Gin & rose lemonade

The week-end is here, so let's start of with a gin cocktail and say cheers to some days off from work:-)

I found this recipe on gin & rose lemonade, when I brought the bottle of rose lemonade at farm shop at Bennikegård, while my mother & I was away on week-end stay.

I have made no changes to the original recipe.

Gin & rose lemonade: - 1 cocktail

• 6 cl gin
• 30 cl rose lemonade
• ice cubes

1. Pour in the gin & rose lemonade into high ball glasses.
2. Add the ice cubes.
3. Cheers and enjoy your week-end :-)

Squash cake with butter

I located recipe on squash cake by Valdemarsro, which were served at the Royal Afternoon Tea as one of the very last cake elements. At this time our tummies were already full, so my guests from Horsens were taking their part of the cake with them back to Horsens, and later on my work colleagues finished off the remaining part of the cake.

I only made one change to the recipe, as I replaced the dark chocolate with dark milk chocolate, as I DO NOT like dark chocolate, and as it is my cake I am using milk chocolate !!!

I really like the use of different spices, which makes me think about Christmas, so perhaps I should freeze down some grated squash for later Christmas baking in December ?

As other suggestion for squash cake you could also have a look at this recipe: squash cake a la Årstiderne & Preben's squash cake with cinnamon cream cheese topping

Squash cake with butter: - 1 cake

• Squash cake:
• 350 g squash - roughly grated
• 250 g brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 100 g butter - soft
• 250 g wheat (cake) flour
• 3 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon all spice
• 1 teaspoon cardamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powdr
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 125 g walnut - roughly chopped
• 100 g dark milk chocolate - roughly chopped
• Cream cheese frosting:
• 150 g icing sugar
• 50 g butter - soft
• 150 g plain cream cheese
• 1 organic lemon - only the zest
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar

1. Squash cake:
2. Heat up the oven to 175'C (fan oven)
3. Add butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla sugar into a whipping bowl. Whip until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Afterwards add in the flour, spieces, baking powder and baking soda. Stir it into the dough.
5. Add in the chopped walnuts and chocolate, and stir it well into the cake dough.
6. Finally stir in the grated squash.
7. Pour the cake dough into a spring form.
8. Bake the cake at 175'C (fan oven) for 60-75 minutes. Check that the cake is baked starting after 45 minutes.
9. Let the cake cold down, before the frosting is added on top of the cake.
10. Cream cheese frosting:
11. Whip icing sugar, vanilla sugar, lemon zest and soft butter very well together.
12. Afterwards add in the cream cheese and whip again.
13. Spread the frosting on top of the squash cake.
14. Enjoy together with a cup of tea or coffee.

Strawberry cheese cake

I located this recipe on strawberry cheese cake in the weekly magazine Søndag (issue 26/2018), and I decided to serve it at the Royal Afternoon Tea as a part of the sweet treats. I decided to make in the classic cheese cake version with a biscuit bottom, cream cheese cake middle and fruit on the top instead of the trifle version in the recipe.

For your own convenience you should make this cheese cake the day before you plan to serve it, so it has time to set in the serving glasses. and thereby make it a easy cake to serve, while entertaining guests.

As other suggestions for cheesecake I could also suggest you to have a look at these cheese cake recipes: ris a la mande cheese cake, cheese cake with white chocolate and rhubarb, Christmas cheese cake & cheese cake with liquorice and lemon.

Strawberry cheese cake:- 6 portions

• Cake bottom layer:
• 50 g butter - melted
• 25 g white chocolate - finely chopped
• 75 g savoury biscuit (kammerjunker) - crunched
• 1 teasoon vanilla sugar
• 100 g almond - medium chopped
• Syrup:
• 200 g strawberries- fresh cut into half size
• 50 g sugar
• Cheese cake mixture:
• 250 g mascarpone
• ½ dl lemon juice
• ½ orgaanic lemon - onlt the zest
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 100 g icing sugar
• 200 Greek-style yogu with 2% fat or more
• Fresh fruit:
• 300 g strawberries - fresh
• lemon balm (optional)

