Anyone bottling or preserving?

[Babelange]

Foraged what I thought were giant sloes yesterday which turned out to be (once I had my glasses on at home) damsons so today I made damson gin and damson jam - having to lay on the sofa now having swabbed down the whole kitchen - who would have thought jam would get everywhere! I normally wait a few weeks and pick later in August but the pickings have been getting slimmer over the years so taking into consideration the hot weather, I ventured out with DS2 who is nice and tall and can reach the high branches for me.
Tomorrow onto Apple chutney (Nigella Domestic Goddess) - I forgot to pick up root ginger.
Lots of effort for only a small handful of jars - although I have a DF who is a big fan and DH looks forward to our Christmas tipple of sloe gin with cheese & crackers - and a Christmas 'cocktail' with prosecco (but damson this time).
I reuse jam jars and used Tesco vouchers for a big bottle of gin but had to buy a jam thermometer as I only tried jam once and that was disastrous... Had no idea the jam had to be so hot (as in heat full blast and stand back, holding pan at arm's length!) - oh yeah, not sure this can be called economical!
Anyone care to share their domestic goddessness?
Posted on chat but no one wanted to chat

I don't make chutney any more as (a) no one likes it and (b) it stinks the house out. I used to love it. And jam-making.

I remember reading Famous Five books where the kindly farmer's wife would offer bottled raspberries with cream for pudding (and not dream of taking payment). I never did know how you bottle raspberries. Is it basically sticking them in a killer jar with syrup?

Our apples and pears will be ready soon. I normally stew them. I hate peeling them all. Any other good ideas?

*Kilner. Not killer. Obviously.

Hell yeah! I've got a demi john of rhubarb and strawberry wine on the go and will start another batch tomorrow. We've a huge amount of courgettes so some will be pickled with garlic and peppers. Not really sure what to do with the rest though. Maybe just blanced and frozen. Although I think we might try and dehydrate some too. The apples are almost ready. They'll become wine too 😂.

I always make green tomato chutney at the end of the tomato growing season

I do as much as I can. Recently expanded my options by dehydrating produce and pressure canning. Love it.

I've made mixed berry jam (rhubarb, gooseberry, strawberry and raspberry in various combinatikns) and all came out great if I do say so myself. I also made rhubarb chutney that came out ok - tastes better with meat than with cheese though. My biggest success was the raspberry wine which came out very strong! Tastes nice though but too dry so I've added sugar (don't gasp, according to my wine-making book that's quite acceptable!).

Someone has just given me an entire crate of cooking apples - aside from apple crumble I've not idea what to do with them. Would welcome any suggestions/recipes?

@SmallBee - apple butter. Google/Pinterest a recipe. Had it loads in the US. It's yum.

www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/apple_butter/ @SmallBee

I used to make jam, chutney, pickles etc, but not for the last few years. Have bought some pickling vinegar this year & am going foraging for blackberries soon to make blackberry & lavender jelly. I may also dig out the demijohns to make mead or wine, & planning to make some sauerkraut or kimchi.

SmallBee - I used to buy a divine apple & lavender jelly. You'd need a straining muslin & some food-grade lavender. Or, presumably, a home grown plant.
You could also use apples up in almost any chutney - it seems to form the base of so many of them!

Bellini, do you need a lot of kit and space for pressure canning?

@Finfintytint - in terms of space, it's about the same as jam making. I don't have a big kitchen it's tiny so I work with the space I have.
I saved up and imported an All-American pressure canner. I was a bit scared of it at first but there's loads of info with it and online about how to do it.
I buy jars online from Lucky Vitamin- cheapest I've found so far.

Thank you. I have been wanting one for ages but the all singing and dancing ones seem to be from the US. I shall carry on dreaming for a bit until I feel less intimidated by it!

Thanks for the ideas! Can't wait to try them

Some great ideas here. I am going to spend an hour looking through my cook books for flavoured vinegars as I have two packs of chillies and loads of herbs as well as a collection of bottles. It's very satisfying isn't it? Also looking forward to re-using the gin saturated damsons in a Christmas cake - although I am the only person here who likes a fruit cake .
I noticed that Wilko had all the home brew kits for beer and wine I'd forgotten that was a thing.
Would you say that bottling/preserving is a seasonal/ad hoc activity or do other posters consider bottling and preserving as a hobby and do other stuff like this which can be considered together?
Could you suggest an annual cycle of one thing a month to do for the store cupboard/larder?
TIA

I need to find an alottmenteer to let me have a marrow so I can have a go at marrow gin. Apparently you cut the end off a marrow, hollow it out and pack with sugar. Hang it up in a string shopper and make a small hole in the base with a toothpick. Place a jug under the marrow. Go on holiday for a couple weeks and come back to moonshine. I guess it can be flavoured up with juniper, bay, rosemary and fennel to give it a gin flavour. Our librarians are amazing sources of random information.

Hell yeah!

This year I will be mostly making

Blackberry vinegar
Apple and blackberry jam
Plum chutney
Elderberry cordial
Mint cordial
Sloe gin
Damson gin
Quince cheese
Haw and hip ketchup (hawthorn and rosehip)

In addition, I have bunches of herbs hanging drying so will be making some herbal concoctions too.

I would heartily recommend the River Cottage preserves book. So many ideas!

For me it's a seasonal thing. As the orchards and hedgerows start to ripen, and the herbs in the garden hit their peak, I inevitably start to think about the Autumn and winter, and stocking the larder (cupboard!).

I have just bagged up 4 litres of passata to go in the freezer and I will be doing salted cucumbers (bread and butter pickles) this week as well as doing something with tonnes of blackberries and a mountain of courgettes.

Does anyone have any ideas for what to do with a glut of courgettes? And overgrown mint.

I like that apple butter recipe. I made apple butter last year in my slow cooker but I peeled and cored my apples. I think I might still do that as it seems easier in the long run than sieving the purée. I don't have a good mill.

Cut and hang mint to dry out of the sun.
Chutney.
If you have a spiraliser - courgette spaghetti.

Made chutney this morning (thanks for 6.20 wake up call, DS2!). Apple pear cider vinegar and green tomatoes. Yum!

With cooking apples, you can wrap indeovidually in newspaper and pack in a box. As long as each fruit doesn’t touch the next, they should keep through the winter.

How do you know the difference between damsons and sloes?

I made apple butter the other day - I cored and chopped the apples but then just blitzed them when they were soft with a stick blender before concentrating the purée. Sadly I then ate it all straight away in a spectacular batch of tarts. Apple tree is a monster though so plenty for another batch or 12. I find apples really difficult - ours are always a bit caterpillary so I can’t keep them, but there are SO MANY. I don’t have much storage space. Chutney has not been popular, and I freeze them too but have a tiny freezer. The apple butter was good because it took a massive pan of apples and I ended up with 2 jam jars.