The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (16 page)

These are leftovers’ playmates – to gild a simple bit of crusty bread or lift a soup, salad, sandwich, bowl of rice or pasta or even a basic baked potato out of the ordinary. They’re also one of my favourite ways of using up food – because they repay over and over again.

For foods designed to keep, like chutneys and jams, it’s important to use a scrupulously well-washed jar, such as a Kilner, Parfait or jam jar, and to make sure that it doesn’t already smell strongly of pickling spices. To sterilise the jar, use it straight from the dishwasher, or wash it out well with hot water and put it into the oven at 150°C/Gas Mark 2 for 15 minutes. Fill the jars before they cool and, with jams, place a wax disc (available from kitchen shops) on top before putting on the lid.

You can make this jam with any glut of fruit. Under-ripe fruit has more pectin (which helps jam to set) but very ripe fruit can also be made into jam. I don’t bother with special jam-making sugar, which contains added pectin – ordinary granulated does just fine. Make sure the fruit is dry first and prepare it by hulling, stoning or peeling it as usual. Raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, plums, currants, blackberries, even rosehips and apples are all good – on their own or in combination. Jam should keep well for a year or so. Once you have opened the jar, if a thin mould forms you can scrape it off, along with about a centimetre of jam from below it, with no health dangers.

Use equal weights of white sugar to prepared fruit (see above). In a large pan, preferably stainless-steel, very gently heat the fruit and sugar together, stirring occasionally, until all the sugar has completely dissolved.

Turn up the heat and let the jam bubble quite rapidly, skimming off some of the foam that rises to the surface from time to time.

Depending on the fruit you use, boil it for 15-30 minutes, until a teaspoonful dolloped on to a fridge-chilled saucer sets within a minute or so, with a ‘skin’ on top. This is known as the ‘setting point’.

Take out your warm, sterilised jars from the oven or dishwasher (see
page 39
).

Pour the jam straight into the jars.

Cover the surface of each one with a wax disc and a lid, and store in a cool, dark cupboard.