Table Of Content

Copyright © 2008, 2010 by Pam Corbin Photographs copyright © 2008 by Gavin Kingcome Additional photography copyright © 2008 by Lois Wakeman All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York. www.crownpublishing.com www.tenspeed.com Ten Speed Press and the Ten Speed Press colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc. Originally published in slightly di�erent form in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, in 2008 Grateful acknowledgment is made to Harper Collins Publishers Ltd. to reprint the beech leaf noyau recipe from Food for Free. Copyright © 1972 by Richard Mabey. Reprinted by permission. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on �le with the publisher. Corbin, Pam. River Cottage preserves handbook / Pam Corbin ; introduction by Hugh Fearnley- Whittingstall. — 1st U.S. ed. p. cm. Includes index. 1. Cookery (Jam) 2. Condiments. 3. Chutney. 4. River Cottage (Television program) I. Title. TX814.5.J35C67 2010 641.6'382—dc22 2010010617 eISBN: 978-1-60774-082-7 Project editor: Janet Illsley v3.1 for my daughters, Pip and Maddy Contents Introduction Seasonality The Rules Jams & Jellies Pickles, Chutneys & Relishes Cordials, Fruit Liqueurs & Vinegars Canned Fruits Sauces, Ketchups & Oil-based Preserves Notes to the U.S. Edition Acknowledgments Index I love jam and all its jarred and bottled relatives, the extended family we call by the rather austere name preserves. Actually, they’re not austere at all. They are warm, forward, and friendly, o�ering up both generous feisty �avors and intriguing spicy subtleties to all who embrace them. Mostly, I love them for being so delicious. But I also cherish and admire them for something else. They epitomize the values at the heart of a well-run, contented kitchen. Firstly, they embody and thrive on seasonal abundance. Secondly, they are, or should be, intrinsically local, perfectly complementing the grow-your-own (or at least pick-your-own) philosophy. And thirdly, not to be sni�ed at in these days of ecological anxiety, they are frugal, thrifty and parsimonious: they waste not, so we want not. Jams, chutneys, and pickles embrace the seasons, but they also, in an elegant and entirely positive manner, defy them. They do so by stretching the bounty of more abundant months into the sparser ones. We shouldn’t underestimate this achievement. Over the centuries, wizards and alchemists have used all the power and magic they can muster to try and catch rainbows, spin straw into gold, and even bring the dead back to life. They’ve failed, of course. Yet all the while, humble peasants and ordinary housewives have got on with the simple business of bottling sunshine so that it may spread a little joy in the leaner seasons…They call it jam. More prosaically, I love the way that a couple of hours in the kitchen transforms a gardener’s problem into a cook’s delight. Come August and September, when it starts raining plums and you are wading through thigh-sized summer squash, your conscience would be rightly pricked if you threw such bounty on the compost heap. But when you know how to preserve your own fruit and vegetables, a glut of apples or a pile of pears becomes an exciting opportunity rather than a headache. Yet I know many keen cooks, even some gardener cooks, who never make preserves. They love eating them, they love receiving them as gifts, they love the idea of making them, but something is holding them back. What is it? A fear, perhaps, of the perceived paraphernalia of jam making, a mild hysteria about the dangers of boiling sugar, a rumbling anxiety about the setting point. I know that such worries are unfounded — delusional even. So what can I do for these poor souls? Well, I can introduce them to Pam Corbin. I �rst heard about “Pam the Jam” when she was running Thursday Cottage Preserves, a small commercial jam company that operated in an almost domestic way, making old-fashioned preserves the old-fashioned way, with real ingredients. When we started planning our Preserving Days at River Cottage, I knew Pam was the person for the job. She shares her passion and wealth of knowledge with enviable clarity and enthusiasm. Many of her sentences end with “it’s simple, really,” and with Pam to guide you, you really believe it is. As this book has come together, my admiration for Pam has deepened. She is a great communicator who bestows infectious con�dence on her charges. But more than that, she is a woman of decisive palate and impeccable good taste. Throughout the growing year that it took to produce this book, I was the lucky recipient of regular “jamograms” — little parcels of tasting pots of recipes that she was developing for the book. From her early rhubarb jam to roasted sweet beet relish, and from apple lemon curd to roasted tomato ketchup, they were invariably exquisite. Your ambitions may be as modest as a few jars of perfect strawberry jam, but I’m quite con�dent that under Pam’s guidance you will soon be dabbling with blackberry and apple leather, nasturtium “capers,” �ggy mostardo, and elixir of sage. Just writing their names makes me hungry. Sadly, there wasn’t room for all of Pam’s fabulous recipes in this book. But it is a tribute to her remarkable gifts that every time we decided to leave one out, it felt like a minor tragedy. The upside is that every recipe that’s in here is a tried-and-trusted gem. They met with universal approval from the River Cottage tasting panel — not a formal body, you understand, but a dangerous scrummage of whoever was around when Pam dropped by with a few more jars or bottles. Pam’s approach is not didactic, but encouraging and adventurous. Her message is that, once you’ve mastered a few basic techniques, there’s really no stopping you. In this inspiring book, she will show you the ropes and then give you the reins. I’m absolutely sure you will enjoy the ride. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Dorset, May 2008