible and cut the and 'chocolate orange marmalade' peel into neat shreds. Squeeze out the Pink Grapefruits make lovely novel gifts. lemon-juice and reserve. Heat the melon cubes gently until the juice begins to run, Indeed, there is an international competition for then add the lemon shreds and put into amateur marmalade making organised and run by the pan a muslin bag containing the lemon the Dalemain country estate in Cumbria. This and melon pips, the minced ginger and the wonderful institution works closely with Fortnum inner peel and flesh of the lemons, roughly and Mason in London to collect entries from all cut up. Cook gently for about half and over the world and judge the competition. The hour. Put in the sugar and lemon juice and winning marmalade is put into manufacture and boil rapidly to setting point. sold in the Fortnum and Mason store. All in aid of charity. A Wares of Knutsford customer has Jellied Quince Marmalade previously won the competition - so why not have a go! Details of the competition can be found on 17th Century the back page of this issue. Take your quinces Meanwhile here are some ideas on jars, labels and and quoddle them recipes from Wares. Good luck! until tender, then take the juice of other grated quinces and wet your sugar, which must be the weight of that quantity of quoddled

quinces you do, and make syrup, then put in your quoddled quinces sliced thin and boil it a pace until it will jelly.

Dalemain marmalde competition

Great read: Anne Wilson's ' The Book of Marmalade' - includes many historic recipes New and Old Ideas for.... Christmas, Gifts and Parties At Wares we hear from our customers all year round about their ideas for special and personal gifts as well as lovely ways to decorate their homes at Christmas and for parties, using our jars and bottles. Here are a few of our absolute favourite with 'how to' links. Candles in Mason Jars

Fairy Lights in Jars

Spa in aJar Sweet treats in Jars

Kits in Jars

Hot Chocolate in Jars

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 Great website for jar gift Idea! Why not make your own labels from ideas! dodoburd.com/ diy-gifts-in-a-jar old or new Christmas Cards, that way you can make them fit any jar or bottle....

Drinking Jars

Vanilla Rum Cream Liqueur

This velvety liqueur is a combination Extract of dark rum, dairy cream, flavours and extract.

Ingredients 14 ounce can sweetened condensed Home made milk 1 Cup dark rum liquers, Vodkas 1 Cup double cream 1/4 Cup chocolate-flavored syrup and Gins 4 teaspoons instant coffee powder (not freeze-dried) 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon homemade vanilla extract (see recipe in this site) 1/4 teaspoons coconut extract

Instructions 1.Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor. Whirl at high speed until well blended and smooth. 2.Serve immediately over ice, or cover tightly and store in refrigerator Jams up to 2 weeks. 3.Stir before serving. For more recipes see the back pages of the Chutneys & magazine. Enjoy! Pickles

Packaging Solutions Classic Jars for Gifts and Crafts! Clip Top Jars Sweet Jars Designer Jars