1. Cake bottom layer:
2. Mix together crunched savoury biscuits, chopped chocolate & almond. Mix in the melted butter.
3. Place the mixture as cake bottom layer in 6 serving glasses.
4. Syrup:
5. Add the strawberries and the sugar into a cooking pan, bring the mixture to a gentle simmer.
6. Let the strawberries until, they are soft. 
7. Pass the syrup through a sieve.
8. Store the syrup until later use.
9. Cheese cake mixture:
10. Whip the mascarpone, lemon juice & -zest, vanilla sugar and icing sugar together into a airy mass.
11. Stir in the Greek-style yogurt.
12. Fill the cheese cake mixture into a pipping bag.
13. Strawberry cheese cake:
14. Fill half the cheese cake mixture on top of the cake bottom layer in the serving glasses.
15. Fill 1-2 tablespoon strawberry syrup on top of the cheese cake layer.
16. Fill the rest of the cheese cake layer on top of the syrup.
17. Store the cheese cake portion cold in the refrigerator.
18. Just before serving decorate the top of the cheese cake with fresh strawberries and lemon balm.

Preparing for Autumn with participation in bread baking course

I started off this weekend by going on break making course with focus on using your stand alone mixer for kneading of bread. So after work, I and my mixer went to this course, which was arranged by a professional baker from my work place. We were a small group off 12 people, which could attend this course.

The aim was to get familiar baking various types of bread using a mixer to do the bad work of dough kneading. During the four hours which was set aside for this course, we managed to knead, raise and bread 3 different types of bread and buns.


We baked baguette type of bread, where the dough also can be used for bun. I completely misunderstood the baguette recipe, so I ended up adding too much flour into my dough, but with the help of the course baker, the recipe was corrected into something pretty good actually.

 We also learned to bake the most fantastic classic buns for tea & coffee, however the dough can also be used for carrot buns.

And finally we baked a bread full of seeds mixture. So now I am prepared for Autumn, which for me is the time of the year, where I start baking much more again.

I will sharing these various recipes with you some time during September.

Herb-scented cordial with selection of mint

I have become a great fan of herb-scented cordial, which I continue to make. It is also a great way of using some of the many herbs, which I have in my many green ceramic garden pots. I am using this recipe on herb-scented cordial with geranium as starting point, This time I have been using leaves from my three different mints (peppermint, garden mint and Swiss mint).

The cordial is easy to make, so I can only encourage you to try it out. You have to pick the herbs in your kitchen garden, boil up the water, sugar and lemon juice, when you pour the hot liquid over the herb leaves and let the herb infuse the cordial for minimum 30 minutes. I actually prefer to the infusion either night over or for up to 24 hours.

If you want to turn this cordial into a cocktail, you can after the mixing with sparkling water add into some gin, and when you have refreshing Summer drink.

Instead of a selection of mint leaves, you can also make this cordial either with lemon balm and rosemary or geranium leaves.

Herb-scented cordial with geranium: - 1 bottle

• 300 ml water
• 85 g sugar
• 1 lemon - the juice of it
• 20 small lemon balm leaves
• 2 small rosemary strings

1. Bring the water to the boil in a cooking pot. Add in the lemon juice and sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove the cooking pot from the heat and add in the herbs.
3. Cover the cooking pot with a lid, and let the herb leaves infuse for minimum 30 minutes or night over or up to 24 hours.
4. Sieve the cordial through a sieve lined with thin cotton muslin.
5. Pour the cordial into a clean bottle.
6. Store cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
7. When serving dilute one part cordial with five parts of water (still or sparkling).

New recipe books with afternoon tea as topic

Besides from filling up my suitcase with tea and gin during my Summer vacation to England I also brought these three cooking books with focus on afternoon tea, so I still have have some new recipes to test out on my good friends from Horsens, while we meet up for afternoon tea such as the our recent Royal Afternoon Tea.

The three afternoon tea books are:

• National Trust - Book of Afternoon Tea
• National Trust . Book of Scones
• Ms Marmite Lover's Secret Tea Party by Kerstine Rodgers

In the scones recipe on of my good friends from Horsens found a recipe on Earl Grey scones, so perhaps the theme for the next afternoon tea should be Earl Grey ??

Red gooseberry curd

As I have been able to pick some red gooseberries in the garden of a good rowing friend. As I was able to pick quiet many gooseberries I have been making gooseberry jam, gooseberry curd and gooseberry-red currant jelly.

I used this recipe on gooseberry curd replacing the green gooseberries with red gooseberries. I learned how to make gooseberry curd at the Summer preserves course. I find these gooseberry curds to have a softer texture, so they are to the liquid side instead of being more spreadable. However, I have found another recipe on gooseberry curd made with pectin as gelling powder, so I think I will test this recipe as well.

