Pam the Jam: The Book of Preserves

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This shortcut recipe is a real boon for anyone who misses the Seville season, doesn’t have time to slice and dice, or who runs out of home made marmalade halfway through the year. It relies on tins of ready-to-use Seville orange pulp, which are widely available in shops and are a very decent standby for fresh fruit. The pulp is made from the freshest of oranges, cooked just to the point when the peel is soft and ready to be turned into marmalade. However, I do not favour the recipe given on some tins of pulp because it has too much sugar for my taste, and you end up with marmalade that has a very sweet gel and only a smattering of peel. This is my adaptation, which includes jam sugar to ensure the marmalade will set.

Hugh’s River Cottage HQ is right on my doorstep, and with its educational courses, TV and books series it was both a pleasure and fun to be involved; an amazing collaboration for us both. Whilst Hugh opened the door to many opportunities for me, I was able to encourage and inspire his many followers to learn to pot up and preserve properly. Sterilise your jars and twist-on lids. Put the raspberries in a large heavy-based pan or preserving pan. Lightly sprinkle in the sugar, a third at a time, gently shaking the pan so the sugar is well distributed. Cover and leave for an hour or so for the juices to draw out. Strain the cooked mixture through a scalded jelly bag or set over a large bowl, or double-strain in a fine sieve. Leave to drip through for several hours or overnight, as necessary.Sterilise your jars and twist-on lids. Have ready a pan of simmering water that your heatproof bowl will fit snugly over without touching the water. Use fresh, dry, slightly under-ripe fruit. Strawberries and raspberries are best layered with the sugar and left for a couple of hours before cooking. Plums, currants, gooseberries, cherries etc need to be lightly poached before sugar is added. Leave the courgettes for at least 2 hours (and up to 4) for the salt to draw out as much moisture as possible. Rinse with cold water, then drain and dry well with kitchen paper.

Sterilise your jars and twist-on lids. Using a sharp knife, mandolin or the fine slicing blade on a food processor, cut the ginger crossways into wafer-thin slices.

The Cake Slice

Even if you have a smallish garden, some kind of plum will merit its keep in a sunny corner, or even trained against a wall. It will bless you with gorgeous blossom in spring – particularly a splendid spring like the one we enjoyed this year. And then there's the fruit, from golden mirabelles and translucent gages, through to deepest velvety-purple damsons, they're enormously beautiful. I think I might plant a plum tree even if you couldn't eat them. Return the jars to the water bath so they are completely immersed, and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the jars from the pan and leave to cool on a folded tea towel or wooden surface. With its perfect balance of acidity and mellow sweetness, lemon is always the most popular of the curds. As well as spreading it on toast and other things, I like to swirl a couple of tablespoons through the uncooked batter of a lemon cake, to create the ultimate fullness of flavour and crumb. The salt draws out the excess moisture from the vegetables, which will help to keep them crisp, intensify their flavour and improve their preservation by preventing the excess water diluting the vinegar.

Plums are related to apricots, peaches and cherries, and many of the dishes you can make with their cousins work brilliantly with plums. Try them quartered and stoned and crammed into tarts filled with frangipane, snuggle them into a tarte tatin, or envelope them in a cloud of clafoutis. And, to keep the plummy party going well into next year, bottle them in jams and chutneys. Miss Corbin's mother, Pam, her father, Hugh, and her sister, Maddy, were in court to hear Exeter and Greater Devon deputy coroner Darren Salter deliver his verdict. Spoon the ginger slices into your jars and pour the hot vinegar over to completely cover the ginger and fill the jars to the brim. Seal immediately. Invert the jars for a minute or so before turning the right way up to cool.

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Pour the jelly into the jars, filling to the brim, and seal immediately. Invert the jars for a minute or so, to ensure the lids are sterilised, then turn the right way up and leave to cool. Her worries were mainly revolving around work, but she was also unhappy when on her own and preferred company,” he said. Meanwhile, blitz the onion, garlic, chilli and ginger in a food processor with 50ml of the oil, or pound to a paste with a pestle and mortar. Toast the coriander and cumin seeds for 2–3 minutes in a dry frying pan until fragrant. Remove from the heat and pound to a coarse powder, using a pestle and mortar.

Folding the juice and zest into a bath of sugar and butter, drizzled with honey and melted over a bain-marie, everything was quite wholesome and going to plan... Regard this as a mother recipe, very easy to adapt by bringing in other flavours. You can spice it up by adding a couple of teaspoons of ground coriander or crushed fennel seeds along with the sugar; or stir in a spoonful of Thai fish sauce or anchovy essence towards the end of cooking; or add a couple of tablespoons of chopped basil or coriander leaves at the end of cooking. Break things down into stages. If a recipe suggests leaving ingredients to brine of a couple of hours or more, then do so; salt brining removes the excess water from ingredients that would otherwise dilute the vinegar. Make sure your jars and lids are sparkling clean and to fill your jars to the brim. And enjoy! Of course, we love plums in sweet things, but their acidity works well in savoury dishes, too. Traditionally, either in their fresh or dried, pruney state, they've been made into stuffings for goose, pork or other fatty meats. But they are great in lighter dishes, adding a bit of sweet tanginess to salsas (see today's recipe) and juicy vitality to salads. Try sliced gages or plums with prosciutto and some blue cheese, or arranged on a plate with roasted beetroots lightly dressed with vinaigrette and some soft goat's cheese crumbled over the top. Roast plum sorbetHis statement said on the morning of January 21 he had seen his daughter at about 8.30am when she had come to visit with a friend. Pam Corbin is the master, and the first person I turn to for everything to do with preserving. I've learnt so much from her' Pectin, naturally found in fruit is vital to make your jam set. With low-pectin fruits like strawberries, help them along by either mixing with pectin-rich fruit like gooseberries or by using jam sugar (with added pectin and citric acid). Meanwhile, in a medium pan combine the vinegar, measured water and sugar and bring to a simmer, stirring to help the sugar dissolve. Add the ginger, return to simmering point then remove from the heat. From start to finish the recipe will take less than half an hour to make, and the marmalade has a delightfully fresh Seville flavour to boot.