Coloured Jars Mason Jars

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224 The Origins of Chutney

Many of you will know perhaps that the origins of chutney India and Chutney lie far away and in the wonderful, rich, exotic cultural Chutney can be traced back history of India. If I'd been asked I would have said as far as 500BC in India. The medieval Britain at a guess. But no, whilst pickling original Indian Chatni was - appears to originate from that time, we really do have and still is - made freshly ancient India to thank for chutney. and eaten straight away or matured out in the sun for up to 2 weeks. It is eaten as a relish along side curry. Chutney,Pickle or Relish? Made with a mixture of uncooked fruit, often mango's, Although perhaps subtle, in the west banana and apples to which chillies, green herbs, spices there is a clear conceptual difference and tamarind juice are added. between pickles, chutneys and relishes. Most straight forward is clear pickling, Tamarind is a bizarre looking fruit bearing tree, widely here the vegetable is stored raw in grown around the temperate climates of the world and vinegar or oil, chopped or whole, as with used in spiced cooking. pickled onions or gerkins. Today, the spectrum of Indian Sweet 'pickles' such Chatni's is huge. The original as piccalilli or Branston Pickle involve recipe has morphed across partially cooking the diced vegetables the regions of the Indian and thickening the sweet vinegar subcontinent and indeed with cornflour to make a chunky around the world. paste. Both clear and sweet pickles generally have a shelf Flavours vary region by region life of 2 years - it is of course the acid in the vinegar that and by different religious groups. Cooked mango or prevents the growth of microorganisms. papaya chutneys are common in the Caribbean, and chutneys are also widely used in South Africa. They have also become increasingly popular in the U.S, especially Chutney (from the Hindi word Chatney or Chatni) however with the rise in popularity of Caribbean curries. is an altogether different beast. Good chutney is as much art as it is science. It involves real commitment, cooking the fruit and vegetables for a long time - slowly adding all The first Indian chutneys to reach the West appeared as manner of sharp, sweet and rich spiced flavours to create luxury imports in England and France during the 17th what is a huge variety of potential tastes. We think century. They were largely mango chutneys in sticky naturally of green tomato or apple chutney with cheese, syrups and preserved in ceramic pots. These luxury goods, but there are so many choices - everything from lime, to like Marmalade soon served as models for Western mango, plum, marrow, rhubarb, beetroot, carrot and adaptations which appeared in cookbooks as "mangoed" chillie. In the UK we tend to soften the taste of our fruit or vegetables. chutney with sugar, which adds to shelf life, but is less healthy of course. Actually there are hundreds of more authentic, perhaps less commercial, recipes possible with The most popular substitutes the availability of indian herbs and spices in our shops were unripe peaches or melons. never being better. Chutney offers rich rewards to the By the 1800's many chutneys preserver willing to put in the time. For chutney is work, were manufactured in India of that there can be no doubt. But, once made (it should specifically for export to Europe, be eaten not less than three months later when the among them Lucknow Chutney flavour has developed) the shelf life of modern chutney (a purée of salted limes), and various brand-name is up to 4 years. Relishes on chutneys like Major Grey's or Bengal Club. All of these the other hand are often export products were created from recipes appealing to prepared freshly and when British rather than to Indian tastes, meaning that they were put in jars only have a shelf generally sweet and lacked the intense flavours, saltiness, life of year. or peppery heat preferred by Indians. Perhaps you would like to dabble into authentic Indian Chutney? Good luck. So - onwards into the world of chutney.

www.waresofknutsford.co.uk Tel: 01477 537 224

Regional CHUTNEYS Chutneys of Assam: coriander, spinach, tomato, curry leaf, chili, India radish, carrot, cucumber, beetroot, lentil, chickpea, ghost chilli pepper chutneys

Andhra Pradesh: coconut, coriander, red chilli with grams (chana), tomato, onion, peanut, lemon, curry leaf, tamarind, green chilli, ginger, mint, mango chutneys

Odisha: coconut, mango, orange, tomato, dried fish chutneys

Gujarat: hot lime chutneys, garlic chutney Haryana: tamarind chutney

Himachal Pradesh: guava and eggplant chutneys

Karnataka: coconut, chilli, peanut, tomato, tamarind, mango, urad dal (a kind of legume), pudina (mint), heeray kayi (ridge gourd),badane kayi (eggplant), uchellu (Niger seed), bende kaayi (okra or ladyfinger), agashi (flax seed), ginger chutneys C Jamie Olivers Easy Traditional Green Kerala: coconut, mint, urad H Tomato Chutney Chatni with dal, mango, dry fish, shrimp, U Pomegranate Seeds onion chutney T Ingredients: N • 250g red onions, finely Ingredients: Punjab: pudina (mint) E sliced 150g fresh coriander leaves chutney, onion chutney, • 500g mixed tomatoes, 100g fresh, young, mint tamarind chutney, mango Y roughly chopped leaves chutney • 1 red chilli, deseeded, 2 green chillies, with stalks J sliced removed Tamil Nadu: Coconut, A • 75ml red wine vinegar 2 ripe tomatoes, blanched, Coriander, Curry leaf, Red R • 140g brown sugar peeled and chopped chilli, Green chilli, Garlic, 1 tbsp anardana Peanut, Tamarind, Tomato, S Method: salt to taste Onion, Ginger, Radish, Mint, Put everything in a pan, 1 tbsp cumin seeds (dry Mango, lentil chutneys season to taste and stir well roasted and ground) to combine. Simmer for 30– 1 tsp amchoor Telangana:coconut, peanut, 40 mins or until jammy. Pour tomato,lemon, curry leaf, into a sterilised jar and leave Method: tamarind, green chilli, ginger, to cool before transfering to Add the tomatoes to a mint, mango chutneys. the fridge. The chutney will blender and purée before keep in the fridge for up to 4 adding the coriander, mint For a full list of all regions weeks. and chillies. Blend until follow this link. smooth then add the spices and salt. Blitz to mix