As suggestions for other fruit curds I could also suggest you to look into lemon curd, blood orange curd, apple curd and finally clementine curd. Curds have relative small shelf-life, 4-6 weeks in the refrigerator, so do not make too big a portion, unless you are planning to invite a lot of people around for afternoon tea or you have been invited out quiet often.

The colour of the curd is really very red and it taste great. My good friend from Horsens, who is not a big curd "lover" actually freely took a glass back with her to Horsens, so I assume it taste great !!!

Red gooseberry curd: 4 glasses

• 450 g green gooseberries
• 15 ml water
• 60 g butter
• 250 g sugar
• 2 large eggs

1. Wash and clean the gooseberries removed the flower ends and stalks.
2. Place the gooseberries in cooking pan with the water. Simmer gentle until pulped, approx 15 minutes.
3. Rob the pulp through a sieve into a bowl. There should be 300 ml pulp.
4. Place the pulp in a bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water.
5. Add in the sugar, stir until dissolved.
6. When add in the sugar, and stir until the butter is melted.
7. Beat the eggs together and strain the eggs through a sieve.
8. Add the beaten eggs into the curd. Stir continuously until the curd thickens, and lightly coats the back of a spoon. It takes around 10-12 minutes.
9. Turn off the heat and leave the curd to stand for 5 minutes.
10. Meanwhile prepare the storage glasses by filling them with boiling water.
11. After 5 minutes stand still, the surface of the fruit curd should have a slightly firmer/thicker surface, which can be pushed together using a cooking spoon. If not, when cook the fruit curd again.
12. Strain the fruit curd through a sieve into a jug.
13. Pour the curd into a clean glass to the top of the glass. Close the glass with a lid.
14. Store the fruit curd in the refrigerator for up to 4-6 weeks.

Ceramic bowls from Arhoj

I recently found these two ceramic bowl from Studio Arhoj  in my local Decorate interior shop here in Vejle. I am great fan of the different ceramic thing, which Arhøj makes, in particular I really love their glazing. I have previous been buying this green ceramic plate as well as similar set of small & large bowls. So now I have a set of bowl from both year 2016 & 2018 :-), so now I can invite a guest for dinner, where the menu is either soup or noddle dish.

And yes, off cause the colour is green !!!

Gooseberry jam - without addition of gelling powder

I keep practicing my jam skills in my own little kitchen after my return from the Summer preserves course, so I continue to make jam without using natural food ingredient such as pectin in powder format. It is more of a challenge, a least for me to rely 100% on the natural pectin content from the fruit itself combined with addition of high levels of sugar (close to 45% of the jam is sugar) and finding the specific time, when you have cooked the jam enough, so it WILL set in the glass afterwards. And when I have wait sometimes for up to 1-1½ day, before I am sure, that the jam will set.

This time I was invited into the garden of a good rowing friend here in Vejle, who has bushes of red gooseberries in her garden. I am big fan of gooseberries, well not a big fan of picking gooseberries as the bush will defend it´s berries by pinching your arms and fingers, while picking the berries. Again I decided to test of a recipe on gooseberry jam from the jam book "First Preserves". I got 6 jars of gooseberry jam from this portion, which I as usual is not able to eat myself ! So, I decided again to bring the extra glasses with me to work, where I have been selling the extra jam jar for 15 DKK (approx 2 €) to my colleagues. Later this year I will donate the entire sum of money from this jam to charity (araceagainstbreastcancer.dk). So fare I have been selling all the extra jam jars of classic blackcurrant jam for 125 DKK.

If you want to be 100% sure, that your gooseberry blackcurrant jam will set, when you should have a look into this recipe: gooseberry jam with vanilla, where you have the natural pectin powder to ensure, that the gelling will take place.

Gooseberry jam: - 6 glasses

• 1 kg black currant
• 450 ml water
• 1.4 kg sugar

1. Prepare the gooseberries by washing the berry, removing any leaves and the flower end.
2. Place the gooseberries in a large cooking pan and pour in the water. Bring the fruit to the boil, and let fruit simmer gently, until the fruit is tender, approx 15 minutes, until all the fruit has broken down.
3. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
4. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
5. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. 
6. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.  I also check, that the temperature has reached 104.5'C.
7. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
8. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
9. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
10. Store at ambient temperature.

