Wednesday 26 October 2011

It worked.


You will see from today's photograph that the jelly turned out alright. For anyone who wishes to try it (you can do it with rosehips and/or crab apples too) you need equal quantities of sloes and cooking apples - the apples chopped up, cores and all. It seemed to cook down fairly quickly. I put it through a muslin sheet, taking care not to squeeze or in any way interfere with the process (that would have caused the jelly to lose its clarity) and then boiled it up using 1 pint of liquid to 1 pound of white sugar and the juice of a lemon. I have to say that I had to boil it for a long time. Also it kept forming a kind of crust on the top which I had to skim off. Now it is all potted up in small sterilised jars, waiting for cold meat/pork pie/cheese with which to eat it.

The downside - as it always is with these things - was the amount of cleaning up and washing up the enterprise entailed. Everywhere was sticky. I put the muslin in a cold water soak immediately and I must say it has come totally clean and is now flapping on the clothes line. The Aga has been wiped thoroughly although I still keep finding sticky places and the pan has been cleaned.

What does it taste like - several people asked. Surprisingly sweet but with a kick in the tail. Once it has gone down it leaves that characteristic dry/sharpness you get with sloe gin. Whether I shall make it again I don't know - but nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Today is a pleasant Autumn day - after quite a violent thunderstorm last evening. This afternoon is our Poetry afternoon - one of my favourite afternoons in the month. I am reading Yeats, Auden, Edwin Morgan and Roger McGough. Wish you could join us.

13 comments:

rkbsnana said...

What a lovely life you lead. Jelly is so pretty

Elizabeth said...

Well done!
Homemade is so much better than store bought!

Dartford Warbler said...

Good to hear that the jelly turned out so well. You have the same jam jar labels as I have :0)

Heather said...

The sloe jelly is also good on a slice of bread and peanut butter - not that I should be eating such wicked things! I like trying these country recipes - they seem to bring the countryside a little closer.
Enjoy your poetry afternoon - it always sounds so appealing.

Gwil W said...

I always buy home made jams and chutneys whenever I have the opportunity - because they taste much better and have the benefit of no E-numbered additives and other unknowns, and I'm buying direct from the person who made it and not from some anonymous multi-fingered corporation. Keep up the good work all you home made jam ladies!

MorningAJ said...

Sounds yummy - but all my sloes have gone in gin. :)

Totalfeckineejit said...

It sounds delicious to me! Enjoy your poetry night!

angryparsnip said...

I wonder how it does taste ? I now want a pork pie some cheese and your jam ! Sounds Divine !

cheers, parsnip

ArtPropelled said...

Yum ! Something I've never tried.

John Going Gently said...

jam juice is like sand... it gets everywhere!...
especially in the butter when you are going in for that second bit of crusty bread,....

The Weaver of Grass said...

The jelly was delicious with cream crackers and a little piece of feta cheese and a few black olives at tea time.

Thank you for joining in.

Bovey Belle said...

Lovely Sloe Jelly. With jellies I try and use preserving sugar as there is less scum forming on the top with that. I recently made Crab Apple Jelly and only had ordinary granulated sugar and must have skimmed off an entire potful of scum. Grrr! Result is beautifully clear now though.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Pomona said...

A poetry afternoon sounds really wonderful - I used to read poems to my children, chasing them round saying you must listen to this! But now I have only the dogs as audience most of the time . . .

Sloe jelly sounds good - we have been making apple and quince, but the quinces didn't seem to produce much juice this year - probably because it has been so dry. We are going to boil the leftover pulp for quince cheese.

Pomona x