Hedgerow Treasures

Since moving out to the countryside last year, I am lucky enough to have access to the hedgerows which line the paths & fields just outside our back yard. At this time of year, they start to become studded with the first fruits of the year: gooseberries.

These pale green globes hang like miniature Chinese lanterns among the hedges & are very easy to miss unless you look carefully. Although abundant, they are prickly little buggers, & not the easiest of fruits to pick! However, a half-hour pause on this morning’s dog walk allowed me to return home with over a kilo of berries & only a few scratches on my hands & arms!

A close up of my haul!

I find gooseberries much too sour to eat alone, so, after the great success of last year’s Gooseberry & Elderflower Preserve (the last jar of which has only recently been scraped clean!), I have decided to do the same again this year. The recipe I use is loosely based on a Delia recipe, but I like to add whole elderflowers to mine at the end, so they become suspended in the jam as it sets, giving a lovely ’starry’ effect:

Gooseberry & Elderflower Preserve

Ingredients:

1kg gooseberries, topped & tailed
1kg granulated sugar
the flowers from 5 elderflower heads, collected by rubbing the heads between your hands into a bowl
a knob of butter
150ml water

1. Grease a pan with butter before adding the gooseberries & water
2. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the fruit is tender
3. Stir in the sugar
   
4. Heat gently for another 15 minutes, until the sugar has completely dissolved
5. Boil, testing for set at 5 minute intervals (drop a blob of the liquid onto a fridge-cold saucer then push with your finger – it will crinkle when set)
6. Once setting point is reached, turn the heat off & add the elderflowers
7. Let the mixture sit for about 15 minutes, then stir again & pour into sterile jars & seal.
   

This year, the preserve I’m making is not for personal consumption. Two of my good friends are getting married in the Autumn, & have asked me to make wedding favours for them. So I have purchased 150 4 oz hexagonal glass jars, which I propose to fill with an assortment of hedgerow jams, jellies & chutneys, including the above gooseberry & elderflower preserve, before decorating them with pretty ribbons & labels. I’ll be sure to post updates as & when I make the rest!

Here are some more ‘hedgerow treasures’ I found on Etsy :

(Please click on the above image to see the items & sellers in more detail.)