Berries

[Stewlaws]

Update Chris... Now that Inge is on holiday and making stuff in the Kitchen she's been briefing me more on how she uses the Atamon. She says it's not particularly healthy E number-wise so she limits its use. When making jams, pickles, chutney etc she takes a bowl with about half a litre of boiled water and adds 5 teaspoons of Atamon to the water. This is used to rinse the clean empty jars before and lids before filling. She drains the rinsed jars upside down on a tea towel, then adds the hot jam and wipes a finger wetted in the rinsing solution around the rim of the jar and fits the lid. If she's out of Atamon she'll use cheap neat vodka instead for rinsing, but she reckons the Atamon is best. They go in our cool insulated shed for storage until use. She rinses the juice bottles in the same way if she's bottling it. In recent years she's taken to freezing juices in a freezer bag stood inside a used milk carton. The carton makes filling easy and they fit more efficiently in the freezer. When freezing juices she doesn't use any Atamon at all.

I just use the dishwasher Andrew and pot everything from the point of jars still red hot so accommodating the jam/preserve/pickles etc as part of the sterilisation process.

[Chris Hammond]

Update Chris... Now that Inge is on holiday and making stuff in the Kitchen she's been briefing me more on how she uses the Atamon. She says it's not particularly healthy E number-wise so she limits its use. When making jams, pickles, chutney etc she takes a bowl with about half a litre of boiled water and adds 5 teaspoons of Atamon to the water. This is used to rinse the clean empty jars before and lids before filling. She drains the rinsed jars upside down on a tea towel, then adds the hot jam and wipes a finger wetted in the rinsing solution around the rim of the jar and fits the lid. If she's out of Atamon she'll use cheap neat vodka instead for rinsing, but she reckons the Atamon is best. They go in our cool insulated shed for storage until use. She rinses the juice bottles in the same way if she's bottling it. In recent years she's taken to freezing juices in a freezer bag stood inside a used milk carton. The carton makes filling easy and they fit more efficiently in the freezer. When freezing juices she doesn't use any Atamon at all.

Thanks Andrew.
So the ‘jam preserver’ (Atamon.) is only used as a sterilizing solution, rather than something which is added to the cordial?

The milk carton idea is a great little hack. I’ll be adopting that one myself!

[andrew_nagel]

Thanks Andrew.
So the ‘jam preserver’ (Atamon.) is only used as a sterilizing solution, rather than something which is added to the cordial?

Yes - in the recipe it is added. Inge used to bottle the cordial and add some, but she now leaves it out and freezes instead.

[Chris Hammond]

Thanks Andrew.
So the ‘jam preserver’ (Atamon.) is only used as a sterilizing solution, rather than something which is added to the cordial?

Yes - in the recipe it is added. Inge used to bottle the cordial and add some, but she now leaves it out and freezes instead.

Ok thanks Andrew. I am looking forward to making some in the summer.

[Stewlaws]

The home made Christmas is growing. I’ve added picked eggs, shallots and onions and made some Indian style line pickle at the weekend.

Good store cupboard staple Chris is tamarind paste, you can buy in either a paste or in a block, I prefer the block though it requires soaking, good for adding depth to pickles and chutneys.

[Chris Hammond]

The home made Christmas is growing. I’ve added picked eggs, shallots and onions and made some Indian style line pickle at the weekend.

Good store cupboard staple Chris is tamarind paste, you can buy in either a paste or in a block, I prefer the block though it requires soaking, good for adding depth to pickles and chutneys.

Ok thanks Stew.

[andrew_nagel]

Elder flower cordial on the way... I foresee bit of gin and tonic and a couple of ice cubes...

Ready for all the extras to go in...

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After standing overnight...

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