AUTUMN FRUITS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 32, Issue 815, 11 March 1955, Page 30

AUTUMN FRUITS

E have enjoyed a bountiful season of summer fruits, and have preserved and made jam for the winter months-I hope. Now we come to the autumn ones, blackberries, quinces, pears. Let us think first of blackberries, because they. are over sooner. Blackberries bottle well, either in the oven or waterbath. If doing them in the oven, follow the strawberry method, shaking them down in the jars and filling up full, cover with a tin lid or patty pan or saucer, and set them in a vety moderate oven without any water. The juice will soon start to flow; leave till fruit has all sunk about halfway down, then fill up one from another till each is quite full of juice and berries, setting them back again ih the oven till all are well cooked-perhaps an hour. Then take out one at a time, overflow with boiling water or syrup and seal. Some people add sugar to the blackberries when filling the jars, but others do them plain. You can add sugar when using. This oven method is especially good when you have just a few blackberries, and is really no trouble. Of course, you can bottle the blackberries in syrup in the ordinary way, sterilising in waterbath at boiling point for at least an’ hour. When sterilising fruit (or vegetables) semember it is safer to bring the water

very slowly to the boil, and then begin to count the time. Bottled blackberries, if, whole, are lovely for decorating des-

serts-put a blackberry in a blob of cream; or even stud a plain junket, or rice pudding, with whole blackberries. With Apple Blackberries and apples may be preserved together, putting alternate layers in the jars; leaving the apples in fairly thick slices and choosing large, juicy blackberries. This pack is all ready for pies or tarts in the winter and looks very attractive, too. Blackberry Jelly Four pounds blackberries, juice of 2 lemons, 4% pint water. Wash fruit and place in pan with water and lemon juice. Simmer until tender and mash well. Strain through a scalded jelly bag overnight. Measure the juice and add 1 Ib. sugar to each pint of liquid. Bring to boiling point and boil rapidly until liquid jells. Skim at once and put into jars, Cover. Blackberry and Apple Jam Any quantity of blackberries, and about one-fourth the weight of apples. Simmer berries to pulp with just sufficient water to prevent burning at the start. Strain through muslin bag. Cut up apples roughly, including peels and cores, and boil to a pulp. Strain through

colander. Mix the two strainings and to every pint of juice add % lb. of sugar. Stir till thoroughly dissolved. Boil until it sets when tested. Blackberry and Plum Jam Two pounds plums, 5 lb. blackberries, 6 lb. sugar, 1 pint water. Boil plums and water first, add blackberries, and boil all together till soft-perhaps 15 to 20 minutes. Add the warmed sugar, stirring constantly till sugar is thoroughly dissolved and the whole is boiling again. Then boil fast till the jam will set when tested. A small teaspoon of tartaric or citric acid added a few min‘utes before taking up helps it to set. Any blackberry jam may be strained if desired to get rid of most of the seeds. Blackberry and Elderberry Jam This jam is said to be equal to blackcurrant, very cheap, and should keep for 12 months. Take equal quantities of blackberries and*elderberries, remove the stalks and put in a preserving pan. Squeeze them slightly, bring slowly to boil and boil for 20 minutes. Allow 3% Ib. sugar to each 1 Ib. of fruit. Put sugar on a dish and warm in oven before adding to jam. Bring to the boil again, stirring continually and boil about 20 minutes, or till it will set. Plain Blackberry Jam First recipe: Wash the berries, drain through colander, add 1 tablespoon of water to each pound of fruit, simmer slowly till quite soft. Add 1 lb. sugar to each 1 Ib. fruit. Stir well. Boil till it jells. Second recipe: Put the cleaned blackberries into a bowl together with the sugar (34 lb. sugar to a pound of fruit) and leave overnight. Next day put over

low heat and stir constantly till all the sugar grains are dissolved, then boil briskly until the jam will set when tested. Blackberry and Apple Jelly Six pounds blackberries, 2 lb. apples; allow 1 cup sugar to each cup juice. Chop up apples, including skins and cores, and place in preserving pan with blackberries and water to. cover. Cook until soft. Strain through jelly bag. Measure juice and bring to the boil; stir in sugar gradually. When sure that sugar is thoroughly dissolved boil fast about % to % of an hour till it jells, Blackberry and Banana Jam Six pounds blackberries, 2 lb. bananas, 6 lb. sugar. Boil blackberries. Then add sugar and lastly mashed bananas. Rhubarb may be substituted for blackberries if liked. Blackberry Cobbler Cook 3 cups blackberries in 1 cup water with juice of 1 lemon and sugar to taste. When cold put into piedish, sprinkle with sugar and flour (about 2 tablespoons of each) and a dab of butter. Then cover with a good sheet of short pastry, or with crushed biscuits, or sponge cake crumbs, and dab with a little more butter, and cook in a good oven for 29 to 30 minutes: Blackberry Sandwich (Farmhouse) Half pound of flour, good 2 teaspoon baking powder, pinch salt, 2 oz. butter or cooking fat, ¥2 lb. blackberries, 1 egg, 2 oz. sugar, milk and water to mix. For filling: 1 oz. butter, 1 oz. brown sugar and mixed spice. Mix flour, salt and baking powder and rub in fat. Mix in sugar and blackberries, beat egg, add, and then

form into soft dough with milk and water. Bake in ‘shallow greased baking tin in hot oven about 45 minutes. Turn out, split and spread with butter, sprinkle with sugar and spice. Put together and serve at once.