Strawberry picking…. so many we made Jam!

Strawberries were plentiful today at Groveland PYO so we picked two large punnets full. Abbie was delighted that my instructions were to pick small ones – this meant that any large berries got consumed immediately!!

A particularly large one...

So to the jam – it takes a while to make because of the leaving stage. We started before lunch and did the boiling at about 4pm.. I will take you through the stages of how we made our soft set strawberry jam. Abbie helped before the boiling stage, but for safety reasons, she didn’t help when the jam was boiling hot.

Soft-set Strawberry Jam

You need:
Strawberries – good to have at least a pound/1/2kg of them
Sugar – I use a 1/3:2/3 mixture of granulated sugar and preserving sugar to get a soft-set rather than hard set (a trick I learned from one of our matrons at school)
1 lemon per 2lbs strawberries
Large pan with lid
Jam jars (I’ll talk about how I sterilize them later)
If you have it… a funnel is helpful to get the boiling hot jam into the jars
2 saucers – put into the freezer

1.Remove all the stalks from the strawberries and put them into a container

Abbie demoing what your strawberry should look like

2. Weigh your strawberries – you will need an equal quantity of sugar – we had 3lb of strawberries, I used 2lbs preserving sugar and 1lb gran sugar

How many strawberries have you got?

3. Combine sugar and strawberries in your large pan and leave to stand, with lid on to deter flies, for about 4 hours. This helps to macerate the strawberries. I don’t chop my strawberries up as I like to squish them onto toast, but you could do for a more even distribution.

The two sugars we used

Before the cooking stage, begin sterilizing your jam jars – there are different ways to do this; I put mine in the dishwasher and run it on the hottest setting. To the cooking….
4. Heat up the strawberry/sugar mixture, stirring to help dissolve the sugar.
5. Keep the jam on a rolling boil, reducing the heat underneath, for 5 minutes (so that it is boiling, but doesn’t rise too far up the pan)
6. Add lemon juice and boil for a further 10 mins
7. Test the set of your jam – take a saucer from the freezer and remove a little of the jam on a teaspoon, put onto the saucer to rapidly cool it. For a soft-set, the jam should crinkle when you push your finger into it.
8. If it doesn’t crinkle, put the saucer back in the freezer keep boiling for 5 mins and then test using the other saucer.
9. Repeat this until you are happy with the set.
10. Cool slightly – maybe until your jars are sterilized – and then fill up the jars (be careful), screw the lids on and leave it until you need it.

Jam for the next 6-12 months!

One for the punnet… one for me! A pick your own adventure!

On a gorgeous day such as today, we thought we’d make the most of the sunshine and ‘Pick our own’ at Groveland PYO and Farm Shop, Roughton, Norfolk. We were the only ones there which was fantastic as there were thousands of beautifully ripe, super red strawberries. Abbie loved looking for perfect berries and shouting ‘red alert’ when she found one!

Great to have them at child height - makes for easy pickin's

One that had the potential to make it into the punnet

There is much to pick at Groveland and we will be back for the raspberries and tayberries later in the season. Abbie was keen on tomatoes, but these were of course still in the flower stage.

Hunting for tomatoes - may have to wait a while!

We then went into the Farm Shop, which boasts a butcher, fresh fruit and veg, local beers and ciders, local cheese and other dairy products as well as a large organic sections and eco-friendly cleaning product section. You can even fill up your Ecover containers here! They also have a cafe if you are in need of some refreshments after your PYO exertions. Abbie ran around like a child in a sweet shop, but was mostly interested in gooseberries and also insisted that we bought some more broad beans – she loved the ones we had on Sunday. I was interested to see how fat our pods need to be before we can pick our peas – at least another week is needed I think!

In Groveland Farm Shop, Roughton

I love Bottle Green Elderflower cordial and was about to get some more, when I noticed this new product – a vibrant pink cordial; the taste is so summery and I can see it also being used a syrup over ice creams and sorbets. Groveland is a real Norfolk gem; we will definitely be back very soon.

Norfolk cordial - red gooseberry and wild elderflower - makes a great pink fizz with sparkling water!

Sundae strawberries! Named and made by Abbie…

Look what was waiting for us on Sunday morning!

I knew that we had to do something special with our handfuls of strawberries and so I constructed this layered dessert ably assisted by Abbie, who also came up with the name ‘Sundae Strawberries’!

Sundae Strawberries – makes 3 martini or wine glass portions

10-15 strawberries (depending on size)
1/2 lemon
Icing sugar (4-5 tsp in total)
2 tblspn thick double cream
2 tblspn natural yoghurt
6 sponge fingers
Lemon curd

• In a bowl, combine 2/3 of you strawberries (sliced) with the juice of half a lemon and 2 heaped tsp of the icing sugar – stir and leave to one side for later
• In another bowl, stir together the yoghurt and double cream with the other 2 tsp icing sugar
• Break the sponge fingers into halves, spread thickly with lemon curd and place 4 of the halves at the bottom of each of your glasses
• Then layer up as shown in the photos below, finishing with the remainder of the strawberries (sliced) and some curls of lemon zest
• Refrigerate for the morning (at least 2-3 hours) and eat for lunch!

Spreading the lemon curd on the fingers....

Starting to layer, sponge fingers first.....

.... then strawberries....

.... letting the lemon berry syrup soak into the sponge...

All done! One 'Sundae Strawberries' ready for the fridge

Demolished in a matter of moments!