Ingredients

• 100g whole wheat flour
• 200g whole wheat bread crumbs
• 200g currants
• 200g sultanas
• 200g raisins
• rind of 1 orange
• rind and juice of 1 lemon
• 25g ground almonds
• handful of coarsely chopped almonds
• ½ teaspoon each of
  • ground ginger
  • cinnamon
  • mixed spice
• 5 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 275ml of your favourite dark ale or stout

Method

Mix all the ingredients together. Divide into sensible sized puddings. Roll up each pudding in baking parchment, then wrap  in two layers of tin foil.

Steam in a pressure cooker at full pressure for at least 1 hour.

Reheat by steaming in a pressure cooker for 15-20 minutes.

To serve, poor warmed brandy over the pudding and set light to it.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of medium oatmeal
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of black treacle
• at least 1 teaspoon of ginger
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• ¼lb margarine or butter
• 1 beaten egg

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the beaten egg. Mix the bicarb in with the milk and add. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Warming the treacle first makes things a lot easier (sit the tin in some hot water).

Pour the mixture into square tins 2″ deep, lined with greaseproof paper. Bake in a slow oven (ie maximum of 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2) for about 1 hour.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 100 elder flower heads
• 6 litres of water
• 6 kgs of sugar
• 100g of citric acid
• 5 lemons, thinly sliced.

Method

Boil the water and dissolve the sugar and citric acid in it. Pour the mixture over the elderflower heads. Leave covered for 48 hours, stirring occasionally.

Remove the flowers and lemons with a slotted spoon and the strain the mixture through muslin. Bottle.

It doesn’t keep too well, so needs freezing (unless you’re going to drink all that lot in a couple of weeks). Use plastic bottles. It’s best to use smallish bottles (500ml).

I’ve heard it suggested that adding a campden tablet will kill the natural yeasts on the flower heads and allow the cordial to be kept without freezing, but haven’t tried this.

Most recipes for sloe gin involve adding a few sloes and a bit of sugar to half a bottle of gin. I can’t be doing with such tinkering. Our sloe gin was made in a 10l nappy bucket specially bought from Mothercare.

Ingredients

• 3.5kg sloes
• 7 × 700ml bottles of cheap gin
• 1.5kg sugar

Method

Pick your sloes in October or November. Rinse them and cut a slit in each one. Add to a large bucket with lid.

Poor on 6 bottles of gin. Add the sugar. You may want to hold back some sugar and test as you go—adding more later is easy enough.

Agitate or stir daily for a couple of weeks, then weekly after that. At first not all the sugar will dissolve, but it will after a week or two.

Leave until about February. Then strain through muslin into another large container. Add the seventh bottle of gin to the sloes, rinse them well with it and strain into the rest.

Bottle and enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2kg Seville oranges
• 3kg sugar
• 4l water
• 2 lemons
• coarsely ground coriander seed

Method

Squeeze the oranges and lemons and put the juice in a large, heavy bottomed preserving pan. As you go, collect any pulp caught by the juicer in a bowl or separate pan.

Scoop out the worst of the pith from the orange and lemon skins. Add the coriander seed and tie it and the pulp collected earlier in a loose piece of muslin. Make sure there is plenty room—if in doubt use two or more pieces of muslin.

Discard the lemon skins.

Chop the orange peel as preferred and add to the preserving pan. Pour in all but 1l of water and place the muslin bundles in the pan. Place on the heat, bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 2 hours, until the peel is soft.

Remove the muslin bag and allow it to drain back into the pan. Rinse it through with the remaining litre of water.

Slowly stir in the sugar. When it is all dissolved turn up the heat to full and bring to a rolling boil. Using a sugar thermometer, boil until the temperature reaches 104°C (220°F). The reduced sugar and water in this recipe means this often does not take very long, so don’t take your eye off!

When the temperature reaches 104°C, take off the heat and drip a few drops onto a chilled saucer. If a skin forms it’s ready. Otherwise, return to the heat again.

When it’s all done, allow to cool somewhat and bottle it all up in clean, warmed jars. If you put the marmalade in the jars when it’s too hot all the fruit will rise to the top of the jar.

Now wait for breakfast.