I came across this recipe while searching for info about wild hazlenuts (I think there is one near me, and wanted to know when they are ripe). I thought it might interest people, seeing that the brambles and elderberries are starting to ripen near me, and the hawthorn berries can't be far behind.
450 g crab apples
450 g blackberries
450 g elderberries
225 g sloes
225 g haws (hawthorn berries)
100 g hazelnuts
1.5 lt water
1.75 kg sugar
WASH THE FRUIT! Peel, chop and core the crab apples. Hull and pick over the blackberries. Remove the elderberries from the stalks - use the prongs of a fork for this. Prick the sloes serveral times with a needle and remove the tops and tails of the haws. Chop the nuts. Put the prepared fruit and nuts into a pan with the water and cook until soft. While cooking watch for sloe stones and remove as you go. Add the sugar, stirring well until dissolved. Bring to boil and boil hard until set obtained. Pot and seal. Cherry plums and wild cherry could be added instead of sloes.
Nice recipe! Have never put nuts in a jam before. I usually do something similar with all the odds and sods of fruit that I pick and make it into jelly for number one daughter - I call it tutti fruitti - but this sounds interesting! I will have to see what I can lay my hands on!
I wasn't too sure about the hazel nuts either EJ, thought I would give it a go with apples instead of crab-apples, and then whatever else on the list I could gather at the time. Should Bramley apples give enough pectin for setting? Or should I keep some jam sugar on standby?
I am sure bramleys would do the trick, but to be honest, I find those berries are pretty good setters on their own, and if in doubt, I add the juice of a lemon, and put all the bits from the lemon - pips, skin etc - into a wee baggy thing and drop it in with the fruit before adding the sugar - seems to do the trick.
Okay then, I made this jam today, although a slightly smaller batch.
My recipe ended up more like
200g sieved crab apple mush (such a lovely colour:) )
200g mushed, stewed elderberries
50g sloe and haw mush - again stewed and sieved.
50g stewed and sieved blackberries.
No real reason to sieve the blackberries, but I just wanted to have something different to the normal blackberry.
Boiled up with equal amount of normal sugar, no pectin added. I used my sugar thermometer to jam point, the jam needed about 10 minutes of boiling.
Tastes tart but nice. Has a nice, fruity quality to it that I can't quite describe.
The crab apple part smelled lovely, so I think I will picking more from the tree that hangs over the car park at work. May try some jelly with that.