Book: Available on Amazon Cocktails at Non-alcoholic cranberry and Christmas orange spritzer Add all the ingredients into a 500ml cranberry juice saucepan on a gentle heat and These cocktails have been given a 500ml orange juice stir until the sugar dissolves. Turn seasonal twist to scream 400ml sparkling elderflower Christmas and look wonderfully presse the heat up a little, cover and wintery served in handled jars allow to simmer for about five rather than traditional cocktail Mix the cranberry and orange minutes or until the sauce glasses. juices together in a large jug, thickens and the cranberries then add the elderflower presse burst. Remove from the heat and Cranberry Christmas cocktail slowly so that it doesn’t fizz over. allow to cool before removing the 200ml vodka Serve over ice cubes in drinking cardamom pods and cinnamon 200ml Cointreau jars. stick. Spoon into jars, label and 600ml cranberry juice decorate with Christmas ribbon. 400ml orange juice Handled Jars are all Festive Custard Mix all the ingredients together the rage Not all custards respond well to well in a large jug. Fill the cocktail being made in advance, but this at the jars halfway with crushed ice, citrussy take on the classic can be then pour over the cocktail. moment! made ahead to save time on the Garnish the glasses with a couple day. of strips of lime peel. 700ml full fat milk Christmas Sauces 200ml double cream Christmas Cosmo 4 egg yolks 500ml vodka These Xmas sauce recipes can 3 tablespoons cornflour 500ml ginger wine save you time when made ahead 200g caster sugar 1 litre cranberry juice and make great home made Juice and zest of three 5 limes alternatives to shop bought clementines Slices of stem ginger sauces. Add the milk and cream to a large, Slice strips of the zest from the heavy based saucepan and heat limes and extract the juice from Cranberry Xmas sauce gently – don’t allow the mixture the fruits. Mix the vodka, ginger A basic cranberry sauce is very to reach boiling point. While wine and cranberry and lime easy to make, but you can make that’s happening, add the egg juices together in a large jug. yours unique and sophisticated yolks, cornflour, caster sugar and Serve garnished with stem ginger by adding a few extra, the clementine juice and zest to a slices and strips of lime zest. complementary flavours. In this large bowl and whisk together case, cinnamon, clementines and thoroughly. Keep whisking as you Christmas Pimms most importantly a bit of port, add the not quite boiling milk and 500ml Pimms make for a punchy sauce which cream mixture. Once the mixture 500ml brandy will add a light touch to a heavy is well combined, pour it back 1500ml apple juice meal. into the saucepan and continue to 2 cinnamon sticks 450g cranberries, fresh or heat gently, stirring all the while 1 apple and 1 orange, sliced defrosted with a wooden spoon, until the 2 tablespoons port mixture thickens and coats the Combine all the ingredients 3 cardamom pods, bruised spoon. Serve hot or cold. Store in together in a jug and serve in 1 cinnamon stick the refrigerator in sealed jars. cocktail jars half filled with ice Juice and grated zest of two cubes. clementines 75g sugar Useful link

LINK: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/christmas-sauces Party Drinks Ideas The next day, pour the mixture To make the cocktail...... into a preserving pan - any large, Chocolate orange Christmas heavy based pan will do if you cocktail: don't have a preserving pan. Cook 2 litres vodka over a low heat until the rind 2 litres crème de cacao softens and the liquid reduces by 800ml orange juice a about a third - this should take 1.2 litres orange syrup two or three hours.

