Janice arrived a few days ago with two little tubs of mulberries from her tree. She exclaimed at my white broderie anglaise dress, but I assured her that I would be changing and wearing a pinny when I tackled the fruit. We all know that mulberries give the most terrible of stains.
I popped them in the fridge promising myself to tackle them the following day. Last year I had made some jelly with additional white currant juice. This year I had turned down the offer of a few white currants from Penny in Warwick..of course I would not necessarily presume that I would be offered mulberries again. At the market on Thursday the first of the cooking apples were on sale, so I bought a couple. Mulberries give such a rich and strong flavour and are so precious that an addition of another fruit helps to make a few more jars, and gives a really good set.
I was about to freeze them that night, but remembered my revised thoughts on making jam straight away, so got on and cooked the fruit together with the whole apple chopped fine.
Friday morning, I pushed the whole lot through a fine sieve, properly dressed with an apron. This is therefore not a jelly...far too precious to loose out on the pulp, so I think this would be classed as a 'butter' as it is not as thick as a 'cheese', but I have not added any butter either. Is it a jam with the pips strained out? What I do know is that it is special and delicious, and the closed pots kept for a special pick me up in the middle of winter. I got two medium jars and four small ones, and a little bit left over to have in yogurt.
As Penny visited on Monday, I gave her one small pot, and I think next year I will be saying yes to some white currants if there are any. I found out that Mulberry Jam is a top favourite of Vicki in London, so one small pot will be going to her..Then there will be one medium jar for Janice and a small one for her daughter to take back to Uni. So already all are spoken for with one medium and one small one to brighten up my winter.