Shopping in Flensburg & Sønderborg

I have been on night over stay at Benniksgaard Hotel with my mother celebrating her birthday. We combined with shopping exhibitions both Flensburg and Sønderborg, so I could fill up my stocks of things for baking, gin for gin tonics, new teas for my tea pot (Kusmi apple tea & David Rio chai powder), spice mixes, nut spreads and two glaases for cehrry jam).

I also found some green glass bowls, which I can use for decoration in my garden. In Flensburg my mother and I as usual found some interesting new flowers for the garden at Bloom 2000.

Besides for the various food shopping I also managed to buy some new cloths for Autumn.

Both at Benniksgaard and at Carstensens Teshop in Sønderborg I managed to find various new teas for my tea pot. I am BIG drinker of tea, and the good specialty tea shop in Vejle (Luka) closed 1-1½ year, so it is difficult for me to find some teas in Vejle. Luckily I am always on the look out for new teas, when I am travelling, so I am not in need of a good specialty tea shop in Vejle.

 At Benniksgaard I found the following rose lemonade for gin cocktail (I will later share the recipe with you), Sønderjysk tea (Carstensens Tehandel) and Pomegranate & Cranberry tea by VildMedTe.dk.

In Sønderborg I located the actual tea shop of Carstensens Tehandel, where I brought a box of 15 different tea bags (gift potential), Esters Lakridste and two bags of pasta dishes.

Earl Grey Martini

We started the Royal Afternoon Tea off with an Earl Grey Martini, which I got inspiration from watching the episode of Anne & Anders in Brexitland having focus on England. I twisted my version of the Earl Grey Martini leaving out the lemon juice (forgot it), and in order to boost the key note flavour of Earl Grey I added in some bergamotte liqueur.

It turned to be great experiment, which my good friends from Horsens also like, and they found this was a cocktail, which they could drink again another time.

Earl Grey Martini: 2-3 cocktails

• 1½ dl Earl Grey tea - brewed and cool down
• 10 cl gin
• 3 cl bergamotte liqueur
• 10-12 ice cubes

1. Make some Earl Grey tea, which afterwards is cool down in the refrigerator
2. Into a cocktail shaker is added ice cubes, cold Earl Grey tea, gin and bergamotte liqueur.
3. Shake the cocktail, until it ice cold.
4. Pour into cocktail glasses.
5. Cheers and enjoy :-)

Herb-scented cordial with lemon balm and rosemary

I have been using this recipe on herb-scented cordial with geranium as starting point, when making this herb-scented cordial. I am actually using the flavour suggestion, which the tutor Vivien Llody shared with us at the Summer preserves course.

This recipe is very easy to make. You only have to pick the herbs in your kitchen garden, boil up the water, sugar and lemon juice, when you pour the hot liquid over the herb leaves and let the herb infuse the cordial for minimum 30 minutes. I actually prefer to the infusion either night over or for up to 24 hours.

The amount of 2 small rosemary strings bring a good taste without being too dominating in my opinion.

Instead of lemon balm and rosemary, you can also make this herb-scented cordial with either geranium leaves or mint leaves.

Herb-scented cordial with geranium: - 1 bottle

• 300 ml water
• 85 g sugar
• 1 lemon - the juice of it
• 20 small lemon balm leaves
• 2 small rosemary strings

1. Bring the water to the boil in a cooking pot. Add in the lemon juice and sugar and stir until dissolved.
2. Remove the cooking pot from the heat and add in the herbs.
3. Cover the cooking pot with a lid, and let the herb leaves infuse for minimum 30 minutes or night over or up to 24 hours.
4. Sieve the cordial through a sieve lined with thin cotton muslin.
5. Pour the cordial into a clean bottle.
6. Store cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 weeks.
7. When serving dilute one part cordial with five parts of water (still or sparkling).

Green ceramic bowl by Ninna Gøtzsche

I have found this small ceramic bowl in my favourite colour (green) at the ceramic museum CLAY. The bowl is made Ninna Gøtzsche, and you find more information about her here: Formuleret.dk

Small sandwiches for afternoon tea

The Royal Afternoon Tea was started out in the right order with some sandwiches, but the usual sandwiches as seen for afternoon tea in England, but the open sandwich style known from Denmark. As the menu for the afternoon was quiet long I decided to make small sandwiches, however, you easily scale these sandwich up for a normal size served for afternoon tea.

