Recipe: Appetizing Hedgerow jam

Hedgerow jam. Hedgerow Jam is a collective of artists that aim to create an art's club of cultural benefits to the community. Social club in Ros Comáin, Roscommon, Ireland. This Hedgerow Jam Recipe is made from seasonal wild fruits foraged from the countryside.

A hedgerow jam recipe is generally a combination of seasonal wild fruits, which can include apples I feel a bit of a fraud bring you a jam recipe as in the past I have had more jammy failures than I have. This cowl is named for the hedgerow bounty we would bring home from our weekend excursions. Our Avoca Hedgerow Jam is a flavourful and perfectly spreadable blend of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. You can have Hedgerow jam using 4 ingredients and 10 steps. Here is how you achieve it.

Ingredients of Hedgerow jam

1. You need 1 kg of apples - I'm lucky enough to have several trees growing along the field where i pick my other fruits and i use the eating apples in the jam and cooking apples for pies and crumbles.
2. It's 500 grams of mixed fruit/berries (blackberries, elderberries, damson and wild plums in mine but you can also do sloes and rosehips or any Hedgerow fruit that grows locally to you or you could buy at your greengrocer if you can't get anywhere to pick your own).
3. Prepare 1 kg of sugar - you can use jam sugar but with this quantity of apples there should be enough pectin for setting.
4. You need 100 ml of water.

Steve Smith, Head Chef of Michelin-starred Bohemia Restaurant, shares his hedgerow jam recipe, easily adaptable for a variety of plentiful. A family favourite that uses autumn fruits from the hedgerow and garden. This recipe has been submitted by the Good Food community. Hedgerow Jam Recipe. by Global Cookbook.

Hedgerow jam instructions

1. Place a saucer in the freezer.
2. Chop up apples and place in a large saucepan or preserving pan- for true Hedgerow jam remove stalks but nothing else all the goodness is in the peel and core - I chop mine into 8 chunky pieces (I also freeze all of my fruit on the day it's picked ready for jam making another day).
3. Add all of the other fruit and the water.
4. Bring up to the boil, then turn down the heat to a gentle simmer and leave for around 30 minutes until most of the fruit has pulped.
5. Use a hand blender to pulp the jam further and to ensure Apple skins are well incorporated - if you don't have a hand blender you could use your food processor or a potato masher/ricer, but make sure you let it cool first.
6. Now add the sugar and stir until it has all dissolved. Bring up to a rolling boil. Do not have heat any higher than it has to go. Once it comes to the boil start lowering the heat until it just maintains a boil. If you try to boil it too fast it will burn to the bottom of saucepan and the burnt sugar taste will go right through the whole batch :(.
7. How long do you boil it for? Every batch can be different so anywhere between 8 and 28 minutes and all times outside those parameters! It will be dependent upon what heat source you use, how big is the saucepan and what is it made of, what fruits did you use in what ratio. Also, how many times you stirred to stop it sticking, what brand of sugar you use, and is your water soft or hard!.
8. This is where the saucer comes in. After 8-10 minutes remove your saucer from the freezer and drop a teaspoon of jam on it. Pop it back in the freezer for 1 minute. When you take it back out use your little finger and very gently using the lightest touch, drag your finger along the top of the jam. If it wrinkles up it has reached setting point if it doesn't continue for another 5 minutes and repeat the procedure. My mix took 21 minutes to reach setting point..
9. Turn off the heat but give it a good stir as the heat keeps it bubbling for a while and it can still burn.
10. Ladle into your jars, but be careful as the jam is so hot it WILL remove skin. This quantity should make 5-6 lb jars. I put a circle of parchment into the top of each jar and smooth down to remove air bubbles. Don't put lids on until it is cold. Fancy labels and a square of festive cloth makes a cheap and cheerful gift for a friend :).

Boysenberry Jam Cake With Caramel Icing. Caraway Corn Bread With Apricot, Bacon And Jalapeno Jam. Listen to Hedgerow Jam One: Part Two: Kara Richards, Bianca Fachel and Aine O'Regan by Athlone Community Radio for free. Follow Athlone Community Radio to never miss another show. Hedgerows - Hedgerow Jam lesson plan template and teaching resources.