Magical chair, once more...sure you would love to have one...
So back to courgettes, soup, ratatouille, gratin...and ...of course...jam...
yes jam...My god-mother did it so I do it...
you need :
1kg courgettes
800g sugar
100g sultanas
100g dried apricots
1 vanilla bean
zest of a lime
cut courgettes in thin slices, and apricots in small pieces. In a big bowl put all the ingredients and let them macerate over night...
Then cook gently for about 1hr30, and pour into jars...Close when it's warm...
You may eat it as ordinary jam, but if you add only 600g of sugar you may use it as chutney, delicious with goat cheese...

the week-end jam

I bought a new basin to make jam, isn't it nice...that's not the photo, my camera isn't working, but quite similar...

so here's the recipe:

1 kg apricots
500g oranges
1kg white sugar, 500gr brown sugar
spices: 2 tea-spoons of cinnamon, 1 of ginger, 1 clove, 5 cm of liquorice stick...
you add the powdered spices at the end the liquorice and the clove at the beginning (put the clove in a small orange)

cut the apricots in halves, slice the oranges very thinly and take off the seeds.
put the sugar in the basin and add a large glass of strong chinese tea...
let it start boiling
put the fruits, let boil gently for about an hour, put in jars
you can add a few raisins...

Quince jam

take about 1500gr of quinces...you'll get about 1000gr of prepared fruits...

peel the fruits, cut them into pieces and put them in water with lemon juice...not to get brown...

weigh them and prepare 750 gr of sugar for 1000gr of fruits...

put them in a basin with water and cook them until they get soft...

strain and keep the liquid...

mashed the fruits in a nice purée...

in a basin put the sugar , one and a half pint of the previous liquid, a spoonfull of lemon-juice, i teaspoonfull of cinnamon, a dozen of crushed seeds of cardamon...

cook gently for about fourty five minutes, put in the jars and close immediately...

then take the remaining liquid, warm it, add a bunch of thyme, a lemon cut in slices, and let it infuse for ten minutes...add some honey if you like...it makes a delicious drink and very good to fight colds and bronchistis...

if you have a quince tree in your garden you're lucky, the flowers are so beautiful...

Jam and Boston Marrow

Ingredients:
1 kg.pumpkin or Boston Marrow the photo is here, click!(it's Lucie's garden!!! she doesn't know...shhhhhhhhhhhh)

750 gr sugar

2 glasses of water
1 lemon

1 teaspoon cinnamon

candied oranges peels

Preparation

Put the sliced pumpkin in a glass bassin and cover with the sugar leave it in the refrigerator for 24 hrs.
next day cook the ingredients for 2 hrs at low flame.
Some minutes before the end of this time add some scraped lemon skin the candied orange peels and the cinnamon

Put the hot marmelade in jars and close immediately...

you may also mix apples and pumpkin...

The jam, adapted from Georges Duhamel

The day the economist paid us a visit, we were making jam, from our blackcurrants, redcurrants and raspberries.
Using WORDS, NUMBERS and long FORMULAS, he told us we were completely crazy to make our own jam. It was allright in the middle-ages
but now, considering the PRICE of SUGAR, FIRE, JARS not talking about all the WASTED TIME, we had better eat the good ones from groceries...Sure, now on, nobody ever makes such an economical mistake.
-But wait, Sir! I shouted...Will the grocer sell me the best part of it?
-What do you mean?
-But the SCENT Sir, the FRAGRANCE...Smell, the whole house is as sweet-smelling as a summer day...How would the world exist, without the fragrance of jam...
The economist, hearing such strange words, opened huge herbivorous eyes.
My voice blazed:
-In this house, Sir, we make Jam ONLY FOR THE FRAGRANCE. Jam itself, is nothing. When it's cooked Sir, we throw it away...
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I told such lyrical words to impress the economist, but now, I must confess the truth: When jam is ready we eat it for her fragrance's sake.

apples and spices jam

Autumn is coming...Apples are beautiful ...I love making jam.Want my recipe?
you need:
3kg apples
the juice of 2 lemons
2 vanilla beans
2 teaspoons of powdered cinnamon
6 cloves
850gr sugar per kg of fruit

peel the apples, cut them in quarters, take off the seeds, cut in slices, stir in lemon juice and weight.
measure the sugar, 850gr per kg of apples
put the sugar in a bassin with 250gr water per kg of fruit, allow to warm on a low temperature, until the syrup gets sligthly gold.
put the apples in that syrup, add vanilla, cinnamon and cloves.
cook gently for about 75 minutes until you can see through the slices of apples
put in jars and cover immediately.
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you may use it as an ordinary jam on bread, buns, pancakes, with yoghurt...or cover the pastry of your tart before putting the other apples on top.
it's also delicious with vanilla ice cream
last year I added pieces of candied orange skin...and a glass of whisky, for adults only but so nice.
It may be a beautiful Christmas present.