Foraging

[gradus]

No jellybags in hardware shop - sold out with the stands - but they had muslin ("strains jams and jellies"), so it looks like the muslin and upturned chair/stool as in my elderly book.



Thought it only lasted a few weeks. Don't you have to prepare the fruit more carefully for cheese - cut off the rosehip tails, remove seeds first, remove pips and cores from apples?

I was given some 'plum cheese' last Christmas: it was just like jelly so I think it was missold.

Sounds more like a plum butter if not jelly. Fruit cheese is solid and can be sliced and was made when gluts of fruit had exhausted the more usual jam/jelly/bottling. Fruit leather is another possibility with glut fruit, essentially its very reduced fruit juice which is set in a shallow puddle and can then be sliced and rolled, or as you please.

[oddoneout]

No jellybags in hardware shop - sold out with the stands - but they had muslin ("strains jams and jellies"), so it looks like the muslin and upturned chair/stool as in my elderly book.



Thought it only lasted a few weeks. Don't you have to prepare the fruit more carefully for cheese - cut off the rosehip tails, remove seeds first, remove pips and cores from apples?

I was given some 'plum cheese' last Christmas: it was just like jelly so I think it was missold.

Much of that will have been done in prepping for the jelly process, but the leftover puree is then put through a sieve which will further remove detritus. Sugar is added to the puree on either a weight or volume ratio. For instance, from the recipes I have in my old book : Apple and plum cheese 3/4 lb sugar to every pint of pulp; Spiced Bramble Cheese 3/4 lb sugar to each pound of pulp. The amount of sugar is less than for most jams so certainly once opened it may not last as long, but is likely to be smaller amounts anyway. I used to use small jars (getting the used diddy ones from the cafe at work one year) to make fridge storage post opening, and gifting to others, easier.
There is something called fruit leather which is more jellylike and is generally not so longlasting in storage as it picks up moisture easily. I have made some and delicious it was too but a lot of work, and sticky and difficult to handle, but looking it up now I notice there seem to be variations in how much, if any, sugar to use to make it so perhaps I need to try again - things have moved on in the 20 or so years since I was doing such things regularly! Membrillo is a similar idea, made with quinces, but not necessarily post jelly making.

[oddoneout]

Sounds more like a plum butter if not jelly. Fruit cheese is solid and can be sliced and was made when gluts of fruit had exhausted the more usual jam/jelly/bottling. Fruit leather is another possibility with glut fruit, essentially its very reduced fruit juice which is set in a shallow puddle and can then be sliced and rolled, or as you please.

The distinction between cheese and butter isn't all that clear cut, but the distinction is perhaps made more often now that things like membrillo are encountered more often? The old recipes I have mostly call the preserved puree cheese, although there is an interesting one for something called Bramble and Apple Marmalade which can be put into a mould and sliced to go with milk puddings - a different take on membrillo, the name of which in its various forms became marmalade? Differentiating between butter and cheese does make the distinction between something spread on bread and something more solid that can be sliced however, which is useful.

[Andrew Slater]

No jellybags in hardware shop - sold out with the stands - but they had muslin ("strains jams and jellies"), so it looks like the muslin and upturned chair/stool as in my elderly book.

Sounds awkward / messy. I 'made' some quince jelly last year and just lined a colander with muslin and rested it in the mouth of a huge pan overnight, to avoid spillages. (I didn't have much to strain and ended up with about an inch of liquid in the pan, so I suppose large quantities might justify the use of upturned furniture.)

[french frank]

Thanks to all for advice/comments, Work in Progress

Sounds awkward / messy. I 'made' some quince jelly last year and just lined a colander with muslin and rested it in the mouth of a huge pan overnight, to avoid spillages.

Will take the stool back upstairs as that sounds better. Double (even triple) strainings seem possible.

Lunch over, sleeves rolled up and about to start …

[groovydavidii]

To add an anecdote to the foraging topic. Few years ago the New Forest authorities had to impose a ban on foraging for edible fungi. Denudation was threatened with foraging getting out of control–specimens plucked before releasing spores etc. On one occasion saw two ladies with a bucket full of mushrooms, on another, a man in chefs kitchen attire, and trug collecting fungi. The ban prevails, but collecting is allowed in certain circumstances.

[oddoneout]

Sounds awkward / messy. I 'made' some quince jelly last year and just lined a colander with muslin and rested it in the mouth of a huge pan overnight, to avoid spillages. (I didn't have much to strain and ended up with about an inch of liquid in the pan, so I suppose large quantities might justify the use of upturned furniture.)

Muslin was the traditional way, J cloths are the modern equivalent although there may be issues about which colour to use. Whatever fabric is used the main thing, apart from ensuring it's clean, is to make sure it doesn't smell of anything before you use it - strong smelling laundry products don't enhance preserves.
I have a jelly bag somewhere but I don't know where as it hasn't been used for so long it'll be packed away in a box under a load of other boxes I suspect. I am considering using one of the mesh veg bags I bought from the supermarket that are intended for using instead of a plastic or paper bag as it has very fine mesh. For the sake of convenience I can live with a less than crystal clear jelly if it doesn't strain all the solid matter out.

[french frank]

Muslin was the traditional way, J cloths are the modern equivalent although there may be issues about which colour to use. Whatever fabric is used the main thing, apart from ensuring it's clean

Brand new white Kilner muslin. I had a slight mishap using a hybrid system of upturned stool and Andrew's colander idea. The colander needed a narrow garden stick threaded through a metal loop which wasn't big enough to act as a prop on top of the stool stretchers. When the boiled up solid mass was poured into the muslin, the stick snapped - fortunately depositing the colander neatly on the bowl below. I found a stronger bamboo cane and apart from a small amount of splashiness on the floor and stool all appears to be straining through satisfactorily - though I may strain it a second time tomorrow. I think there will be about half a litre of liquid.

