Well what a busy weekend. I turned this basket of goodies into Mango chutney and Tomato Chilli Jam. Last year hubby made the chutney and misread the 1 teaspoon of cayenne chilli pepper for 1 tablespoon! The resulting chutney was very nice but rather spicy. Anyway lesson learned and I made sure to get the measurements right, threw it all in my lovely new jam pan and let it simmer away.
Next I moved onto the chopping of onions and tomatoes for my first batch of Tomato Chilli Jam, it was so easy (apart from all the boring chopping), literally just chop, measure, pop it all in the pan along with red wine vinegar, chillies and brown sugar, give it a stir while bringing the heat to boiling point then turn it down and leave it to simmer down to a lovely jammy texture.
I must admit it did take a lot longer than the recipe suggested. And 1 kilo of tomatoes and 500g of onions boiled down to just 2 jars of jam, but it is definitely worth it as it is delicious.
I also made 2 batches of strawberry jam so our little store cupboard is replenished once more.
I also picked the fruit from the fruit bushes, lovely blackcurrants…………….
and redcurrant’s……………………
The netting over the strawberries had broken so the birds have had a field day and alas no strawberries left for us. I had to rely on bought ones to make the jam so it is no cheaper than buying from the store but it is still nicer to have homemade.
It wasn’t quite all jams and chutneys this weekend though, I did start a new crochet project too. This does feel like I am sort of cheating as I have promised myself I would finish all my WIP’s before starting anything new, I say sort of because it’s to go towards finishing something I have already started. I promise to share this with you later this week but for now I am going to have some bread and jam. See ya all later!
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thegrangerange.wordpress.com 
Yum. That Tomato Chili Jam wouldn’t last long around here.
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It didn’t last too long here either!
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Yours looks great, thanks for the ping back.
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Yum, yum yum! Makes me want to go and do some preserving right now!!!
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I know, I just love to see the store cupboard replenished.
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Wow! Now that is totally mouth-watering!
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Thank you, tastes yummy I have to admit.
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I’m like you in regard to WIPs. I always say I’m going to finish them before starting something new but fail miserably. New patterns are like shiny things that draw my attention. The Tomato Chili Jam sounds delicious!
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Maybe we were magpies in another life, I too am drawn to shiny new ideas. The Tomato Chilli Jam is great it is a Jamie Oliver recipe that I got online. Let me know if you want the link.
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Would love the link so that I can try the recipe! Thank you!
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Here is the link http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.php?title=easy-tomato-chutney . It;s a Jamie Oliver recipe, hope you like it, I had to cook it for a lot longer than it says to get it to reduce to a jammy consistency, not sure if my tomatoes were a bit juicy. Let me know how it goes.
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Oh mango chutney, yummy! I want to make that because it is hard to get over here.
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I love Mango Chutney, we make a batch every year when the Mangoes are reasonably priced. Let me know if you want the link to the recipe, I got it off the BBC website.
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Oh that would be great, thank you!
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Here is the link, http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mangochutney_1319 . Hope it goes well. look forward to seeing how you get on.
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Thanks a million! I’ll let you know how I get on!
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I bet you feel lovely and virtuous now! I love a well stocked cupboard. Picking my black currants this weekend.
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Definitely feeling good about,y weekend productivity. I still have some blackcurrant’s but cannot decide what to do with them. What do you make?
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Black currant jam, every time! They also freeze really well and you can make jam from frozen black currants.
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Thank you, I will try making jam, does it set ok. Strawberry jam is really easy but I am always a bit nervous about using other fruits because of the setting. My bramble jam last year was quite runny.
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ooohhhh… the chutney looks so yummy.. thank you for sharing the recipe.. 😀
and wow.. what lovely berries you had.. are those grown in your garden??
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Yes, proudly grown in our little patch, we have not done so well with planting veggies this year as we have been so busy at work but the fruit bushes are great as they kind of look after themselves.
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That all sounds absolutely delicious, my partner and I love making our own preserves as well. 🙂 There really is nothing compared to home grown and home made. 🙂
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Could not agree more, they make lovely gifts too.
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Definitely! We gave jam to friends and family one year when we had an unbelievable abundance. Home made if always an appreciated gift ^_^
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Wow! You were busy. It looks wonderful. I need to start doing so cooking as well.
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Have you grown fruit and veggies too?
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Mostly Veggies plus I get a CSA every week so I have so much and I can’t eat it all.
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