Wartime Plum Jam

The last day of August and tomorrow we will be in the "ber" days. The weather has finally broken and and today was slightly cooler. Im hoping that the "ber" days will be a bit more "brrrrrr"

Sleepy Lagoon (Lawrence-Coates) 

by Harry James & his Orchestra 1942

Once all the beds were changed, the bedrooms and the laundry was drying nicely on the line...it was time to put on a little music and start canning again. Today its Plum Jam.. a Ministry of Food recipe using the beautiful plums I bought from the Farmers Market on Friday.

Now the recipe calls for 6lb of fruit.. but I wanted to keep some back for the last of my jam making tomorrow.. so I only used 5 lb and adjusted the sugar weight for weight. It still gave me seven beautiful jars... And Seeing as the recipe didn't mention water bathing... I did away with this process.

5-6 lb. Plums
6 lb. Sugar
½ -1½ pints water

• Sterilize your jars and lids
• Wash the plums, cut in half and stew slowly with the water until the skins are softened. 
• Ripe, juicy fruit requires less water than under-ripe fruit. 
• Add the sugar, stir until it is dissolved

• Bring to the boil and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. 
• 6 lb. fruit will usually be needed, but 5 lb. will be sufficient to make a well-set jam if the fruit is of very good quality. 

• Remove as many stones as possible as they rise to the surface. 
• The plums may be stoned before cooking and the kernels cooked with the fruit.

• The jam will still be liquid when you ladle it into your jars. 
• Stir the jam and carefully ladle it into the heated, sterilised jars. 
• Immediately seal the jars tightly with sterilised lids.
• It can take up to 48 hours to completely set.
• When cool, remove any spills from the jars and label with the date and name.

Wartime Chocolate Clusters

MrD finishes work at 6am on Fridays.. this morning we managed to get to the Farmers Market nice and early. We needed chicken feed.. but I also found some fresh peaches and plums at a very reasonable price. That's my jam list finished!

Yesterday MrD was craving something a choclatety.. but I was low in actual chocolate.  I remembered this leaflet from 1940 that had lots of chocolate treats using Frys cocoa powder. This wartime recipe leaflet for cakes, biscuits and sweets have ingredients including dried egg, dried milk, margarine and grated potatoes. Luckily many of those ingredients weren't included in this recipe. Last Christmas I used one of the recipes to make Wartime Chocolate Truffles.. which were a huge success. 

However.. these chocolate clusters were a bit disappointing. The flavour was ok.. but even after 24 hours  they still hadn't hardened. MrD said he didn't mind the texture.. but to me the oats were just a bit funky. The recipe suggests using wheat flakes which I think might have been a better alternative.

The mixture only made six clusters... so Im sure it wont be too much of a chore for MrD to finish off

2 tablespoons sugar (rounded)
2 tablespoons milk
A walnut-sized piece of margarine
1 tablespoon Fry's cocoa (rounded)
4 tablespoons rolled oats
A few drops of vanilla essence

Original Leaflet Recipe

• Put the sugar, milk, and margarine into a saucepan. 
• Bring the mixture to a boil and let it boil for exactly 2 minutes
• Remove from heat and cool slightly.
• Combine the cocoa and rolled oats together.
• Stir the cocoa and oat mixture into the saucepan until it forms a stiff consistency. 
• Stir in the vanilla essence to taste.
• Drop the mixture in small spoonfuls onto a greased baking sheet. 
• Leave them overnight to firm up.

Fry's Recipe Leaflet 1940

Strawberry Marmalade

Day two of this years preserves making.. and this is a new one for me.. Strawberry Marmalade from The Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. July 1941

I had a huge harvest of strawberries this year.. so I used half in this recipe and kept half to make Strawberry Jam next week.

I was so pleased the way it turned out. It had a lovely flavour... and a beautiful colour. I didnt water bath it as the recipe didn't call for it. But Im sure it will be shelf stable for quite a while. Absolute winner!

2 oranges
2 lemons
½ cup water
1⁄8 teaspoon soda
1 quart strawberries
7 cups sugar
½ bottle fruit pectin

Original Magazine Clipping

• Remove rind from oranges and lemons
• Cut off white membrane; force rinds thru food chopper. 
• Add water and soda; bring to boiling. 
• Cover and simmer 10 minutes. 

• Add orange and lemon pulp, and juice
• Simmer 20 minutes. 
• Add crushed strawberries. 

• Measure 4 cups prepared fruits; add sugar. 
• Bring to boiling; boil 5 minutes. 

• Remove from heat; stir in fruit pectin. 
• Let stand 5 minutes

• Skim and seal in hot, sterilized glasses. 

Better Homes and Gardens Magazine
July 1941

Wartime Blackberry and Apple Jam

I think I chose the hottest day of the year so far to start canning.. but needs must and I began with one of our favourites..and a great way of using up some of the gifted apples... Blackberry and Apple Jam. This is a great recipe from the Ministry of Food and uses no added pectin.. the apples do a great job

Now... I only had one pound of blackberries... but as long as your fruit makes a total weight the same as your sugar you will be just fine. I have made this recipe many times and it always comes out well... tick..rich and delicious. It made three pint jars.. with a little extra to have on my toast for breakfast this week. A great start to my canning season

2 lbs. blackberries
¾lbs sour apples;
¼ pint water

About 3 lbs. sugar.

• Place the blackberries in a pan over a low heat 
• Adding half the quantity of water, and stew until tender. 
• Peel, core and slice the apples 
• Add the remaining water, and cook in a separate pan until the fruit is quite soft. 

• Add to the blackberries, and cook all together until thick. 
• Weigh the pulp, and add an equal weight of sugar. 

• Stir, bring to the boil, and boil until the jam sets when tested (about 220°)

The recipe doesn't call for the jars to be processed but I did anyway... water bathed for 10 minutes.