'Make your own' Christmas

[Doodlekitty]

Ok, ok, I KNOW its only June. But I'm due to give birth late October and as it's my first and I have no idea what to expect I want to be all sorted for christmas by the time baby gets here. I'm also going to have no money when I'm on Mat leave so want stuff bought while I'm working but also want to spend as little as possible.

Last year I made Christmas pudding rum for my FIL who has never shut up about it since ( I used this recipe, www.wikihow.com/Make-Christmas-Pudding-Flavoured-Vodka but rum instead of vodka, if anyone is interested)

I think I made it in about November last time, but I'm thinking, if I made it in July then it will just be more yummy wont it, as it just has longer to infuse. also, last year when i told MIL I binned the fruit I used she was horrified, so I'm thinking i might put this in a jar for her (obviously with another present) as she said it would be lovely with ice cream. What do you guys think?

vanilla extract and some other extracts to make here - looks easy enough!

asda have a sale on jars - 1 ltr clip top jars down to a quid... i bought the whole shelf!

Brown paper in Poundland for - you guessed it! - a quid.

I'm liking the idea of brown paper bags painted/printed by small child as wrapping - my wrapping skills are somewhat shambolic, and last year my whole family asked if DS had wrapped the presents - he was 2 at the time. anyway, a bag with a jar of preserves, a bag of christmas cookies, and maybe a handmade ornament would make a nice gift, wouldn't it?

also bacon jam?! really? how does that work then?

I am currently making apple chutney which is stinking the house out. I got a bag for life full of cooking apples last week and have barely made a dent in them - not sure what else to do with them? thinking sloe and apple jelly for the tiny ones, but that won't use them all. any ideas?

Found a tree near me laden with damsoms! At least I am fairly sure tgat's what they are, but they are not purple, but range in colour from yellow to deep red, but they are soft and ripe and exactly like a small plum like this . It will be ok to make jam out of them won't it? I won't poison anyone? Thinking of mixing them with blackberries so it still has a nice colour. Also fairly certain I found some sloes to make gin, and picked a load of rose hips to make oil. Is it ok if I just wash it all and freeze it til I'm ready to make everything? Will it affect the results?

a bullace? or cherry plum? I would do a tentative taste test before cooking with them - although I did this with sloes last year and they are so sour I thought my mouth might pucker in on itself. think HFW did a cherry plum jam, and I know someone who made bullace vodka last year.

if you have lots of blackberries, I can totally recommend apple and blackberry jelly - it is delicious!

freezing the sloes is a good idea, as it replicates the frost - they are meant to be best if picked after the first frost, but as more folk identify and pick them, that is becoming harder to do! I think the cottage smallholder folk did a taste test of 3 sloe gins - 1 picked before first frost, 1 picked before first frost and frozen before use, and 1 picked after first frost - they found the ones picked but not frozen before the frost were the least pleasing, and the other two pretty much the same.

They taste just like a plum, same texture, just in miniature!

cherry plums then :)

recipe here

or here

Bacon jam is totally amazing!! It sounds a bit disgusting, but is basically like a relish or pâté. We eat ours with fried eggs, or just spread on toast, rather than on scones with cream like fruit jams

Yes those are the ones! Ta!

I was going to just chuck the blackberries in with the wild plums as I haven't got that many, also I thought they might make it a nicer colour, do you think that will work? Or save them and make apple and blackberry jelly?

ooh save the berries - plum jam will be delicious on its own, I wouldn't go adding anything to it!

Do you have a link to an apple and blackberry jelly recipe?

Also does anyone know a tried and tested recipe for green tomato chutney? My tomato plants started dying off around some small green ones yet to ripen. I haven't got that many, a small bowlful, so would have to be padded out with red tomatoes and other ingredients I reckon...

this one worked for me

no idea about tomatoes though :)

kveta just been repinning all your jam & booze recipes!

I made some crab apple and blackberry jelly last week & it was delicious. It was a Hugh FW recipe from the Guardian I think.

What are crab apples then (foraging rookie).

Re marking my place! Had a go at the lavender wands but made a mistake somewhere. Still, DP looked impressed and says he wants to keep it.

Think my lavender is a bit short too, I've let it get too woody.

Kveta please can you PM or facebook me your Pinterest name?

McKayz I'm already following you if that helps? but will fb you :)

Ah ha!! I just found you in my followers.

Rhubarb liqueur sounds fabulous! I might have to start getting veg bags again for that reason alone

Also definitely want to make the Xmas pudding vodka this year.

There are loads of blackberries here as we live near a canal, might be a nice activity to do one day to go and collect a load and make them into something.

Oh and the bacon jam last year sounded incredible too!

There's a possibility we might have Christmas in Germany this year so I'll have to get practicing with all these recipes...

Crab appes are a variety of apple - really tiny, look a bit like plums from a distance. You can't really use them for anything other than making jelly, as they are too small to peel and core! We've got a crab apple tree in our garden, but they are quite common on hedgerows too.