You can help us out by subscribing or... if you know someone who might relate to our content send them a link to our substack! That would be awesome sauce!
Oh wow thank you for this. It's for this reason that I perhaps want to share a bit of myself - we're not all celebrities having large pastures and gorgeous grazing animals, but there is something about just 'making a home' and also having reflections while also feeling normal but cool and maybe sometimes weird :) you both are cool!
Thanks, Rebecca! I love that phrase you used, "making a home..." it feels sometimes like a lost art. I was that snotty kid who told my mother I didn't need to learn to sew since I could just buy clothes at the mall. I regret that now. I'm glad you think we're cool! I've definitely learned a lot in my half century.
Ha! You just reminded me of my Home Ec teacher in high-school. My most favourite person ever. Who made me sew an incredibly hideous sweatshirt that I wore all the time and then once to the mall (to buy hair dye and hang out at the pool hall) and came back to school the next day with a cigarette hole in it. She quickly sewed it up saying, your mom can't see this. Big hugs to you for reminding me of my also neglectful adolescene (but we can sometimes laugh about it).
I'm looking forward to reading these but in response to your question, I have never made jam or jelly with pectin. And also at the weekend I made a redcurrant jelly without pectin, just sugar. Am interested in the sugarless jam but the price of honey is so high I do wonder how it can be done without a mortgage! I have lots of redcurrants ripening, so any ideas will be welcome.
I just read that currants are high in pectins, so that doesn’t surprise me. I wonder if a maple syrup-vinegar combo would work? It’s not good that we’re at a place where sugar, which is so highly processed, is cheaper than honey, which is usually not (and doesn’t need to be).
Yes, currants are easy to set in my experience. As for maple syrup, interesting thought though due to the lack of sugar maples in England I'm not sure that will be very much better! Interesting idea though, will see if I can source quantity at a lower price than the expensive, fancy bottled stuff. I do try to buy local honey rather than the blended multi-national gunk which can contain nasties. Adulteration is such a problem with commercial honey.
We buy ours from a local Amish community. But that’s just good luck and the impetus to seek it out from off-label sources. It would be better if we could barter!
Indeed! Just checked on Amazon and bulk honey/maple syrup are coming out at a similar price, syrup slightly cheaper but not much! Might have to.continue to use British sugar beet but I am looking forward to experimenting based on your instructions.
Folks,
You can help us out by subscribing or... if you know someone who might relate to our content send them a link to our substack! That would be awesome sauce!
AV
Great. Now I have to write up a recipe for awesome sauce!
Oh wow thank you for this. It's for this reason that I perhaps want to share a bit of myself - we're not all celebrities having large pastures and gorgeous grazing animals, but there is something about just 'making a home' and also having reflections while also feeling normal but cool and maybe sometimes weird :) you both are cool!
Thanks, Rebecca! I love that phrase you used, "making a home..." it feels sometimes like a lost art. I was that snotty kid who told my mother I didn't need to learn to sew since I could just buy clothes at the mall. I regret that now. I'm glad you think we're cool! I've definitely learned a lot in my half century.
Ha! You just reminded me of my Home Ec teacher in high-school. My most favourite person ever. Who made me sew an incredibly hideous sweatshirt that I wore all the time and then once to the mall (to buy hair dye and hang out at the pool hall) and came back to school the next day with a cigarette hole in it. She quickly sewed it up saying, your mom can't see this. Big hugs to you for reminding me of my also neglectful adolescene (but we can sometimes laugh about it).
That’s a gorgeous memory!
It's good to know that it's possible to make these things without having to depend on pectin and white sugar. (Dungarees are just jeans.)
Yes, the realization freed me to consider preservation methods previously off-limits to me. And lol, I don’t know anyone who calls jeans “dungarees.”
It's very specific to region. Upstate New York and New England I think.
Though you’re probably taking my sarcasm more literally than I intended...but maybe that’s just how it came across!
I'm looking forward to reading these but in response to your question, I have never made jam or jelly with pectin. And also at the weekend I made a redcurrant jelly without pectin, just sugar. Am interested in the sugarless jam but the price of honey is so high I do wonder how it can be done without a mortgage! I have lots of redcurrants ripening, so any ideas will be welcome.
I just read that currants are high in pectins, so that doesn’t surprise me. I wonder if a maple syrup-vinegar combo would work? It’s not good that we’re at a place where sugar, which is so highly processed, is cheaper than honey, which is usually not (and doesn’t need to be).
Yes, currants are easy to set in my experience. As for maple syrup, interesting thought though due to the lack of sugar maples in England I'm not sure that will be very much better! Interesting idea though, will see if I can source quantity at a lower price than the expensive, fancy bottled stuff. I do try to buy local honey rather than the blended multi-national gunk which can contain nasties. Adulteration is such a problem with commercial honey.
We buy ours from a local Amish community. But that’s just good luck and the impetus to seek it out from off-label sources. It would be better if we could barter!
Indeed! Just checked on Amazon and bulk honey/maple syrup are coming out at a similar price, syrup slightly cheaper but not much! Might have to.continue to use British sugar beet but I am looking forward to experimenting based on your instructions.
I’ll try not to let you down. If you have any questions on the recipes, ask away.