Picking wild apples in the morning

A few weeks ago while I was making Apple and Strawberry jam, I had a visit from Liana, a beautiful young lawyer from Ukraine who lives and works in Switzerland. She came with her father and they were charming and lovely to have around. They sampled my jams and told me they were delighted with the flavors of the fresh fruits of this island and they even took back some jars with them. It is always a pleasure to have visitors like them as I like to hear their ideas and suggestions and hope to have all sorts of perfect unique jams and preserves one day very soon. This is the test and trial stage….the stage with lots of mistakes and errors and some triumphs and discoveries in between !

For the Wild Apple and Strawberry Jam you will need :

1 kg apples, peeled and cored, soaked in lemon juice to prevent discoloration
1 kg strawberries
6 lemons, juice and zest
2 kg sugar

In a large pot place the apples, lemon juice, lemon zest and cover on moderate heat until apples are soft and mushy. They should remain pale and become clear with the apple juice.
Uncover and mash.
Add the strawberries and bring to a boil.
Add the sugar, stir and bring to a fast boil, reduce hear keeping it on a rolling boil. This is an important stage, do not let it cool and loose the boil so that the jam will retain its color.
Keep at this stage for 10 minutes, switch off and test the setting point using the saucer method which you can see on this blog.
If it has not reached setting point, bring to a boil again and keep at rolling boil for another r 5 – 10 minutes. I have never had a problem with this jam setting.
Should be a lovely pink/peach color.
Place in sterilized jars and seal. Look at the instructions about sterilization on my precious posts. Any questions, do not hesitate to message me…

Fruits picked this morning, so fresh and unbelievably beautiful …

Apples are cut and cooked immediately to capture the unique flavor of pure freshness….

Leana and her father come to visit !

And of course the strawberries …