The jam making season has started here at Reclaiming Paradise. I’ve got a glut of green tomatoes, plums, runner beans, courgettes, a couple of marrows, apples on their way and one giant cucumber Where to to start? Some of the tomatoes are ripening but a few of the others have blight so I reckoned I need to pick some and start the preserving season. Whether to make plum jam and green tomato chutney, or green tomato marmalade and plum chutney? I decided on the marmalade first – it’s simmering away as I write:
See here for the recipe – green tomato marmalade
The plums are great for just eating just now, but there’s plenty left for jam making – yesterday’s harvest here along with some of the courgettes and runner beans
The runner beans and courgettes have, so far, just been eaten or stuck in the freezer. Here is the runner bean wigwam in full production:
The red tomatoes – the ones that don’t have blight – are just being eaten – almost straight from the plant. This is one of the giants, alongside a sensibly sized cucumber:
The peas are nearly finished now. Here is what I salvaged today from some rather mildewed plants – but some of these will also be preserved, by keeping the dried peas and planting again next year:
Most of the cucumbers are quite manageable and are being eaten in daily salads. I can’t quite decide what to do with this one though – it is a bit of a monster so I feel it ought to have some special treatment – here with kitchen fork for scale
So maybe some cucumber pickle? Once the marmalade’s done and potted up, I’ll start thinking about other jams and chutneys for this year.
Reclaiming Paradise 
Apart from stewing a few and baking a dew, our plums have produced the exact number that a really keen plum eater can cope with if he takes a plum off the tree and eats it every time he passes. I have two year old plum jam in the cupboard so there is a hint there.
We’d need an awful lot of people passing the tree. I much prefer to give them away and that’s what I did in the before times when I could take them to work or whatever but still working from home .. so have to make jam 🙂
We have the same problem with our runner beans. People start to avoid us in the street to avoid getting unwanted gifts.
Yes, cucumber pickle!
I’m so envious of your produce.
It made one and a half jars of cucumber relish. Haven’t tried it yet
Enjoy 😊
I’m hoping to get a few squash this year, just need a decent September for them to ripen.
Good luck!