Elderberry Jam

A straight forward and very satisfying recipe.

Preparation Time: 20 minutes - wash and pick over the fruit.

Cooking Time: Takes 30 minutes to make

Ingredients:

500 gm of elderberries

50 ml water

500 gm jam sugar

Method:

Remove the elderberries from the flower heads. This is easiest done with a fork.

Wash the fruit thoroughly and put into a saucepan.

Add enough water to cover the base of the pan and cook the fruit until it begins to split.

Add the sugar and boil until a rolling boil develops.

Cool a plate in the fridge and then after 5 minutes of the rolling boil, put a small amount of the jam on the plate and push gently with a fingernail. If a crust is present the jam is ready. If not, repeat the process every few minutes until the jam is ready.

Using a cup as a ladle pour the jam into sterilised bottles and put the lid on.

Tips

Jam sugar has added pectin, which guarantees a good set.

The blue black jam should be eaten within a week of opening.

You will need a few jam jars with tight-fitting lids so start collecting glass jars rather than recycling them.

2 1/2 lb.green tomatoes washed & quartered.
2 1/2 lb. cooking apples peeled & cored.
2 lb.onions peeled & quartered.
6 cloves garlic peeled & crushed.
1lb.raisins.
1lb.6ozs.soft brown or demerera sugar.
1oz.pickling spice.(tied in gauze or muslin).
1/2 teasp.cayenne pepper.
2 level dessertsp.ground ginger.
1/2teasp.salt.
3pints malt vinegar.
 
Using the med. blade of a mincer,mince tomatoes,onions and apples.
place in a pan,then add the raisins. Add the garlic,cayenne,salt,ginger & sugar. Mix everything together thoroughly. Tie mixed spice parcel to handle of pan allowing it to dangle in pan. Pour in vinegar,bring
to simmering point, skim any scum from surface. Simmer gently,uncovered,
for about 3 1/2 hours. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.When vinegar is
almost absorbed and chutney has thickened to a soft consistency & a spoon drawn across base leaves a trail, then chutney is ready. Be careful not to overcook as chutney will thicken further as it cools.

Pour chutney into hot sterilized jars,filling to top.Cover with waxed disc & seal immeadiately.

2lb.stoned halved ripe plums
1 1/2lb granulated sugar
8 fl.oz.water
 
Simmer the fruit in water until tender. Meanwhile, put the sugar into a bowl & place in a pre-heated oven (gas4. 350*F 180*C).When the plums are cooked, add the hot sugar, tipping the pan & stirring gently until the sugar is dissolved completely -it's very important no sugar crystals should be left or the jam will be sugary. Test this by coating the back of a wooden spoon.

As soon as it has dissolved, turn the heat to high & boil rapidly for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat & test a little on a very cold plate.When it is cool, push the jam with your finger. If a crinkly skin forms, the jam is ready. If not ready, boil again for a further 5 minutes.

Repeat as necessary.Ignore any scum that may form during cooking but,if any remains,skim & add a small knob of butter.

Leave jam to settle for 15 minutes to settle, then pour into warm, sterilized jars, fill right to top then cover with a waxed disc & seal tightly.

A friend of mine just sent me this recipe for Damson Cheese. It's apparently yummy with cheese & biscuits!

At this time of year we get one of natures plentiful and most delicious foraging treats - blackberries.

Many will get consumed during the foraging and collection.

The sloes are also ready early this year - August. I always freeze my sloes if there hadn't been a frost, before I make sloe gin, as this stops the enzymic activity and splits the skins.

My daughter and I managed to catch 35 crabs in around 20 or 30 minutes from the jetty at Dale, Pembrokeshire.

We used a crab line and a drop net baited with bacon and sardines.

The drop net was very efficient catching 3-8 crabs every 2 to 3 minutes.

The crab line works, but the crabs easily fall off, when raising the bait, with the crabs hanging on. So it's best to place a net under it, as you kids pull up the bait. This catches any fallers!

We also caught a single whitebait.

As soon as I put the gun down on another wildfowling season my thoughts turn towards the sport that bridges the gap and keeps me in wild places, catching truly wild things… sea trout.

These fish start life as humble brown trout but a migratory gene makes its presence felt after a couple of years and, turning blue-silver, some of these small fish head out feed in the estuaries and littoral areas of our coastline on sandeels, small fish and prawns.

They return in late spring and throughout the summer and unlike salmon, they’ll return year-on-year – getting bigger with each passing season – most salmon only get the one opportunity to breed and nearly all die in the process.

Like salmon, sea trout rarely feed once back in fresh water – which makes fishing for them seem a somewhat daft exercise. And they are the shyest of creatures, hiding their often substantial frames in innocent looking pools and in the smallest of rivers. Probably at one of the extreme ends of fly-fishing your sea trout fisherman is likely to be found waiting for dark before casting a line for them with a high sense of anticipation and equal measures of hope.

