I've been busy today making up for lost time.  Having been ill when the soft fruit was at its best, I didn't get jam making started.  I was given a bag of damsons yesterday and I've made 10 pots of jam today.  I've another 2 lbs of damsons left so I'll make some more.  I've also made 9 small pots of rowanberry jelly.  It is more like a jam in the style of bought cranberry sauce rather than a proper clear jelly.  It is extremely tart and would go well with meat or in a cheese sandwich or maybe a spoonful in a sweet and sour sauce.  And of course it only cost me time and sugar.  That is two varieties of preserves to go towards Christmas presents.  And I'll need to give a couple of jars of damson jam to the kind person who picked the damsons from their tree for me. They said that having picked that 6lbs for me, there was so much left on the tree that you could hardly notice any difference.  Must be a good year for damsons.

I'm hoping to get my hands on a few windfall apples so that I can make some mint jelly and also some bottles of stewed apple.  Just over a week of freedom left and so many jobs still to be done.

This is the link to the recipe for rowanberry jelly:

http://weezl.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/rowanberry-jelly/

It is on the CFR blog which is updated by Weezl from that wonderful cheap family recipes website.