I served two different sandwiches:
The first sandwich was goat cream cheese spread onto rye bread and topped with pickled cucumber salad (another Danish topping, which is popular during Summer).

The second sandwich was small toast bread (Italian Crostini) with matured Cheddar and tomato and chilli jam.

As other suggestions for sandwiches for your afternoon tea you can also look into sandwich with smoked salmon and sandwich with avocado and egg.

Yogurt scones

For the recent Royal afternoon tea I decided as usual to make scones, as an afternoon tea without scones is not a real afternoon tea. I used with recipe on scones with cranberry and orange as starting point turning it into a classic version without any flavour addition in form of cranberry and orange.

These scones were served together with butter, strawberry-apple jam and a gooseberry curd made from red gooseberry.

I had Greek-style yogurt in my refrigerator, so therefore I used this type of yogurt. However, you can easily make these scones with a normal plain yogurt or thick milk. I think you can use what type of fermented plain dairy product, which you have in your refrigerator, so there is no need to buy a special type of yogurt for baking these scones.

Yogurt scones: 9-10 scones

• 350 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 85 g sugar 
• 85 g butter - diced into small pieces
• 175 g plain Greek-style yogurt - yogurt without addition of neither sugar or fruit
• egg wash

1. Heat the oven to 200'C.
2. Cover a baking tray with baking parchment. 
3. Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
4. Add in the butter pieces, rub in the butter using only your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
5. Make a hole in the mixture, where the yogurt is pour into. Knead the scone dough together, until it is soft.
6. Roll out the scone dough in a thickness of 2 cm.
7. Cut out the scones from the dough using a cutter. Do not twist the cutter, while doing this.
8. Turn the scone up side down, when it is placed on the baking tray.
9. Let the scones raise for 15-30 minutes prior to baking.
10. Before making, brush the the top of the scones with egg wash (only the top, as this affect the raising of the scone during baking). 
11. Bake the scones at 200'C for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
12. Cold down prior to serving.

Royal Afternoon Tea

After a long period of excellent Summer weather here in Denmark (plenty of sunshine and no rain) since the beginning of May, some more normal Danish Summer weather came knocking on the door this week-end in form of a lot of wind and some heavy showers. So it turn to be a perfect day to have my good friends from Horsens coming around for some "serious" afternoon tea enjoying my new Royal Copenhagen china (birthday gifts).

We started off with an Earl Grey Martini, which I got inspiration from watching the episode of Anne & Anders in Brexitland having focus on England. I twisted my version of the Earl Grey Martini with addition of bergamotte liqueur, which is a key flavour note of Earl Grey.

Earl Grey Martini

We started off the menu for this afternoon with some small sandwiches in two different versions:

• Rye bread with goat cream cheese with pickled cucumber
• Small toast bread with matured Cheddar and tomato and chilli jam

After the sandwiches we continued with another classic afternoon tea item in form scones, jam and curd. The scones were yogurt scones. The marmalade was the strawberry-apple jam and a gooseberry curd made from red gooseberry.

The finishing touch to this afternoon tea was a cake selection in form of squash cakesquash cake, strawberry cheese cake strawberry cheese and finally some "Sukkertop" cakes from the local cake shop Vanilla here in Vejle.

Besides from drinking plenty of tea we did also taste my two last edition of herb-scented cordials (cordial with lemon balm and rosemary & cordial with selection of mint).

Now with a fully tummy from both cakes, tea and great company I can sit and enjoy these wonderful flowers, which I received as hostess gift together with "goodie bag" full of apples and plums from the garden of my friends in Horsens.

"First Preserves - marmelades, jam, chutneys" by Vivien Lloyd

At the Summer preserves course our tutor Vivien Llody was selling her recipe book called "First Preserves - marmalades - jams - chutneys for 10 £. I thought it was a great souvenir and it is handy, so I could bring it back to Denmark in my backpack despite all my shopping for tea and gin in London and some new recipe books found in London with afternoon tea as topic.

I also got a dedication in by our tutor Vivien. Since my return back to Denmark I have actually been using some of the jam recipes making blackcurrant as well as red gooseberry jam without any addition of food ingredients !!!

