Preserving Under Pressure

When I have a glut of produce, I do feel a sense of pressure to deal with it before it becomes unusable. Our apple tree gave a good crop this year, and I blanched and froze much of it. So when Marion kindly gave me some more apples, I thought I should make preserves rather than take up more freezer space. These were eaters, not cookers- but all quite small. 

I found lovely old MP recipe [see below] which looked interesting. The apples were safely on racks in the garage, but I had hardly any jars. Friends at chapel and in the village were able to help out, and I am well stocked now! Mrs Patten was a WW2 cook, and so recognises the need for frugality, and 'using what you have'. 

I was able to use up the odds and ends of sugars [demerara, soft brown, granulated etc] in my big glass storage jars. They are all empty and sparkling now, so I can buy fresh stuff for the Christmas baking. Ditto the vinegars, and the sultanas. I used 'naked ginger' from Grape Tree as it is more economical than Opies [plus it is dry, you don't have the messiness of draining the syrup, and chopping is much easier]

Margeurite's recipe is started off in the pressure cooker, which saves time and energy. I had a lot of apples [4.5 kg], so scaled up the recipe, and made three huge batches. The first cooking was done in the PC, then I transferred to my big maslin pan to finish off before bottling.

There are now lots of jars sitting happily maturing till Christmas- waiting for fancy hats and labels. I've kept a list of the empty-jar-donors, and they will all get a full jar as a thank-you. A special gift has gone to Judy, who lent me her apple peeler. 

What a fab gadget this is! You retract the handle, put the apple on the prongs and turn. In less than a minute, your apple is peeled, cored and sliced. What a timesaver. And it is such fun to use! Thanks Judy.

Marguerite Patten’s Apple and Ginger Chutney
Pressure cooking time 10 mins. Makes nearly 2kg (4lb).
340g (12oz) onions
450g (2lb) cooking apples (weight after peeling)
280ml (½ pint) brown or white malt vinegar
½–1 teaspoon salt
1–2 teaspoons mixed pickling spice
1-2 teaspoons ground ginger
340g (12oz) sugar (any sort- white , brown etc)
100g (4oz) chopped preserved ginger
170–225 g (6–8 oz) sultanas
1. Peel the onions and apples,
2. Chop the vegetables and fruit and put into the pressure cooker.
3. Add the vinegar, the salt, and the pickling spice tied securely in muslin.
4. Fix the cover and bring to H/15 lb pressure.
5. Cook for 10 minutes, and then cool under cold water.
6. Remove the cover, add the sugar, ginger and dried fruit and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved; remove the bag of spice.
7. Boil steadily in the open pan until the consistency of a thick purée, stir from time to time.
8. Spoon into hot jars and cover.

[recipe from here]