I go a'foraging

I spent a pleasant hour or so the other day raiding the blackberry bushes that border the unmade and unadopted lane that leads to our house and which also grow in the woods around the corner.

Each year I plunder as many as I can for jam and puddings and consider myself lucky that there is not generally a race with other people to get them.

Armed with a plastic container from the kitchen, I managed to get a decent batch for immediate use. No need to be greedy as our freezer is full and there is always tomorrow for another harvest.

There was a deviation this year when I decided to make blackberry & apple jam in the breadmaker. A lazy way? I don't know, but it makes good bread and I thought it worth experimenting with the jam setting to see what would happen. You never know until you try.

The Morphy Richards Fast Bake model is, by the way, almost brand new and was donated to me by one of my followers on Twitter, who knew from my tweets that I made bread. This was an extraordinary act by a complete stranger who no longer wanted the machine as her husband has to lay off the bread for health reasons. It was so kind of her to think of me.

As this was my first time, I made enough jam just for one jar. Seemed to taste all right when it came out of the pan, while have a proper taste when it settles down in the jar.

The remainder of the blackberries went into a crumble which we shall have for tea tonight (the others being out of the house at the moment on visiting duties).

Only too late did I come across this recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for blackberry brandy to drink at Christmas. Mmm, that's mighty tempting. Looks like it's back down the woods in a few days.