Now jam making is one of those activities that opens you up to ridicule and all too often is associated with people of a certain age who have too much time to fill.
All of which is a bit unfair, given that it remains a very useful way of using up a surplus fruit.
Of course, with plentiful jam in the supermarkets and the presence of a freezer somewhere in the house, the faff of making the stuff seems a rural pastime too far.
And yet over the centuries jam making was an essential part of domestic life.
So much so that in 1947 it was one of the leaflets produced by the Ministry of Food, to inform families of how to make the best of food at a time when the country was still enduring rationing.
The leaflets included “Making the most of the Fat Ration”, the delights of food that could be found for free in the hedgerows and instructions on how to make short pastry as well how to cook cabbage.
Like the chef Delia Smith in the 1970s, the Ministry set off from the position that not everyone knew how to cook, which the last world war may have had a part to play.
During those six years lives had been disrupted with many people on the Home Front relying on canteen food served up in the factories where they worked or at communal food centres.
Added to which many children had spent part of the war away from home as evacuees, and so rarely got the opportunity to lean from their parents about cooking a meal.
Each leaflet was awash with recipes, from tradition ones to those inspired by rationing and shortages, like Barley Mince, Dresden Patties and Cheese and onion turnovers.
And that brings me back to our leaflet on Jam making and Fruit Bottling, which was issued by the British Gas Council with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Now, I am not tempted to bottle the pile of strawberries, but my fancy has settled on Orange or Lemon Curd, which given this was 1947 includes the choice of either 2 fresh eggs of the dried variety.
We shall see.
Location; 1947
Pictures; Jam making and Fruit Bottling, leaflet issued by the British Gas Council with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1947
All of which is a bit unfair, given that it remains a very useful way of using up a surplus fruit.
Of course, with plentiful jam in the supermarkets and the presence of a freezer somewhere in the house, the faff of making the stuff seems a rural pastime too far.
And yet over the centuries jam making was an essential part of domestic life.
The leaflets included “Making the most of the Fat Ration”, the delights of food that could be found for free in the hedgerows and instructions on how to make short pastry as well how to cook cabbage.
Like the chef Delia Smith in the 1970s, the Ministry set off from the position that not everyone knew how to cook, which the last world war may have had a part to play.
During those six years lives had been disrupted with many people on the Home Front relying on canteen food served up in the factories where they worked or at communal food centres.
Added to which many children had spent part of the war away from home as evacuees, and so rarely got the opportunity to lean from their parents about cooking a meal.
Each leaflet was awash with recipes, from tradition ones to those inspired by rationing and shortages, like Barley Mince, Dresden Patties and Cheese and onion turnovers.
And that brings me back to our leaflet on Jam making and Fruit Bottling, which was issued by the British Gas Council with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Now, I am not tempted to bottle the pile of strawberries, but my fancy has settled on Orange or Lemon Curd, which given this was 1947 includes the choice of either 2 fresh eggs of the dried variety.
We shall see.
Location; 1947
Pictures; Jam making and Fruit Bottling, leaflet issued by the British Gas Council with the approval of the Ministry of Agriculture, 1947
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