My river of choice is a small, unassuming and often overlooked gem that twists and gently meanders through a broad, lush valley in Devon.  Recent rain had pestered the region for the past fortnight and the river had just dropped and cleared enough to warrant a trip to try and catch an early season “silver tourist”.

I started as usual - obsessing about the weather, the moon, the tides and whether I have the fly in my bag that will tempt a fish into taking. The trip South has me day dreaming of the river, thinking about areas I want to cover with the flies and hoping I’ll have my favourite stretch to myself.

I arrived early, far too early to be honest, but I got the chance to wander downstream, cross a rickety bridge and settle myself on the bank overlooking a length that I know will have some fish moving at dusk. It’s a magical time, balanced between the nervous anticipation and just drinking in the surroundings – observing otters, herons, roe deer, mallard and egrets as they go about their business. I’ll set up my rods – one on a slow sinking line with two large fishy-looking flies and another on a floating line with a bushy surface lure to pull across the river in the dark. 

The sun sets behind the hills and slowly dusk creeps in – bats zip about the place, brown trout slash at a skittering sedge and then SPLA-DOOSH – the first sea trout makes its presence known 50 metres away. It doesn’t help matters, nor the other couple of fish that boil at the surface whilst I’m waiting – desperately wanting to make a cast but I won’t start until I can’t see the green of the grass on the far bank.

It’s gone 10pm and I can’t wait any longer. Picking up my rod I headed upstream, let out some line and start casting to the nooks and crannies between the reeds and bushes on the far bank. Each cast brings a heightened sense of expectation, anticipating the sudden and savage pull of a fish renowned to be the hardest fighting in British waters. I slowly move down the stretch, casting, gently retrieving the line and trying to be as accurate as I can as it gets evermore dark.

Passing behind a fallen alder I’m now “in the zone”, casting nicely and hearing fish jump every 15 mins or so above and below me. 10pm becomes 11pm becomes midnight ever so quickly as I slowly moved downstream. Then, at 12:30am, that long anticipated surge of life yanks me out of my thoughts and I lift into a decent fish that jumps, runs and strips line off the reel with alarming ease. I need to get control of the situation but the fish is having none of it – powerful runs and dogged spells of head shaking below the surface I’m now almost praying for it to stay on. Gradually I get into the game and can start to control him with the rod held high and line kept taut. 5 mins or so passes and eventually he comes to the surface on his side, I unhook the net and lean down to scoop him up and on to the bank… “My fish!” I call to the world at large and turn my back to the river to admire the prize from all this effort and concentration. He is a good fish, not huge but long, powerfully built and gleaming like a bar of chrome in the torchlight. I check he’s not a salmon (they’re protected here) before dispatching him and putting him in the bag. 

The pressure’s off, I’m calmer but more determined to get a second before I have to leave at 1am. Sure enough the fish have obviously switched on for a short period and it’s only a few casts and ten short minutes later when I get that second addictive take from a slightly larger fish that also gives me the run- around before coming to the net, this one fresh in from the sea within the last 48 hours as he still has sea lice on his gleaming flanks.

Time to pat myself on the back, neck a quick coffee and then head back to the car for the long trip home, beaming to myself with a sense of satisfaction that it all came together once again and wondering when I might next be able to slip away to put myself through that wonderful ordeal again.

Over the summer the Burdock plant and it's giant leaves can be found. It has a giant edible root.

This can either be roasted or peeked and sautéed.

In this case I sautéed slices of the root in butter garlic and a small amour of curry paste.

This is a fantastic foraging treat.

The root is very deep and will require a spade to get the whole thing out.

America Signal Crayfish gathered near Bath. Beautiful cold with aioli (Mayo with lemon and garlic). These are not native and have a significant environmental impact. They carry a virus that kills our native white clawed crayfish. They eat fish eggs and erode river banks by burrowing into them. But they taste wicked! I applied for a license to collect them from the environmental agency to collect them and got permission from the farmer. Care must be taken when handling signals. They are amazing escape artists and can easily escape to invade other water ways. I've had one escape from a bucket before, whilst in my car. It managed to climb down the gap between my seats.

I find the meat quite soft and this firms up when you refrigerate them. So I find them best served cold with Aioli.

- 3 free-range egg yolks

- 4 cloves garlic

- ½ lemon juice only

- salt and freshly ground black pepper

- 150ml/5fl oz extra virgin olive oil

- mustard

- saffron optional

Blend all ingredients, except the olive oil, in a food processor. Pour the oil into the blender in a steady stream, until it forms a thick sauce. The mixture, once blended, should be vibrant and yellow in colour. To vary the flavour, add a little mustard or some saffron. If you'd like your mayonnaise runnier, add a couple of tablespoons of hot water.

Here is the application form to apply for a license to trap or remove American Signal Crayfish:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/aahm/files/Form-CR1.pdf

Rules for catching crayfish:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/recreation/fishing/38045.aspx

A guide to catch crayfish:

http://a0768b4a8a31e106d8b0-50dc802554eb38a24458b98ff72d550b.r19.cf3.rackcdn.com/geho0310brvf-e-e.pdf