Coming along and volunteering in Howden Walled Garden finally paid off as everyone pitched in to make the first ever pot of Green Gym jam! First of all the fruit was picked, all the blackcurrants (not redcurrants as previously thought) and then some tasty ripe raspberries – the first batch ever to be picked from the garden.
The fruit was weighed and then under the careful eyes of the chefs, the same weight of sugar was measured out too. The fruit was put in a pot and just covered over with water and brought to the boil. It was such a lovely day, making it even better that we were getting to cook outside on a camp stove.
After about 20 minutes almost all the water had evaporated and the fruit was nice and soft, which meant it was time to add the sugar and the juice of a lemon. This was all mixed together and left to rolling boil until we thought it looked ready! We didn’t have a sugar thermometer to hand so we went by how jammy it looked. Let it cool a little while and poured it into a warmed glass jar. While all this was going on the storm kettle was heating the water nicely for our tea break. We enjoyed our jam on some buttered scones with a cuppa, what more could you ask for?
After our tea party, we dug up the first few potatoes to see if they were ready. Bit longer in the ground I think but high from our jam making success, we might venture into potato soup next week!
This is a great way of introducing food growing, ideas of where food comes from and simple ways to cook/eat the things we grow in the garden.
Bon appétit everyone!