Add the vodka, crème de cacao, Add the lemon juice and sugar to orange juice and syrup to the the pan and stir with a wooden cocktail dispenser and stir well spoon until the sugar has to combine. Make sure there’s completely dissolved. Turn up This is a fantastic 2 Gallon drink plenty of ice available, plus the heat and bring the mixture to dispenser. For Christmas events, glasses with rims dipped in a rapid boil, holding it until the fill it with seasonal punch or use grated dark chocolate marmalade reaches setting point, as a party cocktail dispenser – probably about 15-30 minutes. just make sure you provide plenty of glasses, ice and little Remove the pan from the heat bowls with garnishing Pink Grapefruit Marmalade and give the mixture a gentle stir ingredients. Here are a couple of every couple of minutes until any Christmas cocktail ideas in large Jam season has reached its end bubbles have dispersed. Transfer quantities to fit the dispenser! and now we have the arrival of the marmalade into warm, citrus fruits rather than berries. sterilised jars while still quite hot Glass drinks dispenser Christmas Your preserving adventures don't and seal immediately. The punch have to end as the blackberries marmalade will keep for up to 2 litres orange juice disappear, because marmalade two years if stored in a cool, dark 350ml Benedictine liqueur comes next. Add a touch of place. 500ml whisky or cognac sophistication by foregoing the 750ml cranberry juice traditional Seville oranges and Setting point 3 vanilla pods, seeded make grapefruit marmalade When you make grapefruit 1 clementine, sliced horizontally instead. marmalade, you can check for a 3 litres sparkling water setting point the same way as Pink grapefruit marmalade you do for any other jam. Before Refrigerate all the ingredients ingredients: you start, place a couple of small before preparing. Mix the 750g pink grapefruits - about 2 saucers in the freezer. When you ingredients together in the 1.5kg granulated sugar are ready to test, spoon a drop of cocktail dispenser only just 2 lemons, juiced marmalade onto a frozen saucer before you’re ready to serve. and leave it for a minute, before You will also need six or seven using the tip of a clean finger to Glass drinks dispenser chocolate jars, sterilised in boiling water or push the drop. If a skin has orange Christmas cocktail by placing them in the oven at formed which wrinkles when you 100C for at least 15 minutes. Use push it, the marmalade has Orange syrup: new lids, which should also be reached setting point. If not, keep 1.5kg golden caster sugar sterilised. boiling and retesting regularly Zest of 10 oranges, in strips until the drop wrinkles when Pink grapefruit marmalade pushed. Start by making an orange syrup. method: Add the caster sugar to a large Cut the grapefruits in half and juice them. The shells left behind pan with 1.5 litres of water and The World’s Original the orange zest. Heat gently until are to be cut into thin or thick Dalemain Marmalade the sugar has completely shreds, according to your dissolved, then bring to the boil preference. Place the shredded Awards & Festival and set aside to cool. Strain to rind and juice into a large bowl, NEW DATES: 19th & 20th remove the orange zest. add 1.9 litres of water and allow March 2016 www. the lot to soak overnight. marmaladeawards.com @MarmaladeAwards

Winter Warmers

Leek has a milder flavour than its Sweet Chilli Jam Beetroot and Orange relative’s onion and garlic and Ingredients Chutney has often been overlooked in the 8 red peppers, deseeded and Ingredients culinary world, but is starting to roughly chopped 1½ kg raw beetroot, trimmed, come back into favour in the UK. 10 red chillies, roughly chopped peeled and diced (wear gloves!) finger-sized piece fresh root 3 onions, chopped Ingredients: ginger, peeled and roughly 3 eating apples, peeled and 4 bulbs garlic chopped grated 4 cups sliced leeks 8 garlic cloves, peeled zest and juice 3 oranges 2 onions, finely chopped 400g can cherry tomatoes 2 tbsp white or yellow mustard 50g butter 750g golden caster sugar seeds 180ml cider vinegar 250ml red wine vinegar 1 tbsp coriander seed 120ml lemon juice 1 tbsp ground cloves 2 tablespoons Balsamic vinegar 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 1.5 teaspoons ground mustard Method 700ml red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon salt Tip the peppers, chillies (with 700g golden granulated sugar *teaspoon white pepper seeds), ginger and garlic into a * teaspoon ground ginger food processor, then whizz until Method 600g-800g sugar, according to very finely chopped. Scrape into a 1.In a preserving pan or your taste heavy-bottomed pan with the largest saucepan, mix together tomatoes, sugar and vinegar, then all the ingredients well. Bring to (Vary the quantity of sugar bring everything to the boil. Skim a gentle simmer, then cook for 1 depending on how sweet you off any scum that comes to the hr, stirring occasionally, until the want the jam to be.) surface, then turn the heat down chutney is thick and the beetroot to a simmer and cook for about tender. Method 50 mins, stirring occasionally. 2.While the chutney is cooking, First of all, roast the garlic by prepare your jars by running cutting off the top of the bulbs, Once the jam is becoming sticky, through a short hot wash in your drizzling them with olive oil and continue cooking for 10-15 mins dishwasher. Or wash thoroughly roasting at 220C for 35 minutes. more, stirring frequently so that it by hand, then put in a hot oven Allow to cool. doesn’t catch and burn. It should to sterilise for 10-15 mins. Once now look like thick, bubbling lava. the chutney is ready, let it settle Melt the butter in a large Cool slightly, transfer to sterilised for 10 mins, then carefully spoon saucepan, add the leeks and jars, then leave to cool into the jars and seal while still onions and fry gently until soft completely. Keeps for 3 months hot. You can eat it straight away and golden. Squeeze the garlic in a cool, dark cupboard – but it will be even better after a bulbs so the flesh comes out as a refrigerate once opened. month. Will keep for up to 6 paste and stir it into the pan with months in a cool dark place. Once the leeks and onions. Add the We have tried this recipe and its opened, refrigerate and eat cider and Balsamic vinegars, just wonderful witgh goats within 2 months lemon juice, mustard, ginger, salt cheese and crakers. and pepper and bring to the boil. Add the sugar, allow the mixture Caramelised Leek and to come back to the boil and hold it for five to ten minutes, stirring Garlic Jam all the time.

