"Not Just Jam and Jerusalem"

That's what they always seem to say about the modern day Women's Institute.  I've always thought "What's so bad about jam...or Jerusalem for that matter?" Other than it is impossible for me to sing and I think William Blake was crackers.  

For Americans reading here, Jerusalem is a hymn, the words of which were written by Blake. The first line is "And did those feet in ancient times walk upon England's mountains green", referring to Jesus having possibly visited England. See what I mean? It's got a nice tune though and a room full of women singing is often quite majestic. There is a fun part about a chariot of fire and a sword in there. My favourite line is the last part about "England's green and pleasant land" which is absolutely true. But our WI doesn't sing Jerusalem at our meetings.

So what is the Women's Institute you might ask? For the moment, look it up in Wikipedia. Or visit their national website. If one day you might have access to Lucy Worsley's programmes, which are excellent, she did one called Cake Bakers and Trouble Makers. There seems to be some cross over between the Suffragettes and the Women's Institute in that they both rose to fame in Britain around the time of WWI. But enough of history.

Blackberry Jam and Apple Brandy Ginger Jam

What I really want to talk about is jam. My jam. My homemade jam. Although we did get a jam making demonstration some years ago, I never really got into jam making. I figured I wouldn't be able to do it 'right' and all that worry about it setting properly was too much of a headache.

At some point I wanted to find information about gardening in a location with similar weather to ours up here in Tyneside. Seems like most gardeners are down south, like most of the people in Britain, and it's not the same weather at all. I don't know if I was right in picking Seattle, Washington as a similar location but I grew to love the blog northwest edible life. And when she wrote about pectin free jam, I had to try it. She doesn't write much for the general public, I guess all of her new stuff is for Patreon subscribers or maybe she's retired on the proceeds of her book The Hands-On Home - A Seasonal Guide to cooking, preserving and natural homekeeping, by Erica Strauss. Of which I have a copy.

Strawberry Ginger Jam and Cinnamon Apple Rum Jam

I've pulled it out the last couple of autumn's when we started foraging and when my friends with apple trees shared their bounty. Anyhow, inspired by Erica's pectin-free recipe and even more by her dry zingers (spices) and wet zingers (alcohol/liqueurs) I started experimenting. Instead of using pectic she simmers the liquid out of the fruit until it is a jam-ish consistency or thereabouts. It's a lot more fun than the serious jam making you read about elsewhere.

Crabby Lime Chutney/Marmalade, Elder Apple Jelly, Blackberry jam

We've had cereal for breakfast for years but this winter switched to porridge and when it looked like spring was coming Bill decided to get out the bread maker; my scales have nagged me ever since. But we've been working our way through my home made jams. I gave away a lot of it at Christmas and we've gone through a few jars. However, I have a jar of home made pectin (from crab apples) yet and I may have some more fruit in the freezer. If not, I have quite a bit of tinned fruit and alcohol soaked fruits from my damson gin and blackberry whiskey Christmas gifts. Also some gifts from Vivien in the form of alcohol soaked fruits. I'm torn between getting ice cream to eat them over and turning them into jam. We'll see how it goes. And there is a load of sea buck thorn juice in the freezer. That's probably another post altogether.

I can't tell you how much satisfaction I get each morning, eating jam I made on bread Bill made.  I highly recommend having your own go at jam...and you could always learn to sing Jerusalem as well.