Jammin

I've been jam-making this morning! It doesn’t happen often.

It’s made with one of our Fig Leaf gourds (aka Shark’s Fin melon, aka Black Seed squash, aka Alcayota), a spaghetti squash. Funny to put a whole big squash in the oven, but that’s the start of the process and makes breaking through the skin slightly easier.

 I mostly followed this recipe but didn’t add walnuts and zested a whole orange as well as adding a slice. It seems to be extremely sweet with half as much sugar as pulp (I got ~500g from this squash).

It’s meant to be good with cheese which I need to put to the test… And a fig leaf gourd isn’t just for jam - this one was a good substitute for our lack of pumpkins!

I like the glowing reptile-type skin. I had a bad throat so Halloween was a bit of a subdued celebration plus we had to eat all the treats because no-one came to call 😊

We went to Newbury Racecourse the next day for the fireworks - it was fabulous! Though the 9km of walking was more than we would have liked, especially Jamie.

The fireworks will continue for at least another week. We enjoyed watching some from our doorstep last night and have a bonfire event later this week which we’re looking forward to.

We’ve even had a little visit to the plot to pick some leeks - the hedge, full of sloes and hawthorn berries in that low sunshine was so beautiful. The nasturtiums have re-flowered and the cosmos, verbena and nicotiana are all still in flower.

That was the plan for the leeks - a delicious cheesy leek pasta with veggie lardons. Unfortunately the leeks came from Tescos - this is how our leeks look….

That is the damage caused by the allium leaf miner. And this is its pupa. This pest has only been in the country since 2002 but it seems to be particularly busy this year from what I’ve read.

All those leeks need to be pulled (not composted on site) and the onions and garlic planted next to them may succumb too - though leeks tend to be the prime target apparently. I shall have to keep a close eye on this patch. So annoying - leeks are such a useful veg to grow.

Oh well, just another pest to be aware of…

We joined a HAHA versus Hungerford Twinning Association skittles evening on Friday which was a lot of fun. It was the first re-match since Covid and HAHA retained the cup. Yay!

The title song is of course provided by the late great Bob Marley - ah, what a song - singalong now 😊

A Jamming Session

Our strawberries are still providing but there are lots that look a bit dodgy. We popped to the allotment and picked very selectively for our first venture into jam making.

We selected this easy microwave method and decided to make 3/4 of the recipe amount because one of the comments said it climbs the bowl walls while cooking and we weren't sure if our bowl would contain it...

Climbing now..

Well, I'm pleased to say it did. We cooked the 375g jam sugar, 375g fruit and 37.5g lemon juice for 12 minutes, rather than the full 15.

Final 2 mins

And there you are - 2 jars of strawberry jam! One to eat this week and one to keep for a while to see how it lasts. (The bowl scrapings were fabulous with ice cream - not unbearably sweet like the recipe may seem)