Maybe it’s the northern in me but I love a free forage and as a chill creeps into the early morning air the blackberries , apples and sloes are ripe for picking.

I’ve always been a bit hit and miss with jam making so I thought it was time to invest in a good book to guide me through the basics. Pam Corbin the River Cottage preserving expert has a fabulous book called “Pam the Jam” , so I have added that to my already extensive cookbook collection!

It’s a great book which takes you through everything you need to know to make jams, jellies, compots, chutneys and pickles. The flavour combinations are a mix of traditional and bright sparkly contemporary.

sweet and tangy cucumber pickle , Pam the Jam beetroot fridge pickle , spiced apple chutney , Chris’ piccalilli

So far I’ve made a delicious Indian spiced apple chutney and a jewel like bramble jelly with a rich garnet hue and a very pleasing wobble! This weekend I am going to have a go at beetroot pickle and a beetroot chutney.

In addition I’ve made a gorgeous sweet and tangy cucumber pickle from Sarah Raven’s Garden Cookbook, which works brilliantly with smoked fish. Mine is a bit luminous owing to being a bit heavy handed with the tumeric, but it tastes heavenly and brings a zing to the plate.

recipe as follows

3 large cucumbers2 onions; 50g salt; 600ml white wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar; 450g granulated sugar; 1 tablespoon mustard seeds; 1 teaspoon celery seeds; 1⁄2 teaspoon turmeric.

Peel the cucumbers and thinly slice them either by hand or by using the slicing blade in a food processor. (if they are large home grown ones like these, scoop out the seeds and peel them). Next slice the onions. Put them both into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle with salt. (I actually put mine in a colander with a plate and a weight - tin of tomatoes , on top which helps them drain )

Rinse the cucumber and onion in cold water, and drain well and pat dryish with some kitchen paper. Put all remaining ingredients into a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the cucumber and onion, bring to boil and simmer for 1 minute.

Remove from heat; lift the cucumber and onion mix into warm sterlised jars.

Return the liquid to the heat and boil rapidly for 10 mins to reduce and pour over cucumber in jars. - I forgot to do this with mine and ended up with too much liquid but no matter!!

I have also been on a quest to recreate fortnums delicious chilli-illi which is a big favourite in Christmas stockings in this house! My friend Anitas husband makes a fabulous piccalilli so I have used his recipe and added some chilli and lots of courgettes , fingers crossed its as delicious as it looks. I will share the recipe and some step my step pics for this next week.

I had half a punnet of rather sad looking strawberries which needed using so I made a fabulous strawberry and rhubarb compote which is delicious on top of my morning porridge - it would made a heavenly crumble as well – though I had too many rather worthy crumbles as a child (I think my mother must have learned to make crumbles from my nan who in turn used a wartime rationing recipe so butter and sugar were minimal vistors to the crumbles of my childhood!!) so I now prefer the more indulgent American crisp topping – Ina Garten is my favourite and I usually make the full topping amount and freeze half in a zip lock bag. I’m sharing Inas crisp topping recipe below with a few tweaks of my own! Use it as you would a crumble topping.

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)
3/4 cup granulated sugar - I use Demerara
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
pinch sea salt
1 cup rolled oats
250g cold butter, diced
a handful of nuts - I like pecans - but walnuts or hazelnuts would also work