Preserving the summer to eat in the winter.

A few weeks ago I ranted about the fact that we do not need fresh strawberries on our Christmas dinner tables. Much better, I suggested, to make jam. In a very rare display of following my own advice I have been producing preserves with any fruit that croses my path. It started with some raspberries from the kitchen gardener and then came the visit to my mother in Devon.
My mum hails from the Northeast and whilst living in the South for 55 years has softened the accent it has not changed that region's unending ability to understate almost anything.
So, when we arrived and were told to pick the remainder of the blackcurrants, redcurrants and goosberries left in the garden, I felt a slight feeling of diquiet. "There can't be very many left" she asserted.
A few hours later and having avoided the wasps and the rather agressive gooseberry thorns I returned to the kitchen with4lbs of blackcurrants, over 3lbs of gooseberries and just under 2lbs of redcurrants.
On our return to Corner Cottage I set to with the fruit and some sugar. We now have four jars of gooseberry jam, 9 jars of blackcurrant jam and 2 jars of redcurrant jelly. Adding this haul of conserves to a couple of jars of raspberry jam made earlier in the summer and we are set until next summer arrives.