Jarring up!

This is a quick easy way of jarring up your jams, jellies and chutneys. Please note this way will not preserve the contents, you need to make sure what you are putting in the jars will keep for the length of time you require.

First, wash your jars. I wash them on a high dishwasher cycle. I also soak and remove all the labels. 

On the most part you won't need how many jars you will need till you have finished making what ever it is your putting in them. So always have a few extra ready to go! 

Now you will need the contents of the jars to be hot/warm when you fill them. As they cool they will pull down the lid and seal the jar. Keep this in mind, as you will need to time making your jam etc to be ready to jar straight up!

Pre-heat your oven at 100. This is a hot and fast way of jarring up, so have your wits about you ;)

To help me fill my jars, I have cut off the bottom of this plastic funnel. So that the large bits of fruit still flow through to the jar. (It's been suggested that you could do the same with an empty squash bottles. Which I think is a fab idea!! A great frugal money saving idea!)

I use an old pizza tray to pop the jars and lids on. I found a deep tray just led to problems! 

I use a large ladle, to spoon the mixture into the jars.

When you are ready to jar up remove your jars from the oven, they need to have heated right through. A good 15mins to have heated up too 100c. Do not go over this. 

Remember the lids, tray and jar will be very hot. 

Be very careful when ladling in the mixture as the jar or funnel could move. 

Leave about 1-2cm gap between the mixture and lid.

There are two different ways to pop on the lid. Some people leave them half on and tighten later or you can do as I do and go as tight as possible straight away. 

Insure you don't try and tighten without a teatowel or other proctection. As the jar with hot mixer in side will be very, very hot to touch and most likely burn you!

I keep the oven on while am jarring up, in case I have not got the right amount of jars for the job. 

Then I can grab my spare jars and pop them in the oven. It's best to start with more than you think you will need as extra cooking time could mess up your mixture! 

Now leave your jars on a drying rack, to cool, before touching them. Count how many jars you have. You will need to count the **pops** then you know the lid has sealed. (If you had to pop out, you can check that the lids have gone flat.) 

Am quite silly, I love hearing the pops! 

This way insures the jars are sterilised before use, it's my favourite way to jar up! 

Keep an eye out for my blog about label making coming soon.

Click here for my yummy Wild Blackberry Jam!

Wild Blackberry Jam

Please read my blog about Blackberry Picking before you head out to pick blackberries!

  

Ingredients:

1kg Wild Blackberries

1kg Sugar (they always say caster sugar but I find that caster and jam making sugars really expensive, so I use granulated.)

1-2 teaspoons of lemon (The first batch i made with half a lemon and it's set way to hard, like a composite. A bit hard for toast but perfect for porridge.)

First, soak the blackberries for about 2hrs, search through them and remove any bugs/storks/leaves etc. Then put a small china plate in the fridge (I use a side plate.)

I don't always find bugs, but these are the most common ones I've found. After you have soaked them for two hours, pick off any left over stalks, leafs or bugs. 

Mix the sugar, lemon and berries into a large cooking pot.

Stir and bring to a boil.

Once you have brought them to a boil, keep at a rolling boil for 10-15 (while stiring.) 

Now for the plate test! 

Get out your now cold plate from the fridge and pour a small amount (about a tea-table spoon) of the mixure onto the plate. Pop in the fridge for a moment or two. When you tip the plate, does the mixture run? If it runs the jam isn't ready yet. So keep stiring at a rolling boil for another 5-10 mintues and re-run the test. It's ready to jar up, when the mixture doesn't run but stays quite still like jelly. 

(The jam on the right with the two berries in, was my first plate test. You can see how much it moved compared to my second test on the left, note the difference in colour too!)

There are many different ways to jar up your jams. I use a mega simple method, which I will blog about next. This amount of mixture made 3 jars (about the same size as a large jam jar.) Keep in mind the longer you have to boil it for the less mixture you will have. So it's guess work knowing how many jars you will get from a batch of berries! 

Allow to cool, before touching or eating! 

I will blog soon about how I label my jars in the mean time click here for how to jarring up.

One of my favourite things to do as a family.   

Welcome to the Seaside Housewife's blog.

Welcome!

First you have to know, am not what you would call a 'good' housewife, my poor husband is often running around trying to find a sock....or climbing over a huge pile of washing to get into the sitting room.

I have the image of a 1950's perfect housewife in my head, dressed, make-up on and children playing quietly in a beautiful clean and tidy house. 

Then I remind my self that my house is chaos, children running a muck, and am still in my pjs......I thought I would share the few tips which help me to get a good homemade meal on the table.

We are a family of 5, living on the southcoast of England. We have three mini people under the age of 6.

One of the biggest thing we have done, is to changing our diet. Am of Italian, Scottish and Welsh descent, with a bit of everything else mixed in and this has always reflected in my cooking.

You would say am one of those 'fed you up Italian cooks!'

The dishes I was know for was Lemon Chicken, (Roasted in lemons and wine) so to now be heading down the path of becoming vegan it's a huge change for us!

I have my whole life been a meat eater, humans are meat eaters, but not the crazy amount we consume. The meat Industry is responsible for the biggest cause of environmental damage, we need to make a change if our planet is going to be around to feed our children, let alone our children's children.

This is before we take into account how we treat animals, the affects to our Heath as well. We started on our Journey in Sep 2015, our children sleep better (cows milk is full of 'wake up your hungry' hormones, antibiotics and is highly addictive) I have more energy and feel so much better that am no longer standing by and letting such terrifying atrocities happen for me to eat. Having breastfed my babies I can't look at cows breast milk in the same way again, we don't need it, it's made for baby cows not humans. 

Being a young family, we always have to think about our budget. That and am a hoarder and love anything homemade or passed down. My 3yr old Bear is currently tearing past me pushing my old wooden walker, 30 odd years and three crazy kids crashing it into the wall etc...it's doing well. (I lucky had my Grandpa on hand to fix it once too.) 

So I will be sharing some homemade tips, from making your own jams, making the odd thing and up cycling your hand-me-downs.

Also, there is Daisy. Our 1969 Bluebird Caravan. When we brought her, she was full of rot, dirt and holes.....

So if retro/vintage, food and tips is your bag, your in the right place!

Seaside Housewife x

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