Autumn jam

 I have made some Autumn Jam from bits and pieces of autumn fruit that I have acquired this week. I went on a walk with my daughter and little grandson and I was looking out for any fruit as I went along. We had passed several blackthorn bushes, each with two or three tiny sloes and then when we were nearly at the end, I spotted a lovely blackthorn just dripping with big, fat sloes and next to it was a crab apple tree, also dripping with fruit. I always keep a bag in my coat pocket in case I find anything suitable for my rabbit so I filled my small bag with sloes and crab apples. During the week, I got a handful each of blackberries, damsons and elderberries. Then I spotted that lots of my windfall apples were showing spots of brown so I made a great big bowl of stewed apple for the freezer and put the nicer bits of the peel and cores in my jam. 

My first idea was to make jelly but there was so much apple flesh in the pan that I ended up sieving it all and making a smooth jam. It is a beautiful red colour and tastes absolutely fantastic. And the hens kindly finished off all the stuff I had sieved out of my jam. So everybody is happy and I have a novelty jam to add to my Christmas hampers. Then today I was given several pounds of quinces so I now have quince jelly to make. I haven't got my hands on any quinces for many years so I am looking forward to that : )