The onion's more humble cousin, Spoon the jam into clean, the leek, is sadly sterilised jars while still warm, underrepresented in the seal and store in a cool, dark preserving world. However this place until ready to use. delicious recipe is a great way of Credit BBC Good Food preserving leeks, harnessing Adding a touch of chilli gives an their pungent sweetness, interesting bite to the jam! and the result is a great way to

lift your leftover Christmas

turkey on Boxing Day. Rainbow Cake in a Jar small bunch coriander, chopped Cooking in jars is becoming more Place the jar, left open, in a 1 tsp grated ginger and more popular, there are lots baking tin filled with about 3cm 1 tsp lemon juice of recipes out there - this is a fun of water to keep the cake moist. one for children or children at Cook in the centre of the over for Method heart. about 40-50 minutes. The cake is Rinse the pearl barley and cook done when a skewer inserted following pack instructions. Ingredients into the centre comes out clean. When it is tender, drain and set 100g butter, unsalted and at Remove from the oven and allow aside. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a room temperature 100g caster to cool completely. deep, heavy-bottomed pan. Fry sugar the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, 2 eggs, lightly beaten Make the buttercream by beating chillies, bay leaf, cloves, 100g self raising flour the icing sugar into the butter cinnamon and turmeric until 6 different shades (or however until fluffy and light. Spread it fragrant and the seeds start to many you want) of food over the top of the cake and crackle. Tip in the onion and colouring. decorate with your sprinkles and garlic, then cook for 5-8 mins Smarties. Decorate your jar with until soft. Stir in the parsnip, For the buttercream topping: ribbon and a label to serve. butternut and sweet potato and 100g butter, unsalted and at mix thoroughly, making sure the Wares of Knutsford offers this recipe as a vegetables are fully coated with room temperature 200g icing suggestion but cannot be held responsible for sugar Sprinkles, Smarties or other the effects of using jars in hot ovens. Please the oil and spices. Sprinkle in the cake decorations. see item five on our list of terms and paprika, ground coriander and conditions seasoning, and stir again.

The quantities given make one Add the lentils, pearl barley, cake in a 500ml jar, but you could tomatoes and 1.7 litres water.

easily split it into two 250ml jars Bring to the boil then turn down or make larger quantities. and simmer until the vegetables are tender. When the lentils are

Method: almost cooked, stir in the Preheat the oven to 180C. Cream chopped coriander, ginger and lemon juice. the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then keep beating as you add the eggs

gradually, breaking in with a spoonful of flour occasionally to Indian Winter Soup avoid the mixture curdling. Fold Ingredients

in the rest of the flour. Split the 100g pearl barley mixture into six small bowls, or as 2 tbsp vegetable oil

many as you have food colours. ½ tsp brown mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

Add the food colours drop by 2 green chillies, deseeded and

drop to each bowl, stirring in finely chopped

thoroughly until the colour is 1 bay leaf uniform. As the mixture bakes the 2 cloves

colours will darken so don't be 1 small cinnamon stick

tempted to add too much. ½ tsp ground turmeric

1 large onion, chopped

Assemble the rainbow layers by 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

spooning the first colour into the 1 parsnip, cut into chunks

jars, making sure you don't touch 200g butternut squash, cut into There are some fantastic recipes the sides. Spread the mixture chunks out there for deserts in jars - evenly over the bottom of the jar 200g sweet potatoes, cut into especially baking in canning jars. with a teaspoon. Repeat the same chunks Have a Google. process for each colour. 1 tsp paprika

1 tsp ground coriander

225g red lentils

2 tomatoes, chopped Useful Link http://baking.about.com/od/giftideas/ss/canningjarcakes.htm

HOME-MADE MARMALADE AWARDS Entries to Dalemain by Feb 14th 2016 Mrs Doubtfires Household Management www.dalemainmarmaladeawards.co.uk

Mrs Doubtfire's Household Management

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