Instructions re the amount of water seemed to vary or were vague ('cover the fruit generously with water'). I assume if I added too much it will just take a little longer to reach setting point?

[Andrew Slater]

When the boiled up solid mass was poured into the muslin, the stick snapped - fortunately depositing the colander neatly on the bowl below. I found a stronger bamboo cane and apart from a small amount of splashiness on the floor and stool all appears to be straining through satisfactorily - though I may strain it a second time tomorrow.

I had a feeling things might get messy. My suggestion seems to have made matters worse

I think there will be about half a litre of liquid.

Instructions re the amount of water seemed to vary or were vague ('cover the fruit generously with water'). I assume if I added too much it will just take a little longer to reach setting point?

I had a similar dilemma with the quinces. There was a very large amount of residue in the muslin and not a lot of liquid in the pan, but as you say, I decided that adding more water would result in a need for more boiling at the next stage rather than carrying through more juice.

[oddoneout]

I had a similar dilemma with the quinces. There was a very large amount of residue in the muslin and not a lot of liquid in the pan, but as you say, I decided that adding more water would result in a need for more boiling at the next stage rather than carrying through more juice.

The amount of water is a matter of judgement and experience as much as anything I think. Some fruit contains more moisture, and I have some recipes for raspberry//blackberry jam that don't add water for cooking, but jellies seem to call for a bit more water presumably because not all the moisture will be removed by draining. The recipe for quince jelly says "sufficient water to float them[peeled and sliced pieces]", which would make sense as quince are very dry fruit.

[french frank]

Many thanks to all for advice and ideas. Seems rather a lot of work but I have two smallish pots of clear jelly (looks a bit cloudy but isn't - I strained it twice) which has set beautifully. I had a bit of juice left over which went into a separate pot and I had that on some bread. Nice taste. I look forward to having it with cheese.

[HighlandDougie]

I blame FF for enthusing me into making chutney a couple of days ago. 5kgs of mostly foraged apples, 1kg of onions, 500g raisins, 1.5kg of sugar, 1.25 litres of a mix of cider/posh red wine vinegar, star anise, red chilis etc etc. 8 bloody hours of simmering, the house reeking of vinegar, and when I wanted to go to bed, the heat turned up - so a wonderful black burnt sugar crust on the bottom of a stainless steel pan (plus on the glass of the induction hob). Fortunately, the black crust didn't taint the taste of the chutney but was it all worth it for 12 350g jars of the stuff? Hmm ...

Cleaning the pan was a nightmare - boiling a vinegar/water mix in it then chucking in a large spoonful of bicarbonate (repeated twice) plus some judicious scraping + use of a mild oven cleaner eventually got rid of it. Two hours of one's life gone, never to be regained. Never again! The French don't really do "le chutney" so I might insist to TOH that mustard will have to do in future.

[oddoneout]

I blame FF for enthusing me into making chutney a couple of days ago. 5kgs of mostly foraged apples, 1kg of onions, 500g raisins, 1.5kg of sugar, 1.25 litres of a mix of cider/posh red wine vinegar, star anise, red chilis etc etc. 8 bloody hours of simmering, the house reeking of vinegar, and when I wanted to go to bed, the heat turned up - so a wonderful black burnt sugar crust on the bottom of a stainless steel pan (plus on the glass of the induction hob). Fortunately, the black crust didn't taint the taste of the chutney but was it all worth it for 12 350g jars of the stuff? Hmm ...

Cleaning the pan was a nightmare - boiling a vinegar/water mix in it then chucking in a large spoonful of bicarbonate (repeated twice) plus some judicious scraping + use of a mild oven cleaner eventually got rid of it. Two hours of one's life gone, never to be regained. Never again! The French don't really do "le chutney" so I might insist to TOH that mustard will have to do in future.

Oh that took me back to my childhood and my mother's autumnal preserving and pickling activities. Sometimes the smell was OK but other times it was rather nauseating. I think she did try and reduce the cooking time by using the pressure cooker, but that only goes so far as it's the reduction of the moisture level that's important for the storage qualities. I am going through some of my recipes with a view to making small batches of chutney this year, as increasingly I prefer it as an alternative to jam on buttered bread in addition to the more usual meat and cheese accompaniment functions.

[gradus]

I blame FF for enthusing me into making chutney a couple of days ago. 5kgs of mostly foraged apples, 1kg of onions, 500g raisins, 1.5kg of sugar, 1.25 litres of a mix of cider/posh red wine vinegar, star anise, red chilis etc etc. 8 bloody hours of simmering, the house reeking of vinegar, and when I wanted to go to bed, the heat turned up - so a wonderful black burnt sugar crust on the bottom of a stainless steel pan (plus on the glass of the induction hob). Fortunately, the black crust didn't taint the taste of the chutney but was it all worth it for 12 350g jars of the stuff? Hmm ...

Cleaning the pan was a nightmare - boiling a vinegar/water mix in it then chucking in a large spoonful of bicarbonate (repeated twice) plus some judicious scraping + use of a mild oven cleaner eventually got rid of it. Two hours of one's life gone, never to be regained. Never again! The French don't really do "le chutney" so I might insist to TOH that mustard will have to do in future.

Maybe for future reference but Vanish works brilliantly at removing burnt on foods.

[HighlandDougie]

Maybe for future reference but Vanish works brilliantly at removing burnt on foods.

Great tip - many thanks!