Preserves: A beginner’s guide to making jams and jellies, chutneys and pickles, sauces and ketchups, syrups and alcoholic sips

CLOVES

The dried flower buds of Caryophyllus aromatica. The name derives from the French for nail, clou, due to the nail-like appearance of the buds. Cloves are tremendously important in preserving, for they are compatible with a vast array of fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices. Prunes, plums, walnuts, apples, oranges, pears and onions can all be pierced with a clove before pickling, spicing or crystallising. Most spice mixtures contain cloves, either ground or whole.

GINGER

An important and endlessly useful spice, ginger is completely universal, being used in everything from flavouring cakes to spicing fish. Coming originally from south China, ginger is the root of Zingiber officinale. The fresh root, also known as green ginger, when grated or pounded has a much better flavour than dried root and powdered ginger. Dried ginger goes into all pickling spices and is widely available. Powdered and dried ginger comes from Jamaica and West Africa and neither of them keep their unique taste well. Ginger is used an enormous amount in making preserves and you should always remember that you will only get the best out of your spices if they are fresh. To keep green ginger fresh, put it into a small, clean, dry jar and cover with dry sherry. If the jar is well sealed, this should keep for a long time – the first sign of it deteriorating will be a slight mould.

MACE

The delicate, golden filigree blades of mace are the dried aril or net surrounding the nutmeg, which in turn is the stone of the peach-like fruit Myristica fragrans. Blade and ground mace are both expensive, but they provide a distinctive taste which is necessary to many pickles.

NUTMEG

This is the stone or nut of the Myristica fragrans fruit. The nut is very hard and can be grated easily to a fine powder using a nutmeg grater. Small graters were once made for this specific purpose, so great was the vogue enjoyed by the nutmeg. It is an essential spice in many sweet pickles, where although it does not predominate, it would certainly be missed if left out. Nutmeg is more versatile than, and can be substituted for, mace. Commercially ground nutmeg can be useful, but it goes stale very quickly and lacks much of the true flavour.

PEPPERCORNS

Black, white, pink and green are all the same berry of Piper nigrum, the pepper vine from the Malayan and south Indian forests, Burma and Assam, which produces long, pendulous spikes of small berries, which turn from green to red on ripening. The black peppercorn is the berry picked just as it is beginning to ripen. It is then dried slowly, becoming wrinkled and dark. The outer skin is the aromatic part of the corn. The white peppercorn is the berry when it is allowed to ripen completely and then dried out. An inferior version uses the inside of the black peppercorn after the outer skin has been soaked off, leaving the small, smooth, white centre. Both white and black pepper are best when freshly ground in a peppermill. The black is hot, spicy and aromatic, the white has more of a ‘peppery’ quality. Green peppercorns are the fresh green berries picked before they are ripe, whilst pink peppercorns are picked when ripe, but not dried, and these are most often packed into jars or tins. Deliciously hot, juicy and soft, pink and green peppercorns, are used most frequently in pâtés and sausages and are really superb in some pickles. No kitchen should be without black and white peppercorns and freshly ground pepper is the premier spice which can be used with flair and imagination in both sweet and savoury dishes. One friend of mine adds several black peppercorns to bottled pears, they discolour a little but certainly add something special. Whole black and white peppercorns are both included in pickling spice.

SAFFRON

The dried pistils of Crocus sativus or autumn crocus, which is native to Asia. An integral part of paella, risotto and bouillabaisse, it is the world’s most expensive spice. It is rarely used in preserving as the unique, subtle flavour would be wasted, however, when it is called upon to add colour, dried marigold petals are an excellent substitute.

TURMERIC

A bright yellow spice which is mildly pungent, warm and aromatic. An important ingredient in all curry powders and also the most important addition to mustard pickles and piccalillis, it gives no heat but an agreeable spiciness and, of course, the hectic colour. Always buy good-quality turmeric and use it quickly. Like ginger, turmeric is the dried root of a plant – in this case Curcuma longa. It is readily available, ground to a fine powder.