I have actually found out, that making jam without the use of the wonderful pectin as a food ingredient in powder format, you have to rely on, that the natural pectin content in the fruit is enough for making the gel combined with a very high sugar content, close to 60% of the jam recipe is sugar combined with longer time, before the jam sets in its glass. So it more a challenge for making jam without the use of natural food ingredients and you do not always know for certain, if your jam/jelly will set or not.

Blackcurrant jam - classic version without addition of gelling agent

I have been practicing my jam skills in my own little kitchen after my return from the Summer preserves course, so maintaining my jam skille without using natural food ingredient such as pectin in powder format. It is more of a challenge, a least for me to rely 100% on the natural pectin content from the fruit itself combined with addition of high levels of sugar (close to 45% of the jam is sugar) and finding the specific time, when you have cooked the jam enough, so it WILL set in the glass afterwards. And when you have to be very patience for up to 1-1½ day, before you are sure, that the jam will set, and you carefully turns the jam jar a little during the day to see, if it is setting or not.

As usual I was invited into the garden of my good friends in Horsens, which have plenty of bushes of blackcurrant for free picking. And I decided to test of a recipe on blackcurrant jam from the jam book "First Preserves". I got 8 jars of blackcurrant jams from this portion, which I am not able to eat myself ! Therefore I decided to bring some glasses of the jam to work, where I have been selling the extra jam jar for 15 DKK (approx 2 €) to my colleagues, and later in the Autumn I will donate the entire sum of money from this jam to charity (araceagainstbreastcancer.dk).

If you want to be 100% sure, that your blackcurrant jam will set, when you should have a look into these recipes: classic blackcurrant jam with twist of balcamico, blackcurrant jam with liquorice lemon and blackcurrant jam, where you have the natural pectin to ensure, that the gelling will take place.

Blackcurrant jam: - 8 glasses

• 1 kg black currant
• 850 ml water
• 1.4 kg sugar

1. Prepare the blackcurrants by washing the blackcurrant, removing the berries from the strings, removing leaves and removing the dead flower end.
2. Place the blackcurrants in a large cooking pan and pour in the water. Bring the fruit to the boil, and let fruit simmer gently, until the fruit is tender, approx 25-30 minutes.
3. Prepare the jam glasses either by heating up in the oven or adding boiling water to them.
4. Add the sugar into the fruit mass and stir until it is dissolved.
5. Bring the jam to a rolling boil and boil hard until the setting point is reached. Stir the jam frequently.
6. Test of set after 5 minutes using the flake test.
7. When the setting point is reached, remove the pan from the heat and leave it to stand for 5 minutes. As the jam settles, push any scums from the surface of the pan to the side and remove it with a metal spoon. The purpose for the waiting step is well to build viscosity in jam, so the fruit pieces will be trapped inside the jam inside of be going to the top of jam.
8. Gently stir the jam after the resting time and pour it into the prepared glasses, fill the glasses up to the brim. Remove any scum for the surface of the jam using a tea spoon. Close the glass with a lid.
9. Leave the glass upright and disturbed to cool and set.
10. Store at ambient temperature.

Small green vase from Decorate

I think it is time again for sharing a photo with you of a recent new addition to my collection of green ceramic vases, which I again have located in the local shop Decorate. The price is just as small as the size of the vase, the vase costs 49 DKK (6.50 €).

Rhubarb and ginger chutney

Besides from the more traditional jams like this strawberry & apple jam we also learned how to cook chutney at the Summer preserves course.

Making chutney is another very time consuming process in your kitchen in many ways. First you spend approx 2-3 hours cooking the chutney followed by a 2 months storage time, before you actually can the chutney with your food.

While you spend the time making this chutney,  you can at the same time just as well make a "vegetable" jam of tomato, ginger and chilli, at this takes just as long time to make. And you can easily have two cooking pots simmering on your stove.

You could not cook your chutney in a metallic cooking pan, stainless less is good. And the cooking spoon should not be metallic either, so use a wood or plastic spoon.