VANILLA

The dried seed pod of a Mexican orchid, Vanilla planifolia, now grown commercially. Vanilla pods have the appearance of slim, black and sticky-looking pencils, covered in a rime of frost, which is characteristic of the best vanilla pods. Vanilla has many sweet and delicious uses from flavouring milk, ice cream, chocolate and sugar to adding a distinctive flavour to a range of desserts. A vanilla pod can be used time and time again if it is carefully dried and put away in an air-tight jar or stored in a jar of caster sugar so, although it is not cheap, it is an investment. Vanilla’s principal uses in preserving are in the syrups for bottled fruits, whole fruit preserves and in jam, although in the latter it is probably more sensible to use a vanilla extract, but do make sure that it is a good one. Don’t be mistaken and use vanilla essence – this is a far inferior product and is either a synthetic reproduction or the result of broken pods being soaked in alcohol.

PECTIN

This soluble gum-like carbohydrate is the essential setting agent in jams and jellies. It forms naturally in fruit from pectose during ripening or in fruit and fruit juice by heating. Without pectin, your jam will be a sweet stew and your jelly a syrup. The more pectin that there is in fruit, the more sugar, and sometimes water, you can use, hence more jam. Therefore, it follows that high-pectin fruits like apples are frequently used with those that have a medium or low pectin content in order to make a jam that will set. For example apple and blackberry or apple and strawberry.

Fruits vary in the amount of pectin they contain, so the following is a general guide:

High-pectin fruit: apples, oranges and all citrus fruit, gooseberries, plums, greengages, damsons, quince, all currant fruit, pineapple.

Medium-pectin fruit: pears, apricots, raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb, cherries.

Low-pectin-fruit: strawberries, peaches, nectarines, grapes.

Some fruit, although looking juicy and ripe and coming into the category of high-pectin fruit, will curiously refuse to set. This can be caused by weather conditions – if the fruit has not had much sun, it will not be as high in pectin as expected. Paradoxically, in a very rainy season, plums will swell up deliciously, but will be sadly lacking in flavour and in setting properties. Fruit that is overripe will also lack pectin. These things rarely happen, but if in doubt there is a pectin test you can resort to, although I have to say that it is only worth the hassle if you have a lot of one fruit to use.

TESTING FOR PECTIN

Take a small amount of fruit and proceed as if you were making a jam. Before you reach the sugar stage, take 1 teaspoon of the cooked fruit juice from the pan, cool it in a heatproof glass-lidded jar and add 3 teaspoons methylated spirits. Secure the lid in place and shake the jar. If the result is a nice jelly-like clot, that means that there is a high-pectin content. Small, broken clots mean a medium pectin content and if there are no clots, then there is a poor pectin content and you will have to resort to more devious methods. Do keep the methylated spirit away from utensils, ingredients and naked flames. When making jelly, the pectin content in the fruit juice will be reduced if the juice has been left to drain too long before using and the result will be syrupy.

HOMEMADE PECTIN EXTRACT

This can be obtained from apples (windfalls are the best – there is no point in using expensive, commercially produced apples), redcurrants or gooseberries and it is extremely useful to have as a standby. Measure out your chosen fruit and cold water in the proportions of 1kg fruit to 1 litre water. Wash the fruit making sure that any spoilt pieces are cut away or discarded. Cut the apples into chunks. Put the fruit into a pan with the water, boil together for 30 minutes, pulping and mashing well as you go. Turn into a clean jelly bag and leave to drain right through without prodding. Either use the resulting extract immediately or return it to the clean pan and bring just to the boil. Remove from the heat and pot into small, hot, dry preserving jars. Sterilise for 1–5 minutes To Sterilise Filled Jars (#ulink_df290c84-c19a-5b49-8515-1ae0813af01f) – the bigger the jar, the longer the process. I tend to keep my pectin extract in the fridge.

COMMERCIAL PECTIN

Can be used to improve upon, or gain, a set when using medium-or low-pectin fruit. It can also be used to make a more economical jam from all fruit and for making freezer jams. There are specific recipes for these within this book. Pectin additive in crystal form is available in sachets containing 13g pectin each. Use 1 sachet per 800g low-pectin fruit, such as strawberries, and 1kg granulated sugar. The pectin is added with the sugar when the fruit is sufficiently cooked.