Rhubarb and ginger chutney:  4-6 glasses

• 1 kg rhubarb - trimmed and leaves discarded - cut into 3 cm pieces
• 250 g onions - peeled and finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - peeled and finely chopped
• 100 ml water
• 1 lemon- only the zest
• 2 oranges - only the zest
• 7 g salt
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground spice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 375 ml distilled malt vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 30 g stem/pickled ginger - finely chopped
• 450 g sugar

1. Start by adding the onion and garlic into a large cooking pan together with the water. Let the onions simmer with the lid on, until they are softened, approx 10 minutes.
2. Put the rhubarb pieces, lemon & orange zest, spices, salt and vinegar. Bring it to the boil, and let it simmer gently until the mixture is pulpy, approx 45 minutes. Stir regular during the cooking process to prevent sticking.
3. Add the finely chopped ginger together with the sugar to the pan. Carefully dissolve the sugar. The addition of the sugar really turns the chutney very, very liquid.
4. Simmer the chutney gently again, until it is thick and there is no excess liquid on the surface. Stir regular during the cooking process.
5. You can check, that the chutney is right by, pulling the spoon the top of the surface. The "hole" should remain without the chutney running together. The tutor Vivien Lloyd described it as Moses dividing the Red Sea !
6. Pour the chutney into warm and clean glaaes and seal with vinegar proof lids. Store for 2 month, before you start to eat the chutney.

Tomato and chilli jam

Besides from the more traditional jams like this strawberry & apple jam we also learned how to make a "vegetable" jam like this tomato  at the Summer preserves course.

This "vegetable" jam requires, that you have plenty of time, approx 2-3 hours, so it is not a fast think to make !!! Anyway, I see this "jam" as a great way to use any surplus tomatoes, which you can have from your garden.

While you spend the time making this "vegetable" jam, you can at the same time just as well make this rhubarb chutney rhubarb chutney, at this takes just as long time to make. And you can easily have two cooking pots simmering on your stove.

Tomato and chilli jam: - 4-5 glasses

• 1.14 kg ripe tomatoes
• 6 red chillies
• 9 cloves of garlic
• 45 g root ginger - without skin
• 60 ml Thai fish sauce
• 225 ml red wine vinegar
• 675 g sugar

1. Blend the chillies incl the seeds, garlic and ginger finely in a food processor.
2. Add into a large cooking pan.
3. Blend the tomatoes in a food processor.
4. Add in the tomatoes together with the fish sauce and vinegar. Simmer gently until the content is pulpy. Do not use use too much heat, as this is make the jam more brown/caramelic. This takes approx 1 hour to get the right pulpy/mashed texture. Stir regular.
5. Add in the sugar. The addition of the sugar gives a very water texture to the jam.
6. Continue to cook the jam, until the texture is thickened under gentle/low heat.This takes another 1 hour. Stir regular.
7. Pour into glasses.
8. Store for at least a month before opening.

Gooseberry curd

At the Summer preserves course we also learned how to turn gooseberries into a fruit curd, which you can served together with scones for a nice cup of tea.

I have previously been making various fruit curds in my little kitchen such as lemon curd, blood orange curd, apple curd and finally clementine curd. Curds have relative small shelf-life, 4-6 weeks in the refrigerator, so do not make too big a portion, unless you are planning to invite a lot of people around for afternoon tea or you have been invited out quiet often.

As you can seen from the colour this gooseberry curd is made from green gooseberries. However, you can use also red gooseberries. I will later share a recipe with red gooseberry curd with you.

Gooseberry curd: 3-4 glasses

• 450 g green gooseberries
• 15 ml water
• 60 g butter
• 250 g sugar
• 2 large eggs

1. Wash and clean the gooseberries removed the flower ends and stalks.
2. Place the gooseberries in cooking pan with the water. Simmer gentle until pulped, approx 15 minutes.
3. Rob the pulp through a sieve into a bowl. There should be 300 ml pulp.
4. Place the pulp in a bowl over a saucepan containing barely simmering water.
5. Add in the sugar, stir until dissolved.
6. When add in the sugar, and stir until the butter is melted.
7. Beat the eggs together and strain the eggs through a sieve.
8. Add the beaten eggs into the curd. Stir continuously until the curd thickens, and lightly coats the back of a spoon. It takes around 10-12 minutes.
9. Turn off the heat and leave the curd to stand for 5 minutes.
10. Meanwhile prepare the storage glasses by filling them with boiling water.
11. After 5 minutes stand still, the surface of the fruit curd should have a slightly firmer/thicker surface, which can be pushed together using a cooking spoon. If not, when cook the fruit curd again.
12. Strain the fruit curd through a sieve into a jug.
13. Pour the curd into a clean glass to the top of the glass. Close the glass with a lid.
14. Store the fruit curd in the refrigerator for up to 4-6 weeks.