CHECKING FOR SETTING POINT

This is a handy check for a set: drop a little boiling jam on to a very cold plate and, after a few seconds, you should be able to tilt the plate without the jam or jelly running. Once you become experienced at making jams, you will recognise the almost magical, glistening translucence of a jam at setting point. The setting point for jelly can be judged by the way in which it will drip very slowly from the spoon. In fact, it almost appears to slowly fold – not run.

OIL

Oil is rarely used in preserving except as an air-tight, flavourless seal for purées and pastes and as a suspension for herbs. In the Middle East, however, delicious locally grown lemons, limes, aubergines and peppers are preserved in oil, whilst from Italy comes a most spectacular pickle called Mostarda di Frutta, which uses mustard seed oil to achieve the unique flavour of this traditional preserve.

In many recipes oil acts as a softening agent instead of salt. The cheapest and best oils to use in any preserve are sunflower and rapeseed oil as they are colourless with no discernible taste. Although safflower oil is colourless and flavourless, it is expensive and there would be little point in using the unusual and expensive nut and seed oils in recipes where their gentle flavours might be swamped. Fine olive oil is rich and fruity, fully redolent of the Mediterranean regions from which it comes, but unfortunately its unique flavour does mask all but the most robust ingredients, such as garlic and tomatoes.

There are plenty of delightful herb oils – thyme, marjoram, rosemary, etc. – which have many uses from basting meat and fish to making subtle and delicate salad dressings. One of the very finest mixed herb oils is one that I have come across in France and it serves as a good example for making your own choices, but, do not forget, have fun with your imagination and make something really different.

To make your own flavoured oil, take a selection of fresh dry herbs on small branches (pick your own and dry them gently in the oven), balancing a mixture suitable for a definite purpose, for example thyme, rosemary, basil, fennel and bay make a pleasant basting oil for meat. Add a sliver of garlic, several green peppercorns and a little sea salt for a more aromatic mixture. For a hotter mixture, tiny red chillies can be added. Arrange these ingredients in an attractive sterilised jar (#ulink_df290c84-c19a-5b49-8515-1ae0813af01f) and fill up with a flavourless fine oil. Seal and leave on a sunny windowsill for at least 4 weeks before using.

UTENSILS & EQUIPMENT

These may be essential or non-essential, but they are designed to make your life easier and to ensure that cooking becomes a pleasure rather than a chore. They are also designed to prevent mistakes and accidents. Assemble all your equipment before you start otherwise you may find that the jam has burnt whilst you search for that essential wooden spoon.

GENERAL EQUIPMENT

You don’t need much specialist equipment for home preserving, but this list covers the basics – many of which you will have already.

GOOD LARGE SCALES OR WEIGHING MACHINE

Measuring jug with dry and liquid measures and preferably made of rigid polythene or heatproof glass. Also to be used for filling the jars. If you use stainless steel or enamel, you will find that the handles may get very hot.

selection of china, heatproof glass or rigid polythene basins or bowls, including several large ones. Do not leave juice to drip into, or fruit or vegetables to stand overnight in, metal basins.

Several large flat china dishes.

Wooden spoons: one long handled for stirring volcanic mixtures; one wide and deep for scooping; one flat and short for sieving; one ordinary one for general bashing about.

Perforated or slotted spoons, ideally wooden. If you use metal, make sure you do not leave it to stand in the pan as it will leave an aftertaste.

Sharp vegetable knife and a chopping knife.

Vegetable peeler and corer.

A potato masher, preferably wooden, for pulping.

A jelly bag or large squares of clean muslin and a spare piece to cut up for spice bags. Jelly bags are used to contain fruit pulp, which is then allowed to drain into a bowl in order that the juice obtained can be used to make a sparklingly clear jelly. Take a square of muslin and lay it, with the edges hanging over, across a colander placed over a deep bowl, throw the fruit pulp and juice into the muslin, gather up the four corners and tie them together, leaving a small loop with which to hang the ‘bag’ above the bowl. Remove the colander and leave the fruit to drip without pressing. Spice bags are the same thing in miniature and are used to tie whole spices or pips, peelings and cores into. Try not to leave these small bags in the preserve when potting as they can bear an unpleasant resemblance to